The oceanarium which is being built in Russkiy Island, Primorye, will become the biggest in the world and one of its main functions will be development of sea science and preservation of bio diversity of the Far Eastern sea. Marinescape's Involvement was in the Concept and Design Development for the Aquarium giving the Local Architects and Engineers the Specialist knowledge required to complete such an extensive project.
The Primorsky Aquarium of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian
Academy of Sciences is being built at the request of the President
of the Russian Federation.
There will be an exhibit building with a Dolphinarium in the
aquarium. There will be a research center located nearby.
The exhibit building, which is designed in the shape of a shell,
will be a masterpiece of architecture and design. It is designed
for exhibits and visitors, as well as research laboratories. Even
now the building amazes with its size. It is 150 meters wide, and
overall size is about 35 000 square meters.
The total volume of water in the Primorsky aquarium will be
about 25,000 tons. For reference, the largest aquarium in the world
that is located in a single building, like ours, has total volume
of water of about 30 000 tons (Atlanta, USA). There are even larger
aquariums, for example, the aquarium in Valencia, Spain, which has
42,000 tons of water, but its tanks are located in several
buildings.
The volume of the tanks in the exhibit building is more than
10,000 cubic meters. The two biggest tanks will hold about 7,000
tons, which is equal to the volume of 120 railroad tank cars. The
thickness of the acrylic window in the biggest tank will be nearly
0.6 meters. Visitors will be able to observe life of the marine
inhabitants through the glass of the underwater tunnel which is 2.5
meters wide, 70 meters long, and is equipped with a moving
path.
The underwater worlds of the all five oceans will be represented
in the Primorsky Aquarium. There will be around 800 species of
marine and fresh water inhabitants, including invertebrates, fish,
birds and marine mammals, displayed in thematic exhibits. The
complex of different sized tanks will allow visitors to see life of
the inhabitants of Russian water zones such as the Sea of Japan,
the Sea of Okhotsk, the Bering Sea, Lake Baikal, the Amur River and
Lake Khanka; as well as the inhabitants of polar cold seas, warm
tropic seas and rivers and open ocean territories.
The life support and water adjustment systems will take
significant space in the building. Up-to date technologies will
allow nearly 30 different water parameters to be controlled, which
is necessary for the well being of marine animals. There will be a
group of additional units for maintaining the live exhibits, such
as technical and hydrochemical units, a veterinary unit, health and
disease control, water conditioning, kitchen and other units in the
exhibits area; there will also be a diving department for tank
cleaning and providing technical support during the scientific
experiments in the main tank and other large ones.
In the research center, all scientific studies will be conducted,
new exhibits will be composed and new inhabitants will spend
quarantine time. The space of the research center is about 7,000
square meters. There will be more than 400 pools and aquariums in
it, as well as a large freezer for keeping food.
The Primorsky Aquarium is a part of the Far Eastern Branch of the
Russian Academy of Sciences as a research institute. However,
unlike most institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the
Primorsky Aquarium will cover not only scientific tasks, but also
educational and cultural ones. This is the first such facility, not
only in the Russian Academy of Sciences, but in all of Russia as
well. The Primorsky aquarium will have environmental educational
programs, conduct the task of aesthetic education, help to form a
new ideology of people's attitude toward nature, take part in the
preservation of rare and endangered species of marine and fresh
water inhabitants and of course, demonstrate live exhibits for
tourists.
The Primorsky Aquarium, without a doubt is going to be a unique
facility. Beautiful exhibits, different interesting tours,
educational programs for children and adults, shows with marine
mammals, interactions with dolphins, comfortable leisure areas,
beautiful territory with diverse landscape with parks and
waterfalls, shops and cafes - all these will make the aquarium one
of the favorite places of leisure and entertainment for residents
and guests of Vladivostok.