through designing an aquarium for my thesis project, i was able to explore the basic ideas of making a room. / Master of Architecture

Context for a premise: Norfolk, Virginia, 1986 The original premise for the National Aquarium for the Waterfront, Norfolk, Virginia derived from the realization that a potentially dramatic portion of the city had been separated by a major highway. As a young student of Engineering and Art, I had spent a year in this city, finding that there were few places to dwell. The scale of the streets was lost to the intervention of the highway, and the urban path gave way to meander without destination. I began to perceive zones in the city where I could find solace, take a meal, see Art or hear music; yet the only way to experience these places was to travel through the less hospitable ones. I also began to realize that the worst of the experiences were available in the newest parts of the city, and that neither the architecture, nor the spirit of the city, was being honored in the constructs of man. The site in question was an inlet to a former freight yard with a boatbuilding school on a dock, flanked by two postmodern condominium buildings that effectively isolated it from the waterfront to the north and south. Featured amid the ruins of the tracks were various artifacts including a wheelhouse and a concrete molasses storage tank. A tremendous richness was evident in the vernacular and utilitarian treatments of the waterways. Here was an understanding of the Earth’s oceans, her lifeblood: the power of the sea was apparent in the way man had built along her edges; there was inherent respect, an acknowledgment of her force majeure. The opportunity to work within an urban environment met a long-standing desire to build upon the water’s edge. A desire for an environmental expose yielded a program that would celebrate the life of the sea against a backdrop of neglected waterfront. The primary axis was determined by the figurative procession to the sea, and consequently, was born a program with direction. There came a moment when a method of working within a city became more clear, revealing a means to understanding and accepting the urban labyrinth with all of its complexities. The simplicity of an approach that would carve out places for humans amid structures that bespoke other ideals appears naïve in hindsight, yet it provided a point of departure from which to begin the project. This marked a milestone in my education: the point where I started to learn about urban form, its synthesis and integration. / Master of Architecture

The proposed aquarium is located in South East Washington D.C. The design creates an interactive walkway along the river. The movement of the water is redirected to stimulate the enjoyable atmospere for the people. The aquarium's shape is highly designed to reflect the fish movement. This project is a combination of advanced structure, inspiring architectural expression, and promoting urban lanscape to the shore. As a result, this aquarium is as an icon building to the city attraction. / Master of Architecture / This thesis is a study of an aquarium’s program. The site is located at the waterfront near the fish market in southwest, Washington D.C. The aquarium is one of the best design’s options, which are suitable for the area’s development. In fact, this aquarium is designed to be an iconic architecture for Washington D.C. Therefore, the design’s goal is not only to develop an Aquarium’s program, which serves living aquatic animals and the people, but also to build an attraction to the city. This Aquarium’s program is designed to connect to the center of the city through the National Mall. The urban study of the area shows the importance of others’ prominent architectures such as The White House or The Washington Monument. This site’s study helps to develop connected points between the Aquarium’s program and the rest of the area. The program’s circulation has been developed to give the visitors the better experiences throughout the buildings. The water at the waterfont has inspired the ideas of bringing the water to the site to create attractive waterflow’s curves. As a result, this Aquarium interacts to the water and the other parts of the city effectively. The building’s facade is designed to stimulate the fish’s movements, which lifts up the Aquarium’s spirit. The architecture is built into two seperated buildings, which are connected to one another by enclosed bridges. furthemore, there are greenroofs on top of the two buildings, which brings light to the entire buildings. These gardens are designed as water filters for water circulation thoughout the whole building. The water circulation system has the main mechanical base at the bottom underground level. The program focuses on how to bring water effeiciently to each tank to habitat the fishes, and how to show the beauty of the water in different forms such as variety of colors, motions or shapes. In short, the Aquarium’s design brings an exciment to the city. The development of waterfront and the landscape of this architecture directly influence the people, the economy, and the environment in the area. Thus, this Aquarium’s program should be thoughtfully designed to satisfy all of the concerned aspects.

This report documents an internship that was served at the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, Louisiana from 16 January 1989 through 7 April 1989. The purpose of the internship was to observe the administration of the internship organization in order to perform a managerial analysis. Another goal was to engage in administrative tasks in order to gain practical experience at a managerial level. The Aquarium of the Americas is a department of the Audubon Institute, which, in turn, is supervised by the Audubon Park Commission. As a result, those organizations are also included as subjects for analysis. The internship is a requirement of the graduate program in Arts Administration at the University of New Orleans.

This project is about re-establishing Maryland Avenue as a pedestrian corridor. Increasing pedestrian traffic along this axis will physically reconnect the Capitol Building to the Jefferson Memorial and provide the opportunity for commercial and cultural revitalization. Consideration of the urban scale led to studies of circulation, context and pedestrian orientation and their application to the design of a single building. / Master of Architecture

The primary area of study for this thesis is public aquarium design. Through the study of previous proposals for an aquarium in Halifax, significant aquarium facilities around the world, and the technical requirements for the re-creation of various aquatic habitats, an effective design for a Halifax aquarium can be developed. The introspective nature of major aquarium facilities often creates a significant disconnect between programmatic activities within the aquarium, and the dynamics of the building’s immediate urban context. The efficacity of exhibit design is relating content and context, allowing the visitor to become personally invested in what is being exhibited. Through an architectural design strategy that relates exhibit, building, and site, an aquarium project could serve as an effective vehicle for connecting the Halifax harbour to its dynamic waterfront and vibrant urban fabric.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2003. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-67). Also available online.

