"Nostalgia for the days of Steinbeck's Cannery Row dictated much of the design for this deceptively laid-back aquarium. The warehouse and boilerhouse—complete with eye-catching chimneys—of an abandoned cannery were supplemented by new construction which, though staunchly built of concrete, brashly parades timber framing like the earlier building and looks out on Monterey Bay through window walls of industrial sash. The layout of exhibits is casual and nonrestrictive; 20,000 square feet of decks overlook the water."

— from Sylvia Hart Wright. Sourcebook of Contemporary North American Architecture: From Postwar to Postmodern. p28-29.

The Creator's Words

"We tend to limit the industrial process, a functional element of architecture today, again with preconceptions. One of the great things about the industrial process is that there is a higher degree of individualism possible than with the hand-made process—not individualism in the sense of personal expression, but rather in the satisfaction of the individual and particular needs. Consider the frequently stated relationship between functionalism and the industrial process. The prewar buildings of the Bauhaus group, and the postwar functionalist buildings in this country—the Seagram Building, Lever House, Crown Zellerbach—are claimed to be expressions of the industrial approach; in fact they represent merely a handcraft approach, the only change being that machines are used to do what otherwise would have been done by hand. A machine aesthetic had been constructed, and while this has transient importance in indicating future possibilities, it is still an aesthetic system and therefore a limiting thing. The industrial process has nothing built into it that suggests a modular system. There are modular systems in certain related activities, such as cataloging, distribution, shipping, and warehousing, but the industrial process can be as fluid as we want it to be."

— Joseph Esherick. from Paul Heyer. Architects on Architecture: New Directions in America. p113.