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Harbor Wetland
![National Aquarium Harbor Wetland](https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240801Exhibits_HW_Completed-0003-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240801Exhibits_HW_Completed-0003-1536x1150.jpg 1536w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240801Exhibits_HW_Completed-0003-2048x1534.jpg 2048w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240801Exhibits_HW_Completed-0003-170x127.jpg 170w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240801Exhibits_HW_Completed-0003-80x60.jpg 80w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240801Exhibits_HW_Completed-0003-400x300.jpg 400w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240801Exhibits_HW_Completed-0003-600x449.jpg 600w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240801Exhibits_HW_Completed-0003-800x599.jpg 800w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240801Exhibits_HW_Completed-0003-1200x899.jpg 1200w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240801Exhibits_HW_Completed-0003-1600x1198.jpg 1600w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240801Exhibits_HW_Completed-0003-2400x1798.jpg 2400w)
The National Aquarium has an ambitious mission to inspire conservation of the world’s aquatic treasures. With a prime location in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and a goal of transforming their campus into a Chesapeake Bay demonstration landscape, the aquarium worked with Ayers Saint Gross to produce a sustainable and high-performing floating wetland to expand habitat on their campus.
Hero image courtesy of Philip Smith, National Aquarium.
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![Overall site plan for the National Aquarium Harbor Wetland](https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/PLan_National-Aquaium_50ScalePlan.jpeg 1600w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/PLan_National-Aquaium_50ScalePlan-1536x1405.jpeg 1536w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/PLan_National-Aquaium_50ScalePlan-153x140.jpeg 153w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/PLan_National-Aquaium_50ScalePlan-80x73.jpeg 80w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/PLan_National-Aquaium_50ScalePlan-400x366.jpeg 400w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/PLan_National-Aquaium_50ScalePlan-600x549.jpeg 600w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/PLan_National-Aquaium_50ScalePlan-800x732.jpeg 800w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/PLan_National-Aquaium_50ScalePlan-1200x1098.jpeg 1200w)
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.
![National Aquarium's Harbor Wetland learning dock](https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view2-2.jpeg 1600w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view2-2-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view2-2-170x96.jpeg 170w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view2-2-80x45.jpeg 80w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view2-2-400x225.jpeg 400w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view2-2-600x338.jpeg 600w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view2-2-800x450.jpeg 800w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view2-2-1200x675.jpeg 1200w)
![A rendering of National Aquarium's Harbor Wetlands exhibit](https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view1.jpeg 2400w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view1-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view1-2048x1152.jpeg 2048w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view1-170x96.jpeg 170w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view1-80x45.jpeg 80w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view1-400x225.jpeg 400w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view1-600x338.jpeg 600w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view1-800x450.jpeg 800w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view1-1200x675.jpeg 1200w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view1-1600x900.jpeg 1600w)
![A closer look at the National Aquarium's Harbor Wetland exhibit.](https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view3.jpeg 1600w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view3-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view3-170x96.jpeg 170w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view3-80x45.jpeg 80w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view3-400x225.jpeg 400w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view3-600x338.jpeg 600w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view3-800x450.jpeg 800w, https://ayerssaintgross.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/view3-1200x675.jpeg 1200w)
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.
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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.
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