Initiée par la pratique artistique de l’auteur, cette thèse a pour premier objectif de saisir les qualités plastiques et esthétiques de l’aquarium, tant sous sa forme domestique et individuelle qu’à l’échelle des scénographies d’établissements publics. Le second est de déterminer ses rapports avec le monde subaquatique naturel, et son influence potentielle sur notre manière de percevoir ce milieu si particulier. Directement hérité du XIXe siècle, et pour ainsi dire ignoré de la recherche en dehors de l’aquariophilie, ce dispositif d’exposition se distingue par son ambiguïté. Il oscille constamment entre science, décoration et spectacle tout en prenant une infinité de formes, chacune engageant le spectateur de manière différente. Puisant des exemples dans les champs de l’art contemporain, de l’histoire de l’art, de la littérature comme des sciences naturelles, et impliquant constamment le travail plastique de l’auteur, la thèse s’organise en trois parties. À l’issue d’une approche historique, l’aquarium est d’abord défini comme dispositif écranique tenant à la fois du tableau et de la scène de théâtre avant d’apparaître dans un deuxième temps, au vu des éléments qui le composent, comme un jardin miniature. Loin de reproduire avec fidélité un site naturel donné, l’aquarium relève du domaine de l’art et de la création, héritant du maniérisme de la Renaissance, du courant pittoresque du XVIIIe siècle comme des jardins d’Extrême-Orient. Sans évolution marquante depuis son invention, le paysage dans l’aquarium apparaît enfin dans sa dimension nostalgique, grottes, ruines et autres fabriques renvoyant autant aux apocalypses légendaires qu’aux risques écologiques actuels. / Initiated with the author’s own artistic work, the first purpose of this thesis is to point out the plastic and aesthetic properties of the aquarium, in its household and unique form as much as in the scale of the scenographies used by the public aquariums. The second objective is to determine its connections with the natural state of the subaquatic world, and its influence over our way of perceiving this unique environment. Directly inherited from the XIXth century, and essentially ignored by the academic world, this exhibition device is characterized by its ambiguity. It constantly fluctuates between science, decoration and entertainment, while taking an infinite variety of forms, each one involving the spectator in a different way. Using examples in the fields of art, art history, literature, and natural sciences, but constantly linked to the author’s artistic work, this thesis is organized in three parts. After a brief historical approach of the aquarium, it is first defined as a display, a screen generating pictures, based on the model of the painting and the theater stage, and it appears then, considering its components, to be a miniature garden. Far from an accurate reproduction of a natural site, the aquarium falls under the field of art and creation, perpetuating the Mannerism of the Cinquecento, the theory of the picturesque developed in the XVIIIth century, or Chinese and Japanese traditional gardens. Without any major change since its invention, the land- or aquascape inside the aquarium finally projects a nostalgic piece of scenery - the ruins, grottoes and other follies referring to both legendary apocalypses and the current ecological peril.

Biological invasions threaten the ecological integrity of natural ecosystems. Anthropogenic introductions of non-native species can displace native flora and fauna, altering community compositions and disrupting ecosystem services. One often-overlooked vector for such introductions is the release of aquarium organisms into aquatic ecosystems. Following detrimental aquarium-release invasions by the "killer alga" Caulerpa taxifolia, aquarium hobbyists and professions began promoting the use of other genera of macroalgae as "safe" alternatives. The most popular of these marine aquarium macroalgae, the genus Chaetomorpha, is analyzed here for invasion risk. Mitigation strategies are also evaluated. I found that the propensity for reproduction by vegetative fragmentation displayed by aquarium strains of Chaetomorpha poses a significant invasion threat—fragments of aquarium Chaetomorpha are able to survive from sizes as small as 0.5 mm in length, or one intact, live cell. Fragments of this size and larger are generated in large quantities in online and retail purchases of Chaetomorpha, and introduction of these fragments would likely result in viable individuals for establishment in a variety of geographic and seasonal environmental conditions. Mitigation of invasion risk was assessed in two ways—rapid response to a potential introduction by chemical eradication and prevention through safe hobbyist disposal. I tested the effectiveness of five chemicals used as algicides and found that acetic acid was highly effective at limiting survival and growth of aquarium Chaetomorpha. Chlorine bleach, copper sulfate and rock salt were effective at limiting growth but were inconsistent or ineffective in reducing survival of algal fragments. The algicide Sonar limited neither survival nor growth. If aquarium strains of iii Chaetomorpha are released, chemical eradication presents a viable management strategy, particularly through the use of acetic acid. A more cost-effective strategy, however, would be preventing introductions; thus safe alternatives to release were determined for hobbyist disposal of unwanted or excess aquarium Chaetomorpha. Here I present the minimum exposure durations necessary to induce full mortality of aquarium Chaetomorpha through boiling, microwaving, freezing, desiccation and exposure to freshwater. Hobbyist disposal by any of these methods would constitute safe alternatives to introduction of the alga into natural environments. Such preventative measures will inform outreach campaigns in order to limit the potential for aquarium-release introduction.

This thesis focuses on the use of freshwater animals in biology lessons. It especially provides detailed instructions for school experiments and observations of these animals, which can be bred in a freshwater aquarium at school. Manuals have worksheets for pupils and are anter keys. Each worksheet has got guidance for teachers, which contains specific instructions for the preparation of observation and experimentation and also gives some additional information. Individual worksheets are focused on representatives of cold water and tropical freshwater fish, shrimp and crayfish. A considerable part of the worksheets is devoted to our invertebrates, which can be caught in nature, and placed into the aquarium for a limited period, so there we can see the experiments and observations of some aquatic larvae of insects, flatworms, bugs, beetles, molluscs, annelids and arthropods. It also includes information about the various representatives used in the worksheets, such as a brief description of the animal and its demands for breeding. There are also instructions on how to obtain these animals. This thesis also contains practical manuals onwhere to place the aquarium in the classroom and how to manage and maintain it because this work is conceived as a handbook for teachers of biology, who have no...