The St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station, a 120,000-sf, attraction built inside the footprint of a 500,000-sf 19th century iron umbrella train shed, has recently opened. The aquarium is the centerpiece of a $160 million family entertainment complex developed for Union Station by Lodging Hospitality Management.
Designed by PGAV Destinations, the two-story project features exhibits and aquatic environments for approximately 13,000 aquatic animals from the world’s rivers and oceans housed in 1.3 million gallons of water. The 250,000-gallon shark exhibit includes a large acrylic panel weighing nearly 14,000-pounds that needed to be placed inside the footprint of the exhibit prior to the concrete structure being completed. Additionally, nearly three miles of pipe was installed to service multiple complex life support systems, each representing a different ecosystem ranging from riverside to oceanside and freshwater to saltwater.
Because the train shed was designated a National Historic Landmark, it was necessary to protect and preserve the original columns, footings, foundation, and underground piping. During construction, McCarthy Building Companies leveraged advanced construction technologies to promote a model based approach to managing the project’s unique construction coordination challenges, such as: using 3D Building Information Modeling (BIM) technologies to pre-coordinate all structure, building systems and theming elements prior to fabrication and installation; model-based field layout and subsurface utility location using robotic total stations; and reality capture with laser scanning of the entire Union Station structure to produce a 3D point cloud with 360-degree photography. In addition, augmented reality was used to compare the 3D models to field installation on site.
See Also: Henning Larsen designs all-timber neighborhood for Copenhagen
The completed St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station is expected to attract one million visitors per year and is operated and managed by ZoOceanarium.
Related Stories
Museums | Oct 25, 2022
Seattle Aquarium’s new Ocean Pavilion emphasizes human connection to oceans
Seattle Aquarium’s new Ocean Pavilion, currently under construction, features several exhibits that examine the human connection with the Earth’s oceans.
| Sep 1, 2022
The University of Iowa opens the new Stanley Museum of Art, a public museum for both discovering and teaching art
The University of Iowa recently completed its new Stanley Museum of Art, a public teaching museum designed by BNIM.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 90 Construction Management Firms for 2022
CBRE, Alfa Tech, Jacobs, and Hill International head the rankings of the nation's largest construction management (as agent) and program/project management firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 19, 2022
2022 Giants 400 Report: Tracking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms
Now 46 years running, Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report rankings the largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. This year a record 519 AEC firms participated in BD+C's Giants 400 report. The final report includes more than 130 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
| Aug 19, 2022
Manassas Museum renovated to reimagine a civic design & engage the community
Manassas, VA has recently added to its historic Manassas Museum.
Cultural Facilities | Aug 5, 2022
A time and a place: Telling American stories through architecture
As the United States enters the year 2026, it will commence celebrating a cycle of Sestercentennials, or 250th anniversaries, of historic and cultural events across the land.
Museums | Jul 11, 2022
Denmark opens a museum that tells the stories of refugees worldwide
Located on the site of Denmark’s largest World War II refugee camp, the new Refugee Museum of Denmark, FLUGT, tells the stories of refugees from the camp as well as refugees worldwide.
Museums | Jun 28, 2022
The California Science Center breaks grounds on its Air and Space Center
The California Science Center—a hands-on science center in Los Angeles—recently broke ground on its Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.
Museums | May 31, 2022
University of Texas at Dallas breaks ground on new 12-acre cultural district
The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) recently broke ground on the Crow Museum of Asian Art, the first phase of a new 12-acre cultural district on campus.
Museums | Mar 16, 2022
Unpacking the secrets to good museum storage
Museum leaders should focus as much design attention on the archives as the galleries themselves, according to a new white paper by Erin Flynn and Bruce Davis, architects and museum experts with the firm Cooper Robertson.
