From the idea to the finished underwater house — planning the project
The underwater world of LEGOLAND® ATLANTIS by SEA LIFE is home to more than 1,300 tropical fish and models built from over one million LEGO® bricks — an extraordinary enough fact in itself. It therefore comes as no surprise that since May 2009 this fascinating underwater world has become one of the largest visitor magnets in LEGOLAND.
The sharks, rays and clown fish in ATLANIS are now getting a new neighbour. For a period of 14 days, the Australian marine biologist Lloyd Godson will be living in an underwater house on the floor of the Ocean Tank, the largest tank in the ATLANTIS aquarium.
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The idea
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Lloyd had the idea when he heard about the new leisure park attraction. In 2008 he had already spent twelve days under water in an Australian lake as part of his BioSUB project.
But why does Lloyd want to go under water again? One reason is that he wants to break his own record and this time live under water for a whole fourteen days.
Apart from this, Lloyd is also a marine biologist and is always looking for new ways to find out about living under water. He wants to discover, for example, whether and how his bio-data will change during his time under water.
In ATLANTIS the conditions are ideal for this, as he can conduct his experiment in an environment that offers virtually real conditions but at the same time provides the benefits of a controlled environment. Furthermore, Lloyd can bring visitors closer to his dream of living under water, as people from all over the world will be able to follow him directly for the entire 14 days and will also be able to track his progress on the internet. Through the large glass windows of the underwater house, LEGOLAND® visitors will be able to look directly into Lloyd's home and will even be able to speak with him.
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The house takes shape
One of the biggest challenges when developing the project was planning Lloyd's underwater house. This demanding task was assigned to the engineering firm Lutat. After a four-month planning phase, the underwater house had finally taken shape on paper.
The result: the LEGOLAND® underwater house has the same construction principal as a diving bell. A diving bell is a container which is filled with air, but still remains under water. As the air pressure in the house is slightly higher than the water pressure, this ensures that no water can flood into the house, even if the diving bell is open at the bottom.
The LEGOLAND underwater house has a floor, but via a 70 x 70 cm hatch Lloyd and the divers can enter and leave the house at any time — without having to go through an airlock.
After three months of construction in Brno in the Czech Republic, the house was finally completed and transported to LEGOLAND Deutschland in Günzburg.
As the safety of the inhabitants in ATLANTIS always takes top priority, it was not possible for the house to be constructed under water. This meant that the entire house had to fit through the approx. 3 x 3 metre gap in the roof the aquarium. To ensure that it safely fits into the tank, Lloyd's new home has the following external measurements: 2.70 m long, 1.80 m wide and 2.10 m high. Inside the floor measures 2.50 x 1.60 metres, providing just four square metres of space for Lloyd.
A further challenge for the installation of the house was the concrete blocks that keep the house on the floor of the aquarium. To counteract the 8 tonnes of buoyancy of the underwater house and at the same time ensure that the units are still manageable, an iron core inside each of the eight concrete cubes ensures sufficient counterweight in a small space. Each block weighs around 2 tonnes.
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Planing the underwater experiment
When Lloyd Godson moves into his underwater habitat in ATLANTIS, he will be living in a strange and hostile world. Without the aid of technology there would only be enough air to survive for a few hours in such a small space. Nothing can be taken for granted and everything has to be precisely planned:
- How large can the underwater house be and what materials can be used?
- Where will his breathing air come from and how can the carbon dioxide be filtered out of it?
- How will Lloyd go to the toilet, how can he shower and what happens with the wastewater?
- What will he eat underwater?
- Won't the air humidity be too high?
As the underwater house is located in an aquarium, this places especially high requirements on the materials. All elements, such as the stainless steel framework of the house, the acrylic glass windows, the sealing materials and all the equipment inside, must be saltwater resistant. That means they must not corrode or emit any substances. If this happened, the fish in the surrounding water of the aquarium could suffer. For this reason, the SEA LIFE biologists have scrutinised and tested each individual element — from the sleeping bag right through to the toilet. The framework of the house and truss, for example, are made from high quality stainless V4A steel, the sidewalls are clad with pollutant-free PVC panels.
With an inside surface area of just four square metres (2.50 x 1.60 m) it will be pretty confined in the underwater house. To enable Lloyd to eat, sleep, shower and ride his bicycle, saving space was an essential factor. Before an item of furniture or object could be permitted into the house, Lloyd had to think very carefully about whether he really needs it or even has room for it. For Lloyd, creativity was thus required when planning the interior fittings and the equipment.
