One of the Bay Area's favorite destination spots just got a new facelift. The Monterey Bay Aquarium (www.montereybayaquarium.org), which attracts 1.7 million visitors each year, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year with a $10 million makeover that includes some 8,000 square feet of newly enclosed public space.
Known for its innovative construction of complex and highly technical facilities, Rudolph and Sletten served as the general contractor for the original construction of the Aquarium from 1980-84. The company later built the Outer Bay Wing, a major addition to the east of the original building that opened in 1996.
Highlights of the renovation include a new glass roof enclosure for the boiler courtyard, a relocation of the north window wall to include a new skylight with enhanced Bay views, a large indoor ticketing center to help reduce waiting, and a new interior skywalk connecting the upper levels of the Aquarium's two wings.
The new visitor experience at the Monterey Bay Aquarium begins after entering through sliding glass doors into a new indoor 2,000-square-foot ticketing lobby. The ticketing space, which doubles the number of ticketing stations, features an exhibit wall of high-definition video screens showing Aquarium life and ocean scenes.
From there visitors enter the Aquarium through the new boiler courtyard. The boiler courtyard now showcases the cannery boilers of the historic Hovden Cannery that were at the Aquarium entrance.
The renovation gives visitors a better opportunity to focus on the Aquarium's heritage as part of Cannery Row. The aquarium occupies the site of the Knut Hovden Cannery, which was built in 1916, and closed in 1973. Three boilers from the cannery that were standing largely unnoticed by the aquarium's entrance are now focal points in the atrium courtyard.
The dramatic highlight of the renovation is the new skywalk, a 144-foot-long steel truss cantilevered bridge that connects the mezzanine of the Aquarium's Original Nearshore Wing with the mezzanine of the Outer Bay Wing. The skywalk rises 15 feet above the ground, and provides easy access between the two wings for the first time.
