New Bedford Oceanarium

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New Bedford Oceanarium

Firm

Chermayeff & Poole, Inc.

Type

Hospitality + Sport ›
Cultural › Museum

SIZE

100,000 sqft - 300,000 sqft

BUDGET

$50M - 100M

The proposed public aquarium was conceived as a key component of
a mixed-use development to revitalize the New Bedford waterfront. Housed within
an abandoned power plant, the Oceanarium’s proposed first phase converts a
former longspan turbine room into large marine tanks.
The aquarium exhibits tell a spectacularly beautiful store of a
diverse and sustaining global ocean. The visitors are taken on a trip across a
wide swath of the planet: from temperate New Bedford and the nearby North
Atlantic to the tropical reefs and mangroves of the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific
to the ice floes of the Antarctic. Themes and principles of ecology are
explored through immersion in these selected bio-geographic zones. Visitors move first along continental edges as
a terrestrial experience and then within off shore marine canyons. Along theway, they will encountercontinuing
references toNew Bedford’s maritimepast, as well as to theregion’s
ocean-orientedpresent and future.
Other
exhibits will use film, video, sound and graphics to complement the living exhibits
and address themes and story lines of New Bedford history, ocean conservation
and sustainable management of ocean resources.
Future
phases of the Oceanarium center upon the creation of revolutionary exhibits
that invite visitors of all ages to explore the frontiers of scientific knowledge
while working to sustain this beautiful, blue planet. These exhibits, collectively
organized as the Explorium, re-use the boiler hall of the power plant.