CORAL WORLD
OCEAN PARK
ST. THOMAS, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
PROJECT STATUS | BUILT
PROJECT BACKGROUND
This was the first project we worked on in the Virgin Islands. The design team included Rossana Vaccarino, Torgen Johnson, Scott Natvig, Alvin Pastrana and marine exhibit curator, Donna Nemeth. The project won the 1999 Environmental Protection Agency Award. It is included here to show that our philosophy and approach to site planning and design in fragile coastal environments has been the same from the very outset.
Coral World first opened in 1977 as one of five marine parks built in the tropics by Coral World International. The park originally featured three main exhibits housed within geodesic dome structures: the Caribbean Reef Encounter, the Marine Gardens, and the Underwater Observatory, which extends 100 feet out into the ocean. During the mid-1980s and early 1990s the park and facilities fell into disrepair from natural aging and deferred maintenance. In 1995, Hurricane Marilyn inflicted severe damage to the site, crippling the salt-water circulation system. In 1997, the new owners decided to reconstruct the main exhibits and to expand the program and physical layout of the park. After a series of design charrettes, a vision developed whereby the natural environment would be more strongly integrated into the visitors’ experience of the park.
THE SITE
Although the project was well defined in the programmatic stages, it was only during demolition of the derelict structures that the intrinsic qualities of the site became apparent. Since as-built drawings of the project did not exist, demolition was an exploratory process. Demolition became the making of space and the discovery of visual and physical connections with the larger landscape beyond the site. The derelict conditions of the water circulation system and overall park infrastructure were also discovered during the demolition process.
PRELIMINARY SITE PLAN
We conceived a marine park with fish life exhibits hosted both indoors and outdoors into a reconstructed coastal plant community environment. The renovation included aquaria and retail facilities with an open ocean salt water circulation system; graywater and stormwater recycling/purification system for re-use in irrigation; and an amphitheater and gathering areas for learning about the environment.
BLURRING DISTINCTIONS OF LANDSCAPE AND ARCHITECTURE
In the final site plan we placed retail venues outside of the park gates not in one but several small stone buildings organized around an axis, to establish a strong public connection with the landscape and social activities of Coki Beach. The axis that leads both locals and tourists to the central palm courtyard and amphitheater is marked by a row of royal palms. Courtyards were formed around existing large Banyan and Mampoo trees and two small but old Lignum Vitae trees (endangered species) were saved to mark the entrance of the park.
SIX WAYS TO CREATE, COLLECT, TREAT AND REUSE FRESHWATER
A Freshwater System collects rainwater from the roofs, transports it and stores it in three interconnected cisterns. The water is filtered and used in the restaurant, café, and bathrooms.
A Reverse Osmosis Back-Up System can supply the site with most of its daily freshwater requirements if it does not rain, processing ocean water.
A Surface Runoff Collection and Filtration System distributes stormwater from the paved surfaces evenly under a large deck as irrigation water for the grove of palms. Another network of perforated pipes collects the excess water and returns it to the ocean after it has been filtered through soil, roots and gravel.
A Drip Irrigation System throughout the site makes use of both filtered stormwater and treated graywater to save water as much as possible.
A Waste (Black) Water System sends sewage water from the bathrooms to an on-site sewage treatment facility, from which is sent back as graywater for plants irrigation.
An Experimental Constructed Wetland receives the gray water effluent as a tertiary system, feeding cannas, papyrus and heliconia plant species known to be able to absorb pollutants.
BRINGING THE OCEAN INTO THE PARK
Unlike artificial reefs created at most aquariums around the world, the complex grouping of marine life and coral reefs in the exhibits here is authentic. All the fish, coral and sponges were collected by staff divers over the course of many months from nearby reefs with special permits. Every specimen exhibited, including the microorganisms in the sand collected for the bottom layer of the exhibits, is sustained by an open ocean circulation system that supplies untreated and unfiltered water from the ocean.
Open sea water that provides corals and sponges with natural plankton food is pumped from a depth of 60 feet. It feeds the aquarium tanks and returns to the ocean by gravity after cascading through various indoor and outdoor exhibit pools. The salt-water circulation system is the largest of all the other water systems designed for the site.
