Charles Fishman, from Fast Company, describes the making of the Georgia Aquarium.

The Georgia Aquarium opened in 2005 and it cost more than “a quarter-billion dollars” to  build. The money to create the facility was “donated by Bernie Marcus, cofounder of Home Depot.”The facility, in downtown Atlanta, cost more than a quarter-billion dollars, donated by Bernie Marcus, cofounder of Home Depot.”

The article goes on to describe the infrastructure and animal care of Georgia Aquarium, and it describes its employees. The first employee the aquarium had was Jeff Swanagan the “former director of Tampa’s Florida Aquarium .” Swanagan describes the the types of drains that are located in aquariums around the world. He shows that most of the drains are not located in adequate spots. The drains are located far from the places were puddles form so, “all day, someone squeegees puddles into drains.” When the construction crew was working on the floor of the Georgia Aquarium, Swanagan made sure that the drains were adequately built in order to avoid having to use squeegees.

When the aquarium was under construction a lot of planning was put into the “meticulously planned work space.” “Staffers visited some 55 aquariums in 13 countries, compiling the best design ideas from each before the first blueprint was drawn.”

The most distinctive work area in the aquarium is the Ray Way, named after Ray Davis, “a Sea World veteran and the aquarium‘s head of zoological operations.” The work areas are distinct because of how the animals are cared for. A lot of attention is placed of making sure the animals are well and that they are moved carefully and painlessly.

This article is important for understanding some of thought process that was put into creating the aquarium. While it is rather short, it shows that their main objective is to make sure that the animals are properly cared for. Mainly people studying the structure of buildings and the thought process put behind creating a facility would be interested in the article.