Henning Larsen Win ‘Batumi Aquarium’ Competition With Powerful Pebble Concept
Danish architectural firm Henning Larsen Architects has won first prize in the invited competition for a new aquarium in the Georgian seaport of Batumi.
The 2,000 m2 aquarium will replace the previous aquarium of the port and will be situated on the beach side of Rustaveli Str. adjacent to Batumi 6 May Park featuring a Dolphinarium and Zoo.
Inspired by the characteristic pebbles of the Batumi beach, continually shaped by the wash of the waves through millennia, the building stands out as an iconic rock formation visible from both land and sea. The formation constitutes four self-supporting exhibition areas where each of the four stones represents a unique marine biotype.
”The building will become a landmark and an organic reference to all elements of the sea”, explains Design Director and Partner at Henning Larsen Architects, Louis Becker. “It captures the special atmosphere by the sea and thus becomes a tribute to the power of the sea!”
Batumi Aquarium will become a modern, cultural aquarium offering visitors an educational, entertaining and visually stimulating journey through the different seas. The central, multipurpose space in connection with the aquarium features a café and retail functions and its flexible layout makes it well-suited for presentations and workshops.
Its significant expression inspired by nature will not only make Batumi Aquarium a spectacular new landmark in Georgia but also a state-of-the-art contribution to exploring life underneath the sea surface.
Great Visualization images for this project, they really help sell the scheme.
Its great to see form for forms sake sometimes, and not get bogged down in a form follows function attitude towards design. I like form follows concept.
Congratulations to Henning Larsen and their amazing, inspirational design. All though at this point it must be noted that the entire design development phase of this competitive tender was undertaken by Louis Becker’s 4 year old and the competition jury was a group equally [or lessor] qualified preschoolers.
This is a kitsch variant of an architecture parlante whereby a building shaped like a duck must have something to do with ducks; a building shaped like a donut must have something to do with donuts.
In essence an architectural one liner.
who do you think you are kitsch? yes the underlying theme for this proposal may seem simplistic and idealistic yet how can one argue that it will not be beautiful?
Surely to replicate one of nature’s most simple creations and utilise this concept and transform it into a built form or landscape is intrinsic to an architect who will struggle their whole lives to produce forms that can never capture one iota of the beauty demonstrated in the natural world every day…but still! they must try!
the pebble has been seen by surely every person in the world and every person can acknowledge it’s beauty in it’s form and every person will love this building.
Implying that a ‘pebble’ is a ’simple’ form is a misleading diagnosis. A pebble shaped in nature is the result of incredibly powerful erosionary forces working over an extremely extensive period of time. Pebbles in nature can only be formed from hard and durable structures of elements already billions of years old in the making
Additionally, a pebble by it’s very nature is a transient object transported vast distances at the whim of ocean currents. One could even say that the very forces of the world can be expressed in the shape of each and every humble pebble. To apply such a shape in the formulation of a stationary structure used as a barrier to the forces of our world and for human occupation and interaction can only be considered a design pursuit of the very highest order.
[...] but also a state-of-the-art contribution to exploring life underneath the sea surface. Source: ArchiCentral Tags: Exhibition Areas, Flexible Layout, Henning Larsen, Louis Becker, New Aquarium, Retail [...]
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