THE OUTDOOR POOLS: AN ENVIRONMENT IN DISPLAY
New, larger outdoor tanks were developed as integral part of the park experience. Because of their proximity to views and the existing landscape at Coki Point, they provided an opportunity to increase an understanding of the marine environment of the Virgin Islands. The Baby Shark Pool allows visitors an interactive contact with the fish. In the Stingray Pool, Caribbean stingrays can be fed at the edge of the sea.The Turtle Pool is home to rescued baby sea turtles before releasing to the ocean.
THE MANGROVE POOL
The 50-foot-long Mangrove Pool hosts a mangrove ecosystem that provides a nursery habitat for many marine species while being a filter that cleans the saltwater coming out of the Marine Gardens exhibit before it returns to the ocean as a cascading display over the Turtle Pool at the ocean cliff. This pool was the first of its kind exploring issues of transplanting and propagating Red Mangrove species from the wild into a specially formulated soil mix that would mimic the natural lagoons. The plants grew successfully and were later transplanted in the wild, besides being a source for many additional propagules that were used for mangrove restorations in the islands.
THE AMPHITHEATER
The amphitheater was built to create a stage and gathering area for public events, musical recitals, performances, and for lectures about the environment. It complements the daily talks by aquarium staff and animal feeding with a more formal opportunity for interpretation and collective enjoyment. It is paralleled by trails planted with native plants collected locally and reproduced on site. We were the first to be able to root-prune and transplant from the wild very tall specimens of Coccothrinax alta, the endemic slender tier palm from St. John and St. Thomas.
By isolating and staging this native palm species in small groups in the planters of the amphitheater and entrance steps, and by juxtaposing it with the heavy, much larger royal palms, their slender beauty and character could be better appreciated. For the residents, reintroducing the familiar in new ways meant showcasing their own natural treasures, and help better understanding them. The stones dug out from the excavation were reused in paving, steps, and walls. Soil and plants are a commodity in a rocky, windblown site like this. The surface of the central gathering area was hardened with stone or wood decking to accommodate people, new soil and plants.
COMPRESSING A CULTURAL LANDSCAPE
When planted in a grid, coconut palms refer to an agrarian typology from colonial times: the coconut grove. Their cultivation for fruits, oil, and fiber production typically prescribed a 25-foot spacing grid. Here instead, they were spaced only 12 feet apart. This compressed spacing increases the perception of the grove and creates a wonderful landscape room. The green roof and the filtered shade provide a pleasing contrast to the exposed sunny area of the amphitheater beyond.
Construction started with the removal of 400 cubic yards of rocks and rubble for the creation of a large excavation of 60 x 60 feet. The area then received new soil mix, a new drainage system, along with electrical, plumbing and irrigation infrastructure. A continuous space under the deck for the intermingled growth of the palm roots insured the palm survival and recovery during Hurricane George just two months after the opening of the park.
THE ENTRANCE
Cactus, salt-resistant bromeliads and agave or aloe species were planted in large numbers as security planting and to compose a low maintenance landscape in the front parking lot and entrance planters. The design of the entrance to the project was tricky as the existing location and grade elevation of two precious Lignum vitae (Guaicum officinale) trees (a native that does not reproduce any longer in the wild) determined the layout of the planters and steps, as well as the split of the building in two halves to provide the entrance experience under the two trees as gateways. To meet the needed grade, large uneven rocks with air space were placed around the roots of these trees with epiphyte rock bromeliads planted with almost no soil in them.
DESIGN|BUILD
We learned in this project that fostering quality design in the Virgin Islands means a full, personal engagement in all phases of the design process, from conception to implementation, to maintenance. When the hired landscape contractor was failing, Rossana Vaccarino assembled and directed two local crews, one for morning work and one for afternoon work, to complete the project on time.
The nursery area created in the back of the parking lot, and the site itself, became a laboratory for training personnel as to how to prune, plant, propagate, and care for plants. In the nursery, rare species were propagated. From bulbils of two native agave plants, new plants were developed that helped regenerate the local population after a dangerous weevil infestation killed most of them on the site and across St. Thomas as a whole.
Large royal and coconut palms shipped from off island were tagged and selected before shipment in the grower’s fields. A specimen of Samanea saman was brought from St Croix on a boat. A holding area was organized to hold and propagate plant species collected locally, another important aspect of plant procurement in the islands.
