By Sarah Ryley
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

CONEY ISLAND — The New York Aquarium’s sharks reside in relatively modest digs, a standard 90,000-gallon tank in a dark room. Soon that may change as the aquarium moves forward with plans for a $67 million shark exhibit five times the size that would take visitors through dark caverns and coral reefs, the graceful creatures swimming overhead.

The exhibit would be the aquarium’s first major structure in 15 years, when “Sea Cliffs� opened. New attractions have been added since then, most recently Alien Stingers, but little has been done to raise the aquarium’s visual profile, which has the potential to be its most effective calling card, situated along the Coney Island boardwalk visited annually by 8 million people.

As first reported in the Eagle, the city’s plan to turn the ho-hum exterior into something exciting has been pushed back in favor of the shark exhibit. Margie Ruddick, an architect with Wallace Robert & Todd, said their winning exterior concept  which would cover the entire campus with a sloping blanket of high-tech lights, vertical gardens and “breathing mesh�  would still be reflected in the exhibit hall, making it the only architecturally significant building to grace the Robert Moses-era aquarium.

“We would look at how the shark exhibit could actually express, on the exterior, how their skin communicates with light,� said Ruddick, whose team will also design the shark exhibit and possibly future additions. Solar-powered LED lights would glow different colors based on the amount of sunlight they’ve absorbed, similar to the way underwater animals’ skin reflects different colors based on the level of light.

She said the building, containing roughly 500,000 gallons of water and conspicuously situated along the boardwalk, is the first installment in the long process of rethinking the aquarium’s 14-acre campus as a park.

Overseeing the effort is newly appointed director Jon Dohlin, who acknowledged that his 15 years of design and construction experience likely helped him get the position during this era of change. He laughed when asked what he, as a design junkie, thinks of the aquarium’s exterior.

“Everybody at (parent organization) the Wildlife Conservation Society has realized the perimeter, particularly as it abuts the boardwalk, is something that needs work,� he said. “But from our standpoint, a bigger, world-class exhibit is a greater priority.�

Dohlin said the aquarium would still get its cosmetic makeover, but the shark exhibit, planned since 2003 and with funding already committed, would come first.

As envisioned, a roughly 100,000-gallon tank that shows living and dying coral reef systems, would completely surround visitors, as well as a tank containing smaller sharks and fish schools. The second room would be an educational, interactive space for children, said Dohlin, pausing to note, “more people die every year from bee stings than shark bites.� The room would have views into research and husbandry tanks, also totaling roughly 100,000 gallons, and could be rented out for events.

Then, “the big wow� (apparently an industry term), would be a 300,000-gallon tank containing some 40 species of sharks, compared to the current 14, surrounded by amphitheatre seating for feeding and diving demonstrations. Dohlin said bottom-dwelling nurse sharks would rest eye-level on a rock shelf, within just a few feet of the glass, allowing visitors an up close view. From the back corner of the room, visitors would make their way through a special effects cave with live sharks swimming overhead to the exit.

“We’re starting now locating sharks [for the exhibit] throughout the zoo and animal world,� said Dohlin. They would be shipped here in special trucks and containers, or by FedEx.

Once the exhibit is complete, Dohlin said the aquarium could move forward with the exterior makeover, which may not resemble the flashy model to the letter, but would retain its “spirit.� For one, Wildlife Conservation Society scientists are just now starting to study what effect the high-tech lights would have on the animals.

WRT’s team includes Frei Otto, a noted designer of exhibition and arena tents who has experimented with pneumatic membranes; Cloud 9, a pioneer in “living architecture� noted for designing the Barcelona Marine Zoo; and Ebner-Ullmann Architecture, an expert in “green architecture� and creating educational spaces that communicate information.

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008
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