ARX

The cod aquarium is a building that connects two others and forms a dispersed built complex, united around the themes of the sea and fishing. In this unusual triptych structure, the Maritime Museum is the place of memory, the Aquarium the space of marine life, and CIEMAR, housed in the adapted former school, the research centre for human activities related to the sea.

In articulating these three units, the building is at once an autonomous urban facility that relates to its surroundings and defines a public space, and a path-building that unfolds in a spiral around the tank, linking the Museum to the former School.

In a context of small, scattered houses, the volume occupies the interstices of this domestic urban fabric and establishes the public realm. In doing so, however, it breaks down into two horizontally stratified volumes, distinct from each other and stacked one on top of the other, in search of a transitional scale. In its material duality, the white concrete volume emerges from the ground and forms the base of the square it defines; the raised volume, with its black metal scales, sets the scale of the square, in a public urbanity redefined in three dimensions.

At the heart of the building lie the fish and the sea. The visit unfolds along a spiral ramp, on a journey that begins suspended above the tank and then shifts into a mode of diving and progressive discovery, in an immersive experience of the cod's habitat. The informal auditorium, with wide views into the aquarium, marks a pause in the visit for contemplation and information about the life of this species.

All the technical control components are located in the basement, ensuring the discreet operation of the life-support systems, the saltwater quality and air temperature control, as well as the new storage areas of the Maritime Museum.