Birch Aquarium revamping its exhibition spaces into interactive ‘Living Seas’

Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego is undergoing a re-invention of its longstanding “Hall of Fishes” exhibition, transforming it into a more interactive, high-tech “Living Seas” experience.

With expanded viewing windows, next-generation digital displays, and immersive projections, Living Seas will take guests the next step on a journey along the West Coast. The hope is to inspire them with a love of nature, a sense of place, and ocean optimism. The new exhibit will also allow guests a deeper dive into dynamic coastal ecosystems.

“We have assembled an amazing group of scientists, experienced designers, animal care experts, and contractors to re-imagine this iconic space,” said Birch Aquarium executive director Harry Helling, who noted the revamp marks an “exciting time” and the “largest improvement” in the 32-year-old building, which opened in 1992 at 2300 Expedition Way in La Jolla.

Explaining how Hall of Fishes is being re-imagined, Helling said: “We’ve focused on maturing our guest experience, as well as the need to improve our animal care. We’re improving our life-support adding a more robust, modernized system, as well as adding technology sensors so we can take more animals into our care.”

Beginning Sept. 3, Birch Aquarium’s Animal Care Team will begin relocating beloved animals including the Giant Pacific Octopus and rescued Loggerhead Sea Turtle to temporary homes behind the scenes. The entire aquarium will then be closed from Sept. 30 to Oct. 3 while the Hall of Fishes is prepared for renovation. The rest of the aquarium will reopen on Oct. 4 with Embodied Pacific: Ocean Unseen and several additional offerings to be announced this fall.

“Preparing for a move with nearly 4,000 animals in the Hall of Fishes is a major undertaking,” said Jenn Nero, the aquarium’s senior director of animal care, science, and conservation. “We strategically plan every aspect, from life support systems and animal transfers to preventative medicine, ensuring each animal’s unique needs — such as temperature, social and physiological behaviors, lighting, and medical requirements — are addressed.”

Helling said improvements to the old Hall of Fishes exhibit will afford “better and safer access creating better places for us to do our expanded conservation work behind the scenes.”

How will Living Seas be different from Hall of Fishes? “The entire space will have been modernized, every bit of it,” replied Helling. “The walls will be upgraded to stretch from the floor to the ceiling, and the lighting will be modernized to support the exhibitions. Our science messaging will be all digital.”

The new Living Seas experience will begin in the Pacific Northwest’s cooler waters, featuring an immersive Giant Pacific Octopus habitat and captivating jellies. Next, guests will discover Coastal California in the aquarium’s signature Giant Kelp Forest.

There will also be a re-imagined Scripps Pier experience as well providing an engaging look at cutting-edge research from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The adventure will end in the tropical Pacific, where stunning corals, vibrant reefs, and a lush mangrove habitat await.

The biggest change people will notice in the aquarium’s refit, said Helling, is its “all-new immersive design” along with three bigger zones with “different-looking lighting, color and texture.” He added smaller exhibit tanks will be combined into much larger floor-to-ceiling tanks offering a “healthier space for animals” and a “better place for people to experience different more immersive ecosystems.”

Best of all, noted Helling, the revamped aquarium’s public spaces will be supported by an all-new digital display system that will help visitors “feel more a part of the underwater environment. We’ll also have several interactive exhibits focusing on underwater acoustics.”

Helling said the new aquarium exhibition space will also dispel some myths, one being that the ocean is silent, which he pointed out is “not the case.” He added the new exhibition space will be “multi-dimensional and multi-sensory.”

Improvements are to include immersive projections, which Helling described as “big graphics designed on walls” located between the tanks to help them “subtly come to life.”

“Put that all together and it’s going to be a great experience,” concluded Helling.

Living Seas is expected to open in the summer of 2025.

On a bluff overlooking the ocean, Birch Aquarium features the groundbreaking work of Scripps Oceanography and UC San Diego scientists as well as conservation breeding programs and interactive exhibits. Birch Aquarium’s mission is to connect understanding to protecting the planet, which the aquarium achieves through engaging hands-on learning opportunities for more than 500,000 guests and 40,000-plus pre-K-12 students each year.

Birch Aquarium is open daily. Visit aquarium.ucsd.edu for more information including the daily schedule.