Cabrillo Marine Aquarium

Los Angeles, CA

Our goal at Cabrillo Marine Aquarium was to create hands-on exhibits for people of all ages.

In the Aquatic Nursery visitors can observe aquaculture research being conducted and interact directly with staff and volunteers. Graphics and interactives are geared toward engaging student’s interest in science careers.

The award-winning Exploration Center encourages visitors to use all their senses to explore nearby coastal habitats. A centerpiece exhibit is a mud walk-through where sea life is encountered at 1,000 times their actual size. In an active play area, children dress up as sea creatures or divers with large colorful backdrops depicting ocean environments. Visitors participate in experiments in the lab.

An interactive topographic model of the watersheds that drain to the LA Harbor lets visitors add or subtract pollutants and see how they travel into the bay. A touch screen interactive allows visitors to enter their ZIP codes to discover which watershed they live in.

Outside, visitors discover replications of fossils buried in the hillsides along the coast.