Case study · Barcelona · Tourism & Culture
L'Aquàrium de Barcelona — the Mediterranean you can hear.
From the Port Vell ticket booth to the Oceanari tunnel: NaviLens speaks by voice to anyone who can't read the signage, in their language, with no aiming or contact needed.
11,000+
Marine organisms across 80 tanks
80 m
Acrylic Oceanari tunnel
42
Languages with voice readout
+30 m
Code reading distance
The client
L'Aquàrium
de Barcelona
Located at the Port Vell, L'Aquàrium de Barcelona is the largest Mediterranean-themed aquarium in the world, hosting nearly 11,000 organisms from 600+ species across 80 themed tanks.
Its iconic space is the Oceanari: a large Mediterranean tank with 4.5 million litres and 1,200 organisms from 40 species, crossed by an 80-metre acrylic tunnel with a moving walkway and handrail, where sand tiger sharks, sandbar sharks and rays swim just centimetres from the visitor.
§ The challenge
A route in the dark, with signage you can barely read.
- 01
Dimly-lit route and summary codes
Large parts of the route are kept in low light to avoid stressing the animals. Species information is shown on new screens that can be hard to read for people with low vision because of their size. There isn't a code at every tank either: each NaviLens code gives a short summary of the area and names its main species.
- 02
International and family audience
L'Aquàrium welcomes visitors from all over the world and many families with young children. Signage in Catalan, Spanish, English and French falls short for an audience arriving in dozens of languages.
- 03
Entrance, route and services
Accessibility doesn't start at the first tank: it starts at the Port Vell ticket booth, continues at the entrance desk with visit information and runs through every stop of the route up to L'Oceanari (stop 18).
§ The solution
From the ticket booth to the tunnel, everything talks.
L'Aquàrium adds NaviLens codes on the ticket-booth façade, at the entrance desk, at the numbered stops of the route —such as L'Oceanari, stop 18— and next to information panels in the Mediterranean and Tropical halls.
With the free NaviLens app, the visitor points the phone without aiming and hears by voice —in any of the 42 languages— the area name, species info, rules (no touching, no flash) and the direction to follow.
§ Walkthrough
From the entrance to the Oceanari.
Entrance · Port Vell
Outdoor ticket booths
Ticket booths where visitors can buy admission to L'Aquàrium de Barcelona.
Access control
Turnstiles and services
«Access control. Straight ahead, ramp to the start of the route; ahead and to the right, the toilets». The audio places the visitor at the access control, explains that staff will validate the ticket, and describes the layout past the turnstiles: paid lockers on the left, toilets on the right, an escalator up to the cafeteria and the large wooden ramp with a floor screen leading down to the start of the route.
Oceanari · Tunnel start
Tunnel entrance
«Start of the Oceanari tunnel on the left. Moving walkway on the floor with a handrail on the right». The code announces arrival at the Oceanari —4.5 million litres, 1,200 organisms from 40 species— and warns that at the end of the tunnel a piece of furniture marks the exit on the right. It also introduces the stars: the sand tiger shark and the sandbar shark.
Oceanari · Second section
Medes Islands and second tunnel
«Following the wall to the right, Oceanari tunnel with moving walkway on the floor and handrail on the right». The audio describes the tank for the Medes Islands —a Marine Reserve on the Catalan coast— and guides the visitor to the second tunnel, where the next NaviLens code will be found at the exit.
§ And your destination?
Your destination can also guide in 42 languages.
Tell us about your routes, offices, monuments or galleries. We’ll show you how NaviLens would make your offer accessible —with comparable cases.
