The OZEANEUM is an open house that is “flooded” from all sides by daylight and visitors, in a manner akin to that of water swirling around stones on the seabed. With its shape and colours it relates more to the sea, rather than to the buildings of the old town.

The building is divided into four individual sections, each of which is devoted to a particular exhibition theme. Dividing the building into four sections assured its successful integration in the surrounding architecture. All parts of the exhibition are situated in the upper floors. Thus, the round tour does not cross the visitor traffic at the foyer.

The design of each section of the OZEANEUM was essentially led by the building’s functional requirements. The aquaria are set around a central core of maintenance and technical equipment. The aquaria are incorporated into theme-tours of both, the Baltic and the North Sea. The outer form of the building corresponds to the trace of the tours, which leads visitors from the aquaria to the exhibition areas, through the “Giants of the Seas” display and then back to the foyer. Graceful slung ribbons reminiscent of sails in an ocean breeze wind their way around the facades of both, the aquarium and exhibition sections. They are no structural requisite but determine the building’s character with their slightly projecting edges, giving it a light, elegant shape.

The slung ribbons draw together the various sections of the building with their nuanced design and manifold buildings together and give them a strong, unified profile.

The ribbon-cladding is made out of large format, pre-formed steel panels which were produced and cut by a local company.

For interior and exterior flooring in and around the OZEANEUM original granite cobblestones were used. The entire outdoor area of the OZEANEUM has likewise been laid with granite and the same material can also be found in the foyer, where it serves to optically merge interior and exterior space.

Round “green tussocks” with a wooden rim upon which visitors may take a seat define the leisure area in the museum’s forecourt. They are planted with grass that blows in the wind and also offers a measure of shelter.