The River Aquarium is
located in Mora, a small municipality in the Northern Alentejo region. Given
the need to shift regional development from the dependence of an increasingly
weaker agriculture economy, into the environmental tourism and leisure market,
the municipality launched a design-and- build competition for an aquarium that
could somehow embody the paradigms of biodiversity of the Iberian river.
Integrated in the Ecological Wild Park of Gameiro and bordering the Raia
stream, the building stands amidst a secluded field of cork and olive trees
removed from the more intense leisure and fishing activities of the river. The
plot’s gently undulating topography forms a basin at the confluence of two
small watercourses. Placing the aquarium at the edge of this quasi-natural
retaining lake brought together the fundamental relation between its thematic
contents and the presence of fresh water.
Given the blazing
Alentejo sun and the need to create shade, the building was devised as a
compact and monolithic volume with a pitched shelter of thin white pre-cast
concrete porticos with single spans of 33m, evoking the profile of the
canonical Alentejo whitewash barns known as “montes”. The shading and cross
ventilation systems along with the water circuits foster the reduction of
cooling energy, the sustainable increase of humidity and the wellbeing of
animal and plant life. Standing on a massive concrete plinth with a built-in
stairway- cum-ramp entry, the pitched shed veils a set of mute boxes that
contain the programme, namely; reception, ticketing and shop, cafeteria,
changing exhibits hall, documentation centre, research and education, live
exhibits, multimedia and a small auditorium. Inside, the exhibition spaces tend
to be dark, in order to minimize UV impact on the live exhibits and allow
visitors an in-depth viewing of the aquariums. The outdoor void between these
programme boxes and the pitched shed generates not only accelerated viewpoints
onto the outside but also a promenade that culminates in the passage through a
bridge over the lake which in itself is also a live exhibit of animals and
plants collected and nurtured in the region.
The live exhibits, the main
feature of an aquarium, reproduce, through complex life support systems, the
habitat conditions of different regions allowing to exhibit side-by-side the
various animals and plants. On the basement, these support systems guaranty
stability of water temperature, ph, quality control and filtering for each habitat
parameter, including a duct gallery below each exhibit to supply and monitor
the water. For this building, the water is taken from a well on the plot,
pumped into a deposit and regenerated after use. In addition, areas for animal
quarantine, food preparation, laboratories, staff facilities, and logistics
complete the technical floor. Other than the in-situ concrete cast plinth and
the white pre-cast porticoes, the programme boxes are built in polished finish
plastered terracotta masonry with steel frames and varnished MDF carpentry.
With a total built area of 2000 sq.-m, the Mora River Aquarium includes more
than 500 live specimens and is expected to receive 200,000 visitors per year.
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