Sanctuary Visitor Center

Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center

Building rendering produced by Thomas Hacker Architects, Inc. during concept pre-design phase

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Marine Sanctuary Program (NMSP) and the City of Santa Cruz are partnering to design and construct the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center. The mission of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) is to understand and protect the coastal ecosystem and submerged cultural resources of central California. Through operation of the MBNMS Visitor Center, the sanctuary will raise the public’s awareness and understanding of ocean issues and will foster a sense of stewardship among all who visit.

The Visitor Center will function as the MBNMS’s premier Visitor Center and will encourage visitors to explore the marine environment, the issues impacting the sanctuary and its role in protecting one of the nation’s most ecologically significant and stunning water bodies. The Center will be located just steps from the ocean in Santa Cruz’s famed Beach Area at the corner of Pacific and Beach Streets. The site was chosen after the MBNMS, working in conjunction with AMS Planning and Research, studied 23 locations along California’s Central Coast. The MBNMS Advisory Council then reviewed the findings and strongly recommended locating the center in Santa Cruz.  The City’s 3/4-acre “Fun Spot” property was finally selected. This area is home to the world famous Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, world class surfing at Steamers Lane, and Lighthouse Point and is visited each year by an estimated 3.5 million people. The Center Site Feasibility Studies were done in two phases and are available here as pdfs. The Phase I report includes background research, programming opportunities, visitation estimates and site evaluations. The Phase II report includes space allocation, capital cost estimates, continued evaluation of the sites, management and operations, and community and economic benefits.

• Phase I Report (424KB PDF)
• Phase II Report (2.1MB PDF)

The high visitation rate, the exceptional views of the sanctuary afforded by the site and the site’s location at a central hub within the City of Santa Cruz, touted as a Gateway to the MBNMS, were all key factors in the final selection of the Fun Spot as home to the MBNMS Visitor Center. The Fun Spot’s ideal, ocean-side location and the demographics of visitors to the area are also a perfect match with the sanctuary’s target audiences: families with children, tourists, a combination of local and non-local residents, and a high rate of non-repeat visitors.

The City of Santa Cruz has offered to serve as the Project Manager for the design and construction of the Center working closely with NOAA and the NMSP. Using federal funds, local funding and a comprehensive fundraising program, the City will construct the Center to NOAA’s standards and provide it for use by the MBNMS.  This project provides the City and the National Marine Sanctuary Program with an exciting opportunity to complement regional cultural and educational facilities, enhance the visitor experience to California’s central coast, and to educate the public about the importance of the MBNMS and its influence on the surrounding areas.

The goals of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center are:

• to protect the resources of the MBNMS through education and outreach
• to create an understanding of the resources
• to provide pre-visit orientation for visitors before they access resource areas so that the visit is done in a sensitive manner
• to create a sense of personal stewardship with regard to the MBNMS and the California coastal ecosystem
• to create a link to the many marine education, research and resource protection agencies and entities in the region

The Concept Plan for exhibits and programs at the MBNMS Visitor Center is nearing completion! Sanctuary staff spent several months working with museum consultants Serrell and Associates to define and refine key messages for MBNMS Visitor Center exhibits and programs. BIOS began working with these messages in March of 2006 and will be developing ideas for exhibits supporting these messages over the next several months.

In the fall of 2005, City of Santa Cruz representatives and MBNMS staff worked with Thomas Hacker to develop a building, program, and budget meeting two reduced project cost options of $6.5 million and $4.25 million dollars.

Although a $4.25 million project was explored, the $6.5 million project was selected as the option best meeting MBNMS programmatic needs and budgetary constraints and land-use intents for the City of Santa Cruz. This project alternative reduces the total program by 3,070 net square feet (30% of original program) and the total building cost from $10.1 to $6.5 million.

A summary report of our work to reduce building costs and to define soft costs is provided here.

The $6.5 million building design retains the look of the original design created by Thomas Hacker Architects, Inc. A two-story building design, with curved roofline is maintained with a total square footage for the scaled back project is 10,652.

Building rendering produced by Thomas Hacker Architects, Inc. during concept pre-design phase (click for larger view)

The City of Santa Cruz received $1.325M from NOAA to complete Schematic Design and Design Documentation, the next phases of building design, with Thomas Hacker Architects. This work will begin in summer of 2006.

Site Development Plan produced by Thomas Hacker Architects, Inc. during concept pre-design phase (click for larger view)

First and second floor plans produced by Thomas Hacker Architects, Inc.

