The Age of Aquariums
Career path
Mr Murphy graduated with a BE in Civil Engineering from Auckland University in 1971. He developed his career with consulting firms in New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom, working on roads, bridges, industrial buildings and sugar refineries. As a self-employed engineer – he set up MJ Murphy Ltd in 1982 – he worked on coolstores, specialising in steel-polystyrene sandwich panel design.
During this time, he was approached to work on the design of Auckland's 700-berth Westhaven Marina. The contractor for the Westhaven job was also involved with Kelly Tarlton's. Thus Mr Murphy's connection with aquariums began by chance. Although Mr Murphy wasn't involved in the final building of the Auckland aquarium, the same people involved him in a project in Sydney, followed by one in Perth, then others in Queensland, Darwin, Hong Kong, Singapore...and the list goes on.
Word of mouth – along with the odd Internet enquiry – has seen Mr Murphy leave his mark around the world. His design for the San Sebastian Aquarium in northern Spain was a stunning 3.8-metre-wide by 10-metre-long oval, with an internal glass floor, and fish swimming all around. (He was a finalist in the 1999 IPENZ Engineering Excellence Awards with this project, losing out to the Sky Tower.) "It was my first full 360 degree acrylic tunnel – a world first," he says proudly. He recalls the typical deflection problems as the aquarium was filled with water. The first time it was filled, he had to be inside the tunnel as the water rose to see how the acrylic moved and to make sure it behaved according to his calculations.
Mr Murphy says that his biggest battles typically involve architects. On several projects the proposed structure has been "quite impracticable" because the architects have not designed aquariums before, and won't simplify the design to make the engineering feasible. "It's a frustration for a lot of engineers, I'm sure. In the aquarium game, the architect wants to have sexy curves and take out the columns, but it's got to be practical to build as well."
Dreams
Away from work, the father-of-four "jogs regularly to keep fit" and plays piano. But his passion – and something he toyed with as a new career for a while – is painting. He's currently working on contemporary interpretations of works by some of the Old Masters. "I find it relaxing and inspirational," he explains. "I've even sold a few but, sadly, not enough to live on."
The art world's loss, however, is engineering's gain. For now, Mr Murphy is concentrating on finishing his Spanish shark tank and on a coolstore in Takanini. He's happy to enjoy the lifestyle he has developed, which enables him to pick and choose his next "adventure". Some of the projects that cross his desk he describes as "totally ridiculous", but who knows what will appear next? If he had the choice he'd like to tackle a deep aquarium, with crossing tunnels – similar to plans he originally devised for a project near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which didn't eventuate."
That is something of a dream of mine," he added. On the evidence to date, don't bet against it becoming a reality.
Greg Adams is an Auckland-based freelance writer.
