California Academy of Sciences, Steinhart Aquarium

The Steinhart Aquarium is one of the oldest aquariums in the United States and is located in the California Academy of Sciences at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Ardurra staff provided Life Support System design and construction administration services at this world-class aquarium project. Ardurra staff performed design and evaluation services for the facility, including:

• Evaluation of the seawater intake system, including the current and future capacity requirements for the intake well system
• Evaluation of the existing seawater intake pump stations, and force main, including corrosion, cavitation, and water hammer issues
• Design of life support design system for the new Aquarium, including a 200,000-gallon live coral exhibit, a 100,000-gallon Amazon Rainforest, a 100,000-gallon California Coast exhibit, a 25,000-gallon penguin exhibit, as well as numerous other exhibits displaying unique aquatic animal habitats
• Design and start-up of the life support systems for a temporary aquarium.

This facility is used to house existing specimens during construction of the new facility. These efforts required intimate knowledge of the key life support constraints at the Steinhart Aquarium and demonstrated Ardurra’s ability to handle complex life support system design issues within existing historical buildings. Project issues included severe seawater corrosion problems and water hammer considerations and critical space constraints within existing and future facilities.