Aquatis by numbers

• Different types of ecosystem: 20
• Litres of water: 2 million
• Number of aquariums, vivariums and terrariums: 46
• Size: 3,500sq m (37,673sq ft)
• Space: 12,000sq m (129,166sq ft)
• Parking spaces: 1,200 (park and ride system connected to metro line)
• Areas: 5 (each representing a different continent)
• Reptiles and amphibians: 100
• Fish: 10,000
• Hotel rooms: 143
• Aluminium discs on facade 100,000
• Educational footage: 75 minutes

The aquarium was first discussed in 2000

Quentin Delohen, Director, Aquatis

What’s your history with the project?
I joined in March 2015 when we opened the hotel. Following the launch, we concentrated on the aquarium project, before opening in October last year.
With the hotel, I arrived one week before the opening, which is a bit unusual. Now it’s going well in terms of business revenue. We have very good occupancy levels, which are increasing. We reached more than 70 per cent in June. Last year we reached 50 per cent for the year, which was not bad. Hopefully this year we can be closer to 60 per cent occupancy.

Has there been notable growth in occupancy since the aquarium’s launch?
There has, especially on weekends. Before, it was very quiet and now we reach 50 per cent occupancy, which is what we need to achieve for profitability. At the weekend, we get families and people travelling for leisure. During the week – Monday to Thursday – we get a lot of business customers.

How does the aquarium fit in with the rest of the city?
We have the Metro station downstairs, which makes it very practical. In 10 minutes you are at the main train station and within 20 minutes you are down at Lake Geneva. At the lake you have the Olympic Museum. In two years we will have the Pôle muséal – an arts district, which is under construction at the main train station. This means the three main attractions in Geneva will be on the same Metro line, which is perfect for leisure.

What’s the journey been like to get to this point?
The aquarium process was long. The first idea came in 2001, so it has taken 17 years to finally deliver this project. The people who started out the project were not the same people at the end and the vision has changed a lot during that time too.

What we wanted to exhibit also changed. It’s not like a normal museum or aquarium at all. There’s a lot of scenography and design outside of the tanks. When we first envisioned it, it was more of a “basic style” aquarium – really what you would expect – but all of this changed.

We also had to integrate the Lausanne vivarium’s reptiles. It’s always been very famous in the city. People liked it but it couldn’t afford to operate independently. They always had help from the community and the city and in the end they had to close it because the model wasn’t sustainable.

We decided to take it and integrate the vivarium into our aquarium. It took time to rethink the project to accommodate that.

The finances on the deal changed too. We initially budgeted the project at CHF18m (US$18.1m) but costs rose by CHF16.7m (US$17.1m) to CHF35m ($35.2m) You don’t find millions under the sofa, so it was quite a challenge for us.

How has attendance been since launch?
We’ve had more than 280,000 people since opening. We would like to reach 450,000 visitors at the end of our first year, which is a little bit ambitious, but we should be close to 400,000 by that point.

What is the aquarium experience?
There isn’t an aquarium like this anywhere else in the world – through the aquarium and vivarium, you travel across five continents.

You start in Europe inside a glacier, then you go through Switzerland and France. Upstairs you visit Africa, Asia and Oceania. When people visit they forget where they are and feel as though they’re abroad.

Throughout the experience you have use of different technologies. There are mirrors on the floor, with decorations on the wall and ceilings creating special effects. These kind of things are making the experience unique.

The main idea is to actually teach people that fresh water preservation is a challenge worldwide. There are parts of the world where people need to walk long distances to reach fresh water – the thing we need most. There are screens in the aquarium that tell people how to conserve water and how to be careful not to waste it.

We also tell the history of freshwater and the people and things around it. You have the dinosaurs and the story of how the countries and the continents were created. It tells the history of our planet.

Quentin Delohen

The Freshwater Crisis

The key message coming out of Aquatis is that the human population needs to better protect and safeguard freshwater sources.

While 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface is water – remaining constant at 1,386,000,000 cubic kilometres – 97.5 per cent of that is undrinkable seawater. The combination of global warming and the continuous increase in the global population have placed freshwater levels under severe strain across the world.

Between 2000 and 2050, global water demand is predicted to rise by 55 per cent. Agriculture accounts for 70 per cent of global freshwater usage and the population increase will mean that by 2035 food production will need to increase by 69 per cent to sustain the human population. Water use in energy creation is also expected to rise by 20 per cent, putting the planet’s water sources in higher demand. According to Nasa, many of the world’s freshwater sources are depleting faster than they are being replenished, spelling potential disaster for future generations.

The aquarium’s conservation message is strong, reminding visitors of the importance of freshwater throughout its journey

FIRST PERSON

Tom Anstey, managing editor, Attractions Management

Tom Anstey

Aquatis is unlike any aquarium I have ever experienced. From the moment you enter, it feels a completely different beast to a traditional aquarium encounter – from its presentation, to its message, to its teaching philosophy.

Technology is there from the moment you walk in, with a mirror at the entrance showing not only the viewer’s reflection, but also using special effects to make water droplets and names appear in the mirror.

From there the technology experience continues, with information stations available in a number of languages, with a simple touch screen interface allowing visitors to choose their selected media. Through the aquarium, special moving sets installed in its ceiling reflect into glass panels on the floor, creating the effect that you are walking over amazing scenes taking place beneath your feet.

More than a simple aquarium, Aquatis tells you the history of freshwater, particularly locally, with stories of the people who worked on the river and how its change affected the wider population and planet.

The history lesson dates back as far as the Cretaceous period 112 million years ago, with a full-size moving replica spinosaurus on display as visitors climb from the first to second floor.

In addition to the 10,000 fish that call the aquarium home, a number of reptiles, snakes, lizards, crocodiles and even a komodo dragon are on display.

It’s a vast and varied collection, immersing visitors in each world region, no more so than in the Amazon-themed vivarium. Walking into the climate-controlled room, the change in humidity hits you immediately. Walking along a series of wooden walkways, a collection of South American fish and reptiles fill the space, with a series of pools holding the majority of the marine life. From there you step out back into the real world, which places you directly at the door of either the hotel or the park and ride/metro system.

For aquarium-, or even museum-, lovers, Aquatis is definitely something different. The team has set the goal of being one of Europe’s top aquariums and the ambition they’ve shown with the project suggests that this is likely to be the case very soon.