Flying foxes and hundreds of other animals look down on the streets of Baltimore from their homes high in the Australian river gorge.
Architects: Chermayeff, Sollogub & Poole. This firm’s principals also designed the Aquarium’s main building on Pier 3.
Construction: Aqua Venture, a partnership of Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. and Barton/Malow
Exhibit Design: Exhibits and Design department, National Aquarium in Baltimore
Groundbreaking: September 5, 2002
Opening Date: December 16, 2005
Size:
- 64,500 square feet
- 120 feet high at the tallest point
Materials:
- 1 hand-knotted metal screen, measuring 15,000+ square feet, to keep the birds, bats and free-roaming lizards safely inside the exhibit
- 120+ pilings, driven 40 feet into the harbor, support the extra weight of the new building
- 150+ plants, all indigenous to Australia
- 1,000 gallons a minute will tumble over the 35-foot waterfall
- 1,800 Australian animals
- 6,000 cubic yards of concrete – more than the capacity of the Marine Mammal Pavilion’s dolphin pool
- 33,000 square feet of crystal clear, low-iron float glass in the walls and roof
- 60,000 gallons of freshwater will circulate in the seven Australian-themed exhibits
