Water Planet | Urban A&O

Tales of Atlantis, cities that sank beneath the waves often begin to torment the architect, as their creative talents can be swept from the face of the earth by natural disaster, giving the feeling of overwhelming powerlessness under the sheer weight and volume of nature and her wrath. Yet, some find respite in their longing to connect that which we fear and respect the most with ourselves. Taking from this design, and many similar to it, it’s safe to say that some Architects find creative forms in contrasting methods, using water or fluidity to shape the world, much in the same way our blue oceans did millions of years ago.

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Unfathomable depths provide an artistic, striking feature from orbit, and while initial views of Earth may seem “normal” we overlook the majesty of the nature our home beholds. This statement, however, does not always hold ‘water’ as much as we would like it to; enter the Water Planet project, a design centerpiece at the Steinhart Aquarium. The aquarium is held in the California Academy of Sciences, and plays home to this captivating piece, statements of which were designed to leave the visitor breath taken. Initially designed in collaboration by Thinc Design and Urban A&O, this exhibit fuses our deepened love for the Ocean and its mysteries with high end architectural design, giving way to a spectacular glacial piece that is truly eye-catching.

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As the viewer, you enter its azure maw, unknowing of the mysteries below but soon find a captivating barrage of Oceanic life, swollen walls and arches bend, as if representative of a diver, gently crushed by the depth of their descent. Encased in walls, precious life, fish and other aquatic life forms, adorn the Aquarium. As you make your way further down, towards a powerful, respectful measure of our love and fear for the Ocean, the aquarium centerpiece called Water Planet is discovered as it offers itself unto the beholder, like finding the pearl within a clam.