Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium

An Immersive Experience

While many visitors to the Kansas City Zoo Aquarium have visited the ocean, few will have dipped deep below its surface. The project creates an opportunity for all to breathe and experience underwater. The dynamic nature of the habitats offers a strong base for the zoo’s conservation and educational programs. The visitor experience starts at a shallow tropical shore, follows a warm current into the melting pot of the deep ocean, and is carried via a cold current from the depths, through the ocean’s forests, emerging at a cool Pacific coast. Architectural cues such as changing light quality, spatial variation, and physical descent create an immersive, enveloping experience. As guests travel through the building, unique exhibit designs engage the visitor’s emotions, spark their curiosity, and as they catch their breath, build in them a passion for our global ocean.

The shadow boxes illustrate various perforation patterns exploring dappled lighting effects to engage a visitor’s experience submerged below the ocean’s surface.

The Kansas City Zoo Aquarium reinforces and enhances the visitor experience, evoking the idea that oceans currents connect unique habitats and animals.