Ecocentro, Marine science museum in Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Ecocentro is a marine science museum in Puerto Madryn built on a cliff with large windows offering views of the Patagonian Sea and its inhabitants throughout the building. The structure is designed so that visitors see ocean life from multiple angles as they move through the exhibits.

The Ecocentro opened in 2000 as the headquarters of the Fundación Ecocentro, a non-profit founded by Alfredo Lichter and José Manuel Eliçabe. Lichter, an environmentalist and writer, chairs the foundation, which has received distinctions from the Administración de Parques Nacionales and Revista Lugares.

The permanent exhibitions are named: "A orillas de un frío río de mar" on the physical, biological and human aspects of the Patagonian Sea; "Lejano y profundo mar" on deep-sea geography and species; "Habitantes de un pozo de marea", a replica tidal pool with marine invertebrates; and "Sombras y rumores de ballenas", on the southern right whale. The art project "Mar Argentino, arte y conservación" adds works such as Clorindo Testa's nine-metre red marine animal covered in plastic bottles and shoes collected on Península Valdés beaches.

The building covers 2,000 m² on a cliff facing the Patagonian Sea, with wooden terraces looking toward the horizon. Inside, an auditorium seats more than 150 people and a classroom is equipped for educational programs. The tower holds a library and a lookout over the water, and the upper floor around the main hall shows works by artists inspired by the sea.

The whale skeleton outside came from a specimen that stranded in front of the Ecocentro in May 2001, and it is mounted on a red beam. Inside the tower hangs Luis F. Benedit's Tursiops truncatus (2008), made with resin and the bones of a real dolphin skeleton, a work about bycatch and the accidental capture of marine species.