In general, staff operations and life support areas will be on the lower levels of the building and exhibits and teaching labs will be on the upper levels. The labs will focus on marine biomedicine, microbiology, and immunology fisheries, marine ecology, and coastal ecology and ocean engineering, technology, sensor development, and robotics.Įlsewhere, the aquarium will contain immersive exhibits showcasing sharks, manatees, sea turtles, otters, “coral reef species” and other creatures both from around the world and from nearby in the Gulf of Mexico.
#NEW MOTE MARINE AQUARIUM FREE#
The start of construction will come almost exactly six years after Sarasota’s City Commission, by a 3 to 2 vote, turned down a request by the Mote Marine Laboratory for land to build a new aquarium on the city’s bayfront, near the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, rather than outside city limits on the interstate.Īt the heart of the new facility will be three interactive teaching labs that will be free of charge for K-through-12 students in Sarasota and Manatee counties, which are helping fund the project. With 110,000 square feet of space and nearly 100 million gallons of water and watery habitats, Mote SEA will be nearly twice as large as the existing Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium on City Island that Mote SEA is being designed to replace. “A major goal of this project was to create an iconic structure,” added Mote president and CEO Michael Crosby. It’s a reality,” Mote board chair Howard “Sam” Seider told a crowd gathered on the site of the aquarium’s new home. Sitework is scheduled to start by the end of September, with construction of the building beginning in April of 2021. It was announced earlier this month that the Atlanta-based TVSDesign would be filling in as the architect of record, after preliminary design work was done by CambridgeSeven Associates. It’s meant to be visible from an estimated 43 million vehicles a year that pass by the site near Interstate 75 and University Parkway. The latest renderings show a curvilinear building evoking a ship, with special lighting effects on its exterior hinting at what’s inside. Aquarium leaders joined with elected officials this month to announce that they have raised $75 million of the $130 million needed to build the aquarium on a 12-acre site at Nathan Benderson Park, where Sarasota County meets Manatee County in southwest Florida.
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