Aquarium concession area, blue, gray and white concessions counter, blue gray and white plank linoleum flooring, blue wall behind concession with whale line drawing Aquarium concession area, blue, gray and white concessions counter, blue gray and white plank linoleum flooring, blue wall behind concession with whale line drawing

Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center

2018 | VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES | EDUCATION

The Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center, located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, features 800,000 gallons of water-filled habitats and houses more than 12,000 animals. With numerous hands-on exhibits and several nature trails sprawling through the Virginia Beach marshlands, it's one of the top aquarium experiences in the country and caters to 3,000 - 6,000 visitors a day.

The Challenges

The aquarium wanted to focus on three specific challenges, which they discussed during initial planning meetings with Tarkett and the installation team at W.C. Carpenter. Wayfinding, ease of maintenance and softened acoustics topped their list of concerns with flooring selection.

Once sketches were created, the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Center was able to take advantage of Tarkett's Designer on Demand program, a free service that assists with flooring layouts and visual renderings. Tarkett's internal designers recreated the sea life images within their floor renderings, depicting how these custom graphics would appear in both carpet rolls and tiles throughout the building. Once these designs were approved, the renderings went to the Tarkett IMAGINATIONS® team, which handles all custom cutting requests on a variety of flooring surfaces--including Powerbond® and carpet tile, LVT, rubber, linoleum and vinyl flooring. Because the aquarium needed to be able to move these custom images around the building, the IMAGINATIONS team developed a new solution for them, using Powerbond to create and inlay each image into a modular carpet tile. "This proves Tarkett's value of providing unique flooring solutions and W.C. Carpenter's value of installation and design expertise," said Kristen Inghram, Tarkett account executive.

Ordinarily, this is where production of the custom flooring would begin, but a new problem emerged in the project: blueprints of the building were not available. This created obvious challenges to several steps of the process, including gaining accurate measurements, defining carpet pile direction, finalizing order quantities and managing dye lots. To overcome this, the team met twice a month to review every detail. Finally, Tarkett's Powerbond was successfully placed within the carpet tiles, and was a huge success. Now, instead of trying to find their way through a complicated building, visitors are directed to simply "follow the school of fish."

Wayfinding Under the Sea

  • Detail of blue carpet with white sea turtle design Detail of blue carpet with white sea turtle design
  • Aquarium entrance lobby with reception desk towards right, entrance to gift shop to left. custom blue carpet and white walls Aquarium entrance lobby with reception desk towards right, entrance to gift shop to left. custom blue carpet and white walls
  • Aquarium entry with doors leading to exhibit area, blue carpet with sea turtle design and blue walls Aquarium entry with doors leading to exhibit area, blue carpet with sea turtle design and blue walls
  • Dark room with view of sea turtles swimming in large aquarium Dark room with view of sea turtles swimming in large aquarium
  • Wide aquarium corridor with blue carpet and in-wall fish tanks to right. Large blue banner overhead for sharks and sea turtle exhibit, exterior windows to left with view of water Wide aquarium corridor with blue carpet and in-wall fish tanks to right. Large blue banner overhead for sharks and sea turtle exhibit, exterior windows to left with view of water
  • Aquarium entry area with view towards bathrooms and gift shop. Blue carpet with custom blue wavy lines and yellow fish design. White walls Aquarium entry area with view towards bathrooms and gift shop. Blue carpet with custom blue wavy lines and yellow fish design. White walls
  • Aquarium entry area with blue carpet with custom blue waves and yellow fish design. White walls with member desk in distance Aquarium entry area with blue carpet with custom blue waves and yellow fish design. White walls with member desk in distance
  • Looking into exhibition area with walls of text and images. Blue carpet with sea turtle on floor, blue walls Looking into exhibition area with walls of text and images. Blue carpet with sea turtle on floor, blue walls
  • Aquarium entry doors open into exhibition area, blue carpet and blue walls Aquarium entry doors open into exhibition area, blue carpet and blue walls
  • Aquarium hallway with blue floor and blue walls. sea turtle graphic on left wall, stingray on floor Aquarium hallway with blue floor and blue walls. sea turtle graphic on left wall, stingray on floor
  • Corridor with blue carpet and white walls, large blue directional signs hanging from ceiling. Corridor with blue carpet and white walls, large blue directional signs hanging from ceiling.
  • Food service area with two tables with four chairs, food service counter with beverage and food displays Food service area with two tables with four chairs, food service counter with beverage and food displays
  • Long corridor with blue carpet white walls with blue columns, benches along right side, exit door at end Long corridor with blue carpet white walls with blue columns, benches along right side, exit door at end

Styles used in this project

gray patterned carpet with round white cafe tale and 4 silver cafe chairs

Nano

Powerbond® – Carpet/Resilient Hybrid

Solutions at Work Guide

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