The new Visitor Center will incorporate the following:

An architecturally distinct two story building overlooking the MBNMS and the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf

A building meeting the criteria for LEED (the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification and serving as a model for sustainable, environmentally-friendly building design and construction

A state-of-the-art teaching classroom for offering standards-based programs to
K-12 school groups and for public and/or professional meetings

Engaging exhibits highlighting the sanctuary’s natural resources and the issues threatening the resources

Public programs designed to engage visitors of all audiences in resource-based issues

Interactive technologies allowing real-time exploration of our national marine sanctuary system

Administrative offices

In fall of 2004, the MBNMS, the City of Santa Cruz, and Booz Allen & Hamilton (a consulting firm working with the National Marine Sanctuary Program on facilities projects), completed an extensive interview process for the selection of the interpretive and architectural firms for the conceptual design of the MBNMS Visitor Center. From over 40 submissions received in response to the Request for Qualifications (RFQs) and Proposals (RFPs), six architectural firms and five interpretive firms were selected to participate in the final round of interviews. Resulting from the interview process, BIOS LLC and Thomas Hacker Architects Inc. were selected to provide the interpretive planning/design services and the architectural design services, respectively, for the MBNMS Visitor Center.  This pairing provides an incredible wealth of talent, innovation and experience to the MBNMS, the City of Santa Cruz and to the visitors and residents of the Santa Cruz area.

BIOS, out of Bainbridge Island, Washington, provides planning, design and construction management services to aquariums, botanical gardens, nature centers, zoos and other natural history educational facilities. With over 25 years experience, they specialize in projects that combine real education, progressive animal care and display, exhibit research opportunities, and valuable conservation in an exciting, innovative visitor experience.  Their previous national and international work includes the following: the design and construction management of the Seattle Aquarium’s Life of a Drifter and Life on the Edge exhibits; the overall programming, aquarium concept and exhibit design of all three North Carolina Aquariums; the original concept design, exhibit design and master plan for the Oregon Coast Aquarium; exhibit design and fabrication for the original exhibits at the Monterey Bay Aquarium; and exhibit and life support system design services for the Rain and Stone Forest Exhibits at Shanghai Scienceland in Shanghai, China.

Scott Horner, now CEO for BIOS, joined the company back in 1987 and will serve as the Project Manager for the interpretive design of the MBNMS Visitor Center. With degrees in both architecture and construction management, Scott provides a strong knowledge of architectural construction practices. Scott is well-known for his creative and cost-efficient design and fabrication of exhibits.

Thomas Hacker Architects Inc., of Portland, Oregon, was founded in 1983 and is recognized for the design of interpretive centers, museums, libraries, theaters, higher education buildings and campus and urban design. They strive to create buildings that have an understated dignity based on the natural beauty of materials and carefully crafted construction. The philosophy of Thomas Hacker Architects is that buildings are best when they are honest expressions of what is inside them, when they interact sympathetically with their surroundings, when they express the integrity of their construction and materials and when they convey the meaning of the programs and people they serve. Recent and current work includes the following: the Columbia George Discovery Center in The Dalles, Oregon; The High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon; the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Montana; the UCSC Humanities Building and the Arts Division Area Plan in Santa Cruz, California; the Instructional Technology Building at UCSD; the San Gabriel River Discovery Center in El Monte, California; and numerous public and academic libraries along the west coast.

Since founding Thomas Hacker Architects Inc. in 1983, Thomas Hacker’s designs have received forty national, regional and local design awards. Thomas Hacker provides design leadership for all projects in the office and has an excellent reputation for integrating client input and programmatic meaning with quality design. He is also well known for his experience in the design of buildings in sensitive sites, both natural and historic and is known for respecting and responding to those environments. His designs produce buildings that that minimize site impacts, utilize sustainable methods and materials, conserve resources and enrich the environment for future generations. Thomas has worked closely with client groups, public agencies, planning committees and neighborhood groups to produce exemplary public buildings throughout the west.

The concept design process is a fun and creative process that will involve the development of the key educational messages, the interactive components conveying these messages and an architectural design complementing the educational content and embodying green building practices. The goals for the concept design phase of work are to:

1. Create a MBNMS marine Visitor Center, which inspires the public to understand and protect the coastal ecosystem of central California.
2. Become a dynamic destination of discovery through integration of exhibits, architecture and site and the creation of educational and exciting experiences.
3. Establish Santa Cruz as a Gateway to the MBNMS through the design and development of a marine Visitor Center incorporating inviting spaces and programs for public use, engagement and enjoyment.
4. Create a LEED certified building embodying sustainable ideas and practices through creative use of materials, responsible choices, and wise use of resources.

Through spring of 2005, the MBNMS, the City of Santa Cruz, and representatives from partner and stakeholder groups worked with the interpretive and architectural firms to complete the concept pre-design for the MBNMS Visitor Center. Products resulting from the concept pre-design process include a schematic drawing of the building as currently envisioned and written descriptions of the interior, the exterior, and the programmatic elements of the building. The concept pre-design phase constitutes only a portion of the entire concept design phase and precedes actual design work, which entails the creation of blueprints and detailed design documents. Thus, the products resulting from the pre-design process may change once the design process begins and/or due to the availability of funds.

If federal funds are awarded to the city of Santa Cruz in the 2006 federal budget, the City of Santa Cruz will break ground. These construction funds will be allocated to the City of Santa Cruz to construct the building that they would then own and lease to the sanctuary program.