A NEXT-GEN AQUARIUM

For Jacques Rougerie, the project was an opportunity to combine his two passions: architecture and the sea. His research and projects are based on bionic architecture, and designed with sustainable development in mind. He has built homes, undersea laboratories, sea life centres, glass-bottomed boats, and underwater museums, and is working on concepts for underwater villages and living spaces so that everyone has a chance to experience the beauty of the sea, and the fundamental role it plays in human history.

Inspired from his earliest years by the works of Jules Verne, he adopted the maxim that, ‘Anything that one man can imagine, other men will be able to build’.

Working as an aquarium keeper is a passion and a vocation that requires skills in a wide variety of areas:

• Observing the animals with an expert eye to assess whether each species presents as it should.
• Soothing minor injuries and spotting the onset of diseases or deficiencies, and applying the appropriate treatment.
• Calculating the physical and chemical properties of the water, such as temperature, salinity, pH, oxygen content, calcium content, and dissolution rate.
• Preparing and serving feed with the greatest care and attention, following dietary rules and instructions.
• Acclimatising new arrivals obtained through donations or swaps, and making them feel at home.
• Taking part in catches to move fish or other animals between tanks.
• Managing the prey breeding rooms with cultures of algae and phytoplankton: rotifers, copepods, brine shrimp, freshwater prawns, water fleas, insect larvae, crickets, and other caelifera.
• Monitoring and even ‘covering’ the breeding of baby jellyfish, seahorses, and clown fish… which all demand a lot of time and expert knowledge.
• Growing and cultivating coral in the dedicated nurseries where it grows before being transferred to our display tanks, as well as to provide breeding stock for other aquariums and for the scientists working at Oniria.
• Keeping the mechanical and biological filters in good working order, as well as the heat exchangers, UV purifiers, ozone generators, skimmers, limestone and calcium reactors… and a whole lot more.
• Adjusting water additives, pump flows, various equipment, minerals, etc.
• Using accurate measurements to monitor lighting and lighting performance.
• Regularly cleaning the large acrylic panels and glazing, to ensure perfect visual comfort for visitors.
• Regularly covering the tank bottoms, the adding sand to the aquariums, cleaning the scenery, inlet filters, and overflow gratings, etc.
• Diving in the larger tanks, which requires an additional qualification and suitable safety precautions.
• Getting involved in educational activities for schoolchildren and the general public.

Borrowed from the Greek word ‘oneiros’, meaning ‘a dream’, the name ‘Oniria’ emphasises what a unique place this is, and the dream for an aquarium that has now become a reality. It is designed for visitors to feel as if they have entered a richly populated self-contained world, filled with promise and discovery. Oniria could almost be the name of a machine dreamed up by Jules Verne, created in an unknown, unexplored land.

The name capitalises on the aquarium’s unprecedented character, with a representation of nature in all its beauty, and all the mystery and magic it contains. It’s a timeless, poetic journey around the world for an up-close view of the ecosystems and biodiversity of our blue planet.