UPDATE: A.P. Construction has completed the last phase of the $30 million construction project for The Maritime Aquarium, located in Norwalk, CT. The 6,100-square-foot meerkat exhibit was the latest project completed for the Aquarium in a joint venture with O&G Industries.
The Meerkat exhibit project was funded as part of the CDOT’s Walk Bridge Replacement project, which saw the IMAX Theater and the structure housing the Meerkats and Go Fish Exhibits demolished.
The expanded exhibit is located on the second level of the aquarium and is twice the size of the original, with three viewing “bubbles” to provide visitors a greater view of the meerkats. The exhibit also complements the museum’s “Just Add Water” section, which displays how the state of the world’s oceans affects climate and habitats that aren’t near water.
“These are active animals that are very charismatic with highly interesting social structures, so they’re a lot of fun for our guests to follow,” Barrett Christie, the aquarium’s director of animal husbandry, said in a news release.
“Meerkats!” was initially supposed to be a temporary exhibit when it launched in 2010, but it quickly became a guest favorite and was made a permanent addition to the aquarium’s species collection, according to the Aquarium.
A.P. Construction, in joint venture with O&G Industries, recently completed a major $30 million construction project for The Maritime Aquarium, located in Norwalk, CT. The 30,000-square-foot project consisted of two separate additions, the largest transformations in The Maritime Aquarium’s 33-year history.
One of the additions was a new 12,000-square-foot live seal exhibit which includes a new 150,000-gallon saltwater tank, a complex life-support system to maintain water quality, where constant filtering cleans and sanitizes all 150,000 gallons every 66 minutes, a new area for preparing the seals’ food, vitamins, and nutritional supplements, an adjacent veterinary clinic equipped with state-of-the-art surgical and treatment facilities, and three small pools where a seal can be isolated for treatment or post-op care if needed.
Seal Tank Challenges
4D Theater & Logistics
Seal Tank Time-Lapse
Welcome to Pinniped Cove
The tank features a 2-level glass viewing enclosure that reaches the original exhibit’s balcony level and offers opportunities to view the seals from underwater on the first floor and above the surface on the second floor. “This is one of the best and largest displays devoted to harbor seals in the U.S.,” said Barrett Christie, the Aquarium’s director of Animal Husbandry. “Fabricated rock work on the bottom and along the edges simulate their native natural environs of New England. Guests have the opportunity to watch as our staff feeds the seals and works with them on animal-husbandry techniques,” Christie said.
The new seal habitat called “Pinniped Cove” is eight times larger than their original 19,000-gallon exhibit, where the seals lived from 1988-2019. It’s also more than one-third larger than The Maritime Aquarium’s signature 110,000-gallon, 18-foot-deep shark exhibit. “As excellent as the exhibit will appear to our guests, it’s equally as excellent behind-the-scenes for the seals’ daily and potential advanced care,” Christie added.
The other addition was a new 12,000-square-foot 4D theater featuring 166-seats, 3D digital projection, proprietary 4D sensory seats, and other in-theater entertainment equipment, as well as a concession stand and a new entrance canopy. The new multipurpose theater also has a stage for lectures and other presentations.
The new theater, located next to the facility’s main entrance, replaces the IMAX theater which was shuttered to make room for improvements to the Walk Bridge, a railroad span over the Norwalk River that runs closely adjacent to Connecticut’s second-largest family attraction.
A.P. Construction’s team overseeing the project included Project Director, Dave Breidenbach, and Project Manager, Dimitri Seferidis. The architect was Beyer, Blinder, Belle. Construction management was a joint venture of A.P. Construction and O&G Industries.
Click to view The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk project page.
