Located between Piers 3 and 4, the Harbor Wetland is a free exhibit on the National Aquarium campus. The 10,000 square foot habitat allows visitors to immerse themselves in a salt marsh habitat like those that existed in this space hundreds of years ago.

The Harbor Wetland project was born out of an earlier Waterfront Campus Plan, also completed by Ayers Saint Gross. That project led to the design of a Floating Wetland Prototype, on which Ayers Saint Gross worked with the National Aquarium and Biohabitats, McLaren Engineering Group, and Kovacs, Whitney & Associates in continuation of Studio Gang’s EcoSlip concept. The knowledge gained from years of studying and refining the prototype became the basis for the design process of the implementation of the full-scale Harbor Wetland.

The learning dock acts as a new civic anchor in the Inner Harbor, drawing visitors in to experience the wildlife that fills the harbor. In addition to being a social space, the wetland utilizes over 30,000 grasses and shrubs combined with water aeration technology. Once the plants mature, the exhibit will act as green infrastructure to promote healthy clean waters, attract native species, and provide a variety of habitats to support a strong ecosystem. 

The project provides a free outdoor exhibit in which the National Aquarium can educate the public and study the harbor. The innovative construction ensures that this investment will far outlast conventional floating wetlands and become a landmark in the Inner Harbor.