For Education
One of the primary purposes for the construction of an aquarium is to teach others about aquatic life and the importance of the world. There are two Aquariums that display this the best. The first is the National Aquaurium in Baltimore. The aquarium's official mission statement is to "connect people to nature to inspire compassion and care for our ocean planet "(About us; n.d.). The National Aquarium was designed by Peter Chermayeff and Bobby Poole (Gunts, 2001). The aquarium itself is notable for having its iconic pointed glass roofs which are in part designed to show the large rainforest exhibit inside. Also the pointed roofs themselves reference the sails of a sailboat, tying in with themes of the sea (Gaskie 1982, p. 83). Formal elements like these tend to be more promient in aquariums with an educational focus in mind. Possibly to both visually represent the contents of the aquarium and to be captivateing to the public.
The internal layout of the aquarium itself is designed with certain museum qualities as well as those of an aquarium (Gaskie 1982, p. 89). For example not only are living animals present but skeletal mounts are placed in certain parts of buildings to give visitors not only a sense of an animal's internal anatomy but allow them to get close to species that could not be in captivity. An excellent example of this is the massive blue whale skeleton that is suspended above the escalators that take visitors to and from the higher levels.
Another important aspect of the aquarium is its layout. Each section of the building has a different focus, such as coastal environments in one section and river systems in another, followed by a further escalation upwards. Peter Chermayeff dubbed it an "ABAB" rhythm (Gaskie 1982, p.88). This way there is a natural sense of progression as the visitor continues their journey. The overall design Chermayeff and Poole created was to really try and bring these diverse aquatic environments from around the world to people in a way that felt natural and informative.
Though there is another aquarium that Chermayeff worked on that was built with a more precise focus in mind. That being the Tennessee Aquarium located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Some of the similarities between the National Aquarium and the Tennessee Aquarium become immediately obvious such as the pointed glass roofs. Another formal element of the building is its compact shape, this along with its reddish-brown and tan stripes, give it a similar appearance to a log cabin. Though one major aspect in where the Tennessee and National Aquariums differ is their focus. Where National Aquarium was constructed to connect people with a wide variety of aquatic life from around the globe, the Tennessee aquarium was designed with a much more concentrated focus in mind.
The aquarium was designed with freshwater its priority. This was in part due to the planned aquarium's proximity to the Tennessee River and the unique biodiversity that the river houses (PBS video 20:43-20:55). An aspect of this can be seen in how the exterior was deisgned, reddish-brown and sandy colored stripes that resemble the wooden logs of a house. This is also futhered emphaized due to river itself becoming a part of the aquarium, in that a view of it would be the first thing the visitors see when going up the entrance escalator (Lawson 2023, 21:00-21:25). Afterwards the rest of the aquarium's layout would be structured in a way that takes the visitors from the beginning of the river all the way to where it flows out into the ocean. The exit of the aquarium also leads visitors out right near the bank of the Tennessee river, the visitor begins and starts with the river, now having experienced and learned about not only what lives in it but also the river's journey itself (Lawson 2023, 21:24-22:28).