Georgia Aquarium

[URBAN GURU]

Published on: 03/28/05
A closely guarded secret finally is out: The Georgia Aquarium will have five huge displays of aquatic life, including a deep-water ocean exhibit, a rare Indo-Pacific coral reef, and a 50-foot fishing trawler for kids and adults to play on.

A see-through tunnel beneath the open ocean exhibit will let spectators get right next to the aquatic creatures. A river exhibit tour will feature a tunnel or long walkway with transparent walls and ceilings, according to blueprints of the exhibits.

The aquarium, under construction last month, will resemble a modern Noah's ark. Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, who is funding the attraction, intends it to be a 'vessel' for education, entertainment and conservation.

What you'll see inside the Georgia Aquarium
• Five main exhibits, which will use 5 million gallons of water
• 55,000 fish, with 20 barracuda, 100 black piranhas and 3,000 mullets
• A clear tunnel that puts spectators next to deep-water creatures
• A play area with a fishing trawler, lighthouse and boathouse

• What will be at the aquarium?

• Graphic: See

[tamtagon]

I went to Centennial Olympic Park Friday afternoon, and the aquarium already makes a pretty dramatic sight from the popular fountains in the middle of the park.

This area is shaping into a fantastic city scape.

Centennial Olympic Park is a very detailed open space buffer between the football and basketball/hockey stadiums and downtown business district. Georgia Tech is a couple blocks North of the Park. The CNN building, located on the southern edge of the Park, awaits the destination bookend brought by the Aquarium and Coca Cola Museum which will line the northern edge of the Park. The Western remnants of the warehouse district much of which was bulldozed to make the park is rapidly gentrifying into office space conversions or redeveloped as mid- & highrise condos/apartments.

As a destination for tourists, the Aquarium promises to be one of Atlanta's most popular.

[URBAN GURU]

Famed chef Wolfgang Puck to oversee aquarium eats

By JIM THARPE
Published on: 07/26/05
Internationally renown chef Wolfgang Puck will oversee catering and the food court at the Georgia Aquarium, aquarium officials announced this morning.

Puck said his team will handle "everything from a sandwich to an eloquent banquet" at the aquarium, which is scheduled to open Nov. 23.


The announcement was made in the facility's 17,000-square-foot ballroom, which will be the site of various events, from wedding receptions to convention banquets.

The room, which can seat about 1,100 people, is bounded on several sides by the glass walls of some of the aquarium tanks.

Puck clearly was impressed by what he saw.

"I think this is the new diamond for Atlanta," Puck said. "I think it will be an international destination."

Tuesday's press conference was the first glimpse reporters have been given of the 430,000-square-foot aquarium's interior. Aquarium mastermind Bernie Marcus has secreted away many of the facility's specifics during its more than two years of construction as part of marketing plan to create maximum buzz in the run-up to the opening.

Located at the north end of Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta, the aquarium is the largest in the United States and one of the largest in the world. It is the only aquarium outside of Asia to house giant whale sharks, the largest fish in the world. Beluga whales will also swim in huge tanks at the facility.

The aquarium will contain more than 100,000 fish representing more than 500 species, and its giant tanks will hold more than 5 million gallons of water.

City officials view the big fish tank and the next door World of Coca-Cola museum (slated for a 2007 opening) as key components in a major push to revitalize downtown. The city is also trying to land the NASCAR museum, which would be located in the same area, only a few blocks from CNN and the Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta's largest convention facility.

The aquarium is expected to attract 2 million visitors its first year and create more than 200 jobs.

Marcus has stressed that he wants the aquarium to be more than an entertainment venue. More than 70,000 schoolchildren are expected to visit the aquarium every year and special curricula will be designed for them.

The aquarium will also emphasize research, linking its efforts to those of various universities like Georgia Tech and Georgia State University. Already the aquarium is funding research efforts at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla., one of the best-known facilities of its type in the country.