ASCE Gold Award Goes to Seattle’s Ocean Pavillion

RESTON, VA -- The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has named the Seattle Aquarium Ocean Pavilion its 2026 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement (OCEA) Gold winner.

The OCEA Award, which has recognized exemplary civil engineering projects around the country each year since 1960, is ASCE’s most esteemed honor for projects. The award honors projects which exemplify state-of-the-art engineering skill and provide considerable contributions to local and regional communities, in addition to advancements of the civil engineering profession.

The Open Ocean Pavilion provides visitors to the Seattle Aquarium with an immersive experience to see marine life. It contains more than 500,000 gallons of water and includes a 30-foot-wide window that resists more than 1.1 million gallons of water pressure.

It is designed to withstand a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and can withstand the strongest windstorm. The project expanded the aquarium and facilitated an accessible connection between Pike Place Market and Puget Sound and represents the final piece of Seattle’s waterfront redevelopment vision.

“Projects like the Seattle Aquarium Ocean Pavillion demonstrate the best of civil engineering, while also showing how the contributions from our profession go well beyond the infrastructure we need for daily life,” said ASCE President Marsha Anderson Bomar, Ph.D., F.ASCE. “The structures we build create places where people can gather, learn, and better interact with the world around them. All of the winning projects demonstrate the importance of prioritizing public health, safety, and welfare, while incorporating innovative practices and technology. These projects and advancements improve quality of life and accommodate growth within our communities.

"I think back to this project, and it's really three projects woven together,” said Hannah Walters, P.E., SE, a structural engineer and senior associate at Magnusson Klemencic Associates, who served as project manager of construction for the Seattle Aquarium Ocean Pavilion, as she accepted the OPAL Gold Award.

“Combined with the overlook walk and the main corridor project, the Ocean Pavilion really wove [everything] together to transform the landscape from the city down to the waterfront, so we're grateful to be a part of that."

ASCE announced 12 OCEA Honor Awards in January, and top honors were announced on Thursday, October 15 as part of ASCEs OPAL (Outstanding Projects and Leaders) Gala held in Reston, Virginia.

This year, two projects tied for the OCEA Silver Award. The Lake Washington Ship Canal Large Lock Miter Gate Replacement in Seattle and the Hyperion Advanced Water Purification Facility in Southern California.

The Lake Washington Ship Canal Large Lock Miter Gate Replacement was an update to the Ballard Locks in Seattle, which are some of the busiest locks in the United States. The project included decommissioning the 240-ton, century-old miter gate leaves and replacing them with two newly fabricated 165-ton leaves.

This replacement project minimized the need for closures in the future due to maintenance, and ensures the locks remain in prime condition to serve the public.

Silver also went to California’s Hyperion Advanced Water Purification Facility, which delivers 1.5 million gallons of water and is part of the City of Los Angeles’ vision for a water-resilient future. Every drop of purified water produced by the Hyperion APWF directly offsets a drop of potable water.

The APWF plays a key role in advancing a future water supply strategy that aims to meet up to 50 percent of Los Angeles’ potable water demand with purified recycled water, turning wastewater into a vital, sustainable resource for millions of people.

The winner of the OCEA Bronze award is New York’s Central Business District Tolling Program, which is part of the city’s Congestion Relief Zone. This first of its kind in North America program uses approximately 110 detection points around Lower Manhattan to identify, classify, and toll vehicles entering the zone. The toll collection system uses devices that blend into the city’s existing infrastructure to minimize the visual impact.

Since the tolling program started in January 2025, the Congestion Relief Zone has seen an 11% reduction in vehicle traffic, increased transit ridership, and reduced travel times.

For more information on ASCE’s Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Awards, please visit https://www.asce.org/oceakit/. 

Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 160,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America's oldest national engineering society.

For more information, visit www.asce.org or www.infrastructurereportcard.org.