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Aquarium Architect

--By Laura Weiss

Architect Bobby Poole's career is second nature to him--and wow, does he love nature! Poole spent part of his childhood on a wildlife preserve in North Carolina. His dad was a wildlife protection officer on the preserve. They loved to fish together. Today, Poole travels the world designing aquariums.

Many architects design houses, office buildings and other structures. But Poole, 57, and his partners, Peter Chermayeff and Peter Sollogub, specialize in bright, roomy homes for underwater creatures. The three architects own a firm in Boston, Massachusetts. They have built six of the largest aquariums in the world and are currently working on seven aquarium projects. Two of their most famous creations are the Baltimore Aquarium, in Maryland, and the Osaka Ring of Fire Aquarium, in Japan. About 3 million people visit the Osaka aquarium each year.

Poole and his partners put together a team of scientists, writers and artists to create each space. The architects design the building and giant fish tanks. The goal: to make sea creatures feel at home while making humans feel as if they are part of the environment.

"The life-support system [in each tank] is related to specific types of marine life," Poole explains. Sea mammals such as whales need very clean water. Jellyfish are less fussy.

It's not cheap to create a terrific place for sea creatures. Building the new Marine Mammal Pavilion for the Virginia Marine Science Museum will cost $40 million! The exhibit, which will feature a 1.5-million-gallon aquarium for dolphins and seals, is scheduled to open in 2004. But for Poole, who recently had his "heart stolen away by a baby dolphin," bringing the wonder of the sea to millions of visitors is truly priceless.

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