Lloyd's friend Dennis Chamberland from Florida, USA, is acting as his consultant. He assisted Lloyd with the BioSUB project and is a bioengineer at NASA where he works on life support systems for future Moon and Mars missions. Like Lloyd, Dennis Chamberland is fascinated by the idea of living under water and is planning to stage a large-scale underwater expedition in the near future.
Lloyd and Dennis have proven that you can really pack a lot into the smallest of spaces. For example, during the day the bed can be folded up against the wall so that Lloyd will have enough space to sit. However, Lloyd will have to forego many everyday comforts. This doesn't stop him from taking a bicycle that has been reduced to the bare minimum with him. To live under water as self-sufficiently as possible and to make sure he gets some exercise, Lloyd wants to pedal up part of the energy for his PC himself and at the same time attempt to set a new Guinness World Records™. His goal: to generate the largest amount of electricity ever generated by riding a bicycle under water.
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From one challenge to the next
Dennis and Lloyd planned the technical systems in the house together and were faced with challenge upon challenge. After a long time of tinkering about, they managed to find a solution for every problem.
Air supply under water
One of the most important aspects in planning the house was the air supply. How would the air come into the house and the carbon dioxide leave the house? In the LEGOLAND® aquarium Lloyd Godson won't be able to use systems like the ones used in space travel where excess carbon dioxide is filtered from the air using chemicals. This would endanger the health of the fish. Lloyd Godson and NASA bioengineer Dennis Chamberland therefore developed a different system: fresh air will be pumped by compressors into the house via a pipe. A valve ensures that the air pressure inside the house is slightly higher than the water pressure on the outside, i.e. approximately 1.4 bar. This prevents the water in the aquarium from rising through the hatch in the floor. The CO2-rich air that Lloyd exhales will be pressed outside via a special pipe system.
Lloyd will be monitoring all critical factors, such as the oxygen and CO2 levels, with sensors which will trigger an alarm and wake him even if he is asleep.
A dry house
To make sure his new underwater home does not get as wet inside as it did during his last attempt in an Australian lake, Dennis and Lloyd have come up with a new idea.
It is not possible to use standard air dehumidifiers in the aquarium. The hygroscopic (moisture absorbing) substances are extremely unhealthy for the fish. Even in an aquarium containing half a million litres of water, these substances would still have an extremely toxic impact, but in a lake or the sea they would be diluted below the tolerance threshold. Aquariums have a much more fragile balance than the ecosystems that they copy. An elegant solution was found to the problem of high humidity for the new world record attempt in LEGOLAND® ATLANTIS by SEA LIFE: compressors will take over the job of supplying the air. They compress the air to a high degree, which means that hardly any water can be transported by the air. The air in the underwater house will be so dry that no dehumidifiers are necessary.
Energy supply
Where will the electricity come from? This question presented yet another challenge for the development team. The difficulty lies in the fact that generators cannot be left running around the clock in such a small space. Lloyd has had bad experiences with equipment that permanently whirs away in the background. "The constant noise drives you crazy. I now have lots of new equipment that is extremely energy saving," explains Lloyd. "Everything runs with a 12 volt energy supply. The energy for the lighting comes from the solar cells on the roof of the aquarium. I also have my mini bicycle with which I can recharge my laptop. This is extremely important to me because this is how I will stay in contact with my visitors, friends and family throughout the whole time under water." In other words, for Lloyd this means hopping on his bicycle and doing some serious pedal pumping. Apart from his energy supply, Lloyd has another incentive for pedalling away every day. If he succeeds in generating 2,500 watt-hours of electricity during his 336 hours under water, then will be certain to set the Guinness World Records™ for the largest amount of electricity that has ever been generated by riding a bicycle under water — and that is an opportunity that Lloyd will not want to miss.
Strictly no risks
In spite of all the careful planning, there is always a residual level of risk. Even if his oxygen supply is working, other problems may arise that could not have been foreseen.
To make sure that Lloyd's safety is guaranteed at all times, the underwater house has an extensive safety system that monitors a wide range of different parameters. For example, a water sensor has been fitted to the floor of the house which will trigger an alarm as soon as the water level in the house rises. There is also an air monitoring device that measures the level of CO2 in the air as well as a fire alarm. Lloyd himself will also be carefully monitored. His pulse, for example, will be continuously measured. This is particularly important at night.
A team of two to three divers that have been trained by DAN (Divers Alert Network) for diving emergencies will be ready around the clock to get Lloyd out of the house in the event of an emergency. Although he will have his own diving mask and a small bottle of oxygen at the ready, should a life-threatening situation arise, he could get into trouble if the divers are not nearby.
Furthermore, via a webcam in the house the divers can constantly observe Lloyd at all times and check what is going should there be a problem. The divers will also supply Lloyd with fresh food about every three days.
