An Aquatic Journey
Date Posted: February 18, 2020
Posted In: Projects,
From Washington University’s TheSOURCE: Finn, Sawyer and Thatcher are familiar characters brought to life by the masterful storyteller Mark Twain. And while their exploits along the Mississippi have captivated audiences for nearly 150 years, today these three appear prominently in a new setting — the St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station. They aren’t the fictional characters, however; they’re three North American river otters aptly named through a community vote. The lively and playful otters are stars of the “Changing Rivers” gallery, one of the aquarium’s six galleries showcasing a series of aquatic ecosystems and inspiring visitors.
Designed by PGAV Destinations — a St. Louis–based planning and design firm creating extraordinary attractions — the St. Louis Aquarium offers an immersive experience, with a focus on education, conservation and imagination. Washington University alumnus Mike Konzen, AIA, MArch ’86, is chairman and principal of PGAV Destinations, and he leads a team of 160 architects, artists, designers, sculptors and strategists. They’re the “destinologists” behind the master plans and designs of some of the world’s most amazing theme parks, zoos, aquariums, museums, historic sites, hotels and resorts, and more. Specific projects include the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta; Discovery Cove in Orlando, Florida; Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Cape Canaveral, Florida; PortAventura’s Hotel Gold River in Salou, Spain; the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.; and the Grand Aquarium at Hong Kong’s Ocean Park, to name a few.
“Most of our work is not here in St. Louis,” Konzen says. “The aquarium is actually a wonderful anomaly, and it was awesome to work on it and help our client create something that everyone who lives here, including our families, can see.”
The $45 million, 120,000-square-foot St. Louis Aquarium — featuring 13,000 animals in 44 exhibits — is part of a major redevelopment at Union Station that includes the St. Louis Wheel, the St. Louis Carousel, the Soda Fountain, and other attractions and restaurants. “We also helped our client with the master plan that helped locate the wheel as well as design the area around the wheel, integrating elements together as a whole,” Konzen says. “Union Station is a National Historic Landmark with an amazing story, and we’re excited to see it come back to life.”
Telling compelling stories through engaging experiences is central to PGAV Destinations’ global work. How then was the team to build an alluring attraction within an existing structure, a landmark train station no less? “Our team first asked, ‘How do we use the station as a point of departure for this aquatic experience?’, which is not necessarily the most intuitive thing,” Konzen says.