pacific research.

on the pacific entrance of the panama canal, a long-standing marine education and research site needed a comprehensive design package to modernize its visitor infrastructure while preserving the open-air, tropical character that gives the site its value.

the scope was the public realm and the exhibits, not the conditioned interiors. new guard booth, ticket center, and front entrance; renovation of gazebos, plazas, restrooms, and the freshwater and coastal touch pools. salt, sun, and constant marine humidity drove every material and detail decision.

the project's job was to make the site easier to use without softening it. open-air exhibits and circulation kept their porosity to the climate; only the necessary service points and washrooms were enclosed.

the material palette was kept tight on purpose: aluminum and concrete only. both age well under salt-air and uv, both can be specified and inspected with honest tolerances, and both let the architecture step back so the marine environment can stay the protagonist.