RUDOLPH AND SLETTEN COMPLETES RENOVATION OF MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM, ADDS SKYWALK AND 8,000 SQUARE FEET OF SPACE

FOSTER CITY, CA (July 8, 2004)—One of the Bay Area's favorite destination spots just got a new facelift from Rudolph and Sletten General Contractors.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium, which attracts 1.7 million visitors each year, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year with a $10 million makeover from Rudolph and Sletten that includes some 8,000 square feet of newly enclosed public space.

Highlights of the renovation include a new glass roof enclosure for the boiler courtyard, a relocation of the north window wall to include a new skylight with enhanced Bay views, a large indoor ticketing center to help reduce waiting, and a new interior skywalk connecting the upper levels of the Aquarium's two wings. The architect for the project was Esherick Homsey Dodge and Davis of San Francisco.

Known for its innovative construction of complex and highly technical facilities, Rudolph and Sletten served as the general contractor for the original construction of the Aquarium from 1980-84. The company later built the Outer Bay Wing, a major addition to the east of the original building that opened in 1996.

"We have a long history working with Monterey Bay Aquarium," said Allen Rudolph, President and CEO of Rudolph and Sletten. "We have been their builder since the beginning. It has been an exciting challenge to construct this highly complex facility, and then to see it expand. This latest renovation offers visitors a better way to navigate through the aquarium with improved access overall."

The new visitor experience at the Monterey Bay Aquarium begins after entering through sliding glass doors into a new indoor 2,000-square-foot indoor ticketing lobby. The ticketing space, which doubles the number of ticketing stations, features an exhibit wall of high-definition video screens showing Aquarium life and ocean scenes.

From there visitors enter the Aquarium through the new boiler courtyard. The boiler courtyard now showcases the cannery boilers of the historic Hovden Cannery that were at the Aquarium entrance.

The renovation gives visitors a better opportunity to focus on the Aquarium's heritage as part of Cannery Row. The aquarium occupies the site of the Knut Hovden Cannery, which was built in 1916, and closed in 1973. Three boilers from the cannery that were standing largely unnoticed by the aquarium's entrance are now focal points in the atrium courtyard.

The dramatic highlight of the renovation is the new skywalk, a 144-foot- long steel truss cantilevered bridge that connects the mezzanine of the Aquarium's Original Nearshore Wing with the mezzanine of the Outer Bay Wing. The skywalk rises 15 feet above the ground, and provides easy access between the two wings for the first time.

"The goal of this project was to really open up the space," said Stephanie Schmitt, Senior Project Engineer for Rudolph and Sletten. "Before when visitors entered the Aquarium after purchasing their tickets, they would come into a very congested area. There was limited space and people came downstairs from both wings to get across and get back upstairs to the other side. The skywalk has relieved the congestion."

Rudolph and Sletten conducted an extensive pre-planning phase in order to minimize the impact of construction on the public as well as the fishes and animals that are part of the Aquarium. "Our preparations were successful," said Andy Enos, Project Superintendent for Rudolph and Sletten. "Attendance was actually slightly higher during the construction phase than before, and we were able to minimize noise and have no impact on the integrity of the exhibits or the flow of visitors through the facility."

In addition to the main renovations, Rudolph and Sletten also moved many departments out of the old administration building in order to build the new ticketing area. As part of the transfer, Rudolph and Sletten relocated the security command center, a secondary electrical room, the main telecommunications room, the vet lab, the food prep center and the elevator serving the building.

Highlights of the Renovation

• Visitors seldom have to wait outside to obtain tickets to the Aquarium. The new 2,000-square-foot indoor ticketing area has six ticketing stations, an increase of three. It also offers a wall of high-definition video screens showing videos of aquarium life to enhance the visitor experience.
• From the ticketing area, visitors move into an enclosed 6,000-square-foot boiler courtyard area. This light and open area, which was formerly the boiler house, contains the three old sardine cannery boilers that form part of the aquarium's historic legacy. Plasma screens in the room show videos recounting the cannery history. The boiler courtyard features quartzite flooring from China. From the courtyard visitors can look up and see the skywalk. Rudolph and Sletten was able to construct the space and install the steel truss for the skylight roof without removing the replica smokestacks or guy wires on the roof, saving the Aquarium $500,000.
• The new skywalk, which is 8 feet wide and 144-feet-long, is designed to improve visitor traffic flow with less congestion. It connects the second floor of the Kelp Forest in the Nearshore Wing with the Outer Bay galleries. The steel truss bridge provides stunning views of the sea otter exhibit, as well as Monterey Bay through the north window extension. The other side of the bridge provides views of the new boiler courtyard. Rudolph and Sletten constructed the bridge after extensive pre- planning and pre-field engineering. The bridge is made of black structural iron.

  Before the bridge was assembled, each piece of steel was prepped, primed and coated with an intumescent fire proofing paint. The bridge was built offsite in five separate segments, each approximately 28 feet long. Each segment was brought to the aquarium, erected, and then welded together, a painstaking process over a 10-day period. The bridge is cantilevered like a train trestle bridge, with its only support at each end. The guardrail along the sides of the bridge is stainless steel guardrail mesh from England, with an ipe wood cap to match the ipe wood flooring. The ipe used is a sustainably grown and harvested hardwood, certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The bridge was designed for the Aquarium by Rutherford and Chekene, structural engineers of Oakland, California.

"The work done by Rudolph and Sletten has really been a huge improvement for the Aquarium and its visitors," said Marty Manson, Project Director for the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

"It has been an excellent partnership and we are very pleased with the results of this renovation. It was a complicated project in a very small space, and we also needed to stay open during the entire renovation process. It took a professional and capable team to make it work."

Manson said that because of the renovations, the ticketing process moves much more quickly, and the Aquarium "now has a truly spectacular interior space that interprets the heart of the original cannery, the steam plant that powered the cannery." She added that "the skywalk made it much easier to go from one wing to another without having to come back down and cross through an already crowded space."

About Rudolph and Sletten
Rudolph and Sletten (www.rsconstruction.com) is one of the leading general contracting firms on the West Coast. As a pace setter in the construction industry, Rudolph and Sletten has provided quality-oriented general contracting and construction management services for over four decades. Rudolph and Sletten's expert professionals manage each job comprehensively, from site selection and preconstruction services through project completion. With its corporate headquarters in Foster City, the company also has regional offices in Roseville, Irvine, and San Diego, California.

Rudolph and Sletten's building expertise includes virtually all types of projects with an emphasis on those markets where their technical expertise and quality excel: corporate campuses and office buildings, biotechnology and pharmaceutical research and manufacturing, health care, electronics, and high-tech research. Other areas of expertise include parking structures, educational institutions, housing, public attraction, and retail facilities. Rudolph and Sletten's current clients include Hewlett-Packard, Genentech, Kaiser, Stanford University, Chiron, eBay, and the University of California.

About Monterey Bay Aquarium
Since its opening on October 19, 1984, the Monterey Bay Aquarium (www.montereybayaquarium.org) has attracted more than 35 million visitors from around the world, including more than 1.25 million children admitted free for educational programs. The first-ever Zagat Survey U.S. Family Travel Guide, which was released in May 2004, rates the Monterey Bay Aquarium as the best aquarium in the United States and the overall No. 3 top-rated family attraction in the country.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2004. The award-winning aquarium offers families an enriching, educational and entertaining visitor experience in nearly 200 galleries and exhibits devoted to the diverse habitats of Monterey Bay. The aquarium is home to more than 35,000 animals and plants representing 650 species of fishes, invertebrates, mammals, reptiles, birds and plants found in Monterey Bay and other regions of the world.

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