After seven months of construction, repair work on the National Aquarium’s glass pyramid roof is nearly complete and its Upland Tropical Rain Forest is weeks away from reopening.
Contractors this summer finished replacing 684 glass panes in the rooftop pyramid, which encloses the rain forest exhibit below, and took down the crane that was used for that work. More recently, a crew has been installing and testing LED lights around the edges of the pyramid, so it can be illuminated and stand out more on the skyline at night.
Last week, crew members could be seen using an orange cherry-picker to reach the outer edges of the pyramid, and some city residents have noticed the lights going on and off after dark.
The building on Inner Harbor Pier 3 is owned by the city of Baltimore but operated by the non-profit aquarium, which also operates the Marine Mammal Pavilion on Pier 4. The Pier 3 building marked its 41st anniversary in August.
The repair work got underway after at least one aging pane of glass shattered in 2019 and aquarium officials decided to replace them all at a cost of $7.75 million. The state of Maryland provided $7 million for the work; additional grants came from Baltimore City, Baltimore County and the Abell Foundation.
The aquarium used the opportunity to install energy-efficient, “bird-friendly” replacement glass to set an example for others. Work began in March, and the rain forest exhibit has been closed to visitors since work got underway.
Aquarium president and CEO John Racanelli said last week that the repair work is on time and on budget. He said he doesn’t have a specific date to reopen the rain forest exhibit, but he hopes to have it back open before Thanksgiving, Nov. 24.
The aquarium is planning its second “Voyages” event on Nov. 17, a date when the aquarium will be open in the evening and feature “audio-focused” tours of its exhibits and an after-party with emcee Eze Jackson and DJ Trillnatured. Racanelli said that may be a good time to turn on the lights and reopen the rain forest exhibit, if everything is ready.
Immersive exhibit
Racanelli, 67, was honored at the Horseshoe Casino Baltimore on Thursday during the annual meeting of Visit Baltimore, the city’s official destination marketing organization, which gave him one of its highest honors, the William Donald Schaefer Visionary Tourism Award.
He has been the aquarium’s CEO for 11 years, and the roof repair project is the latest of many improvements he’s initiated at its Inner Harbor campus during his tenure. He gave Baltimore Fishbowl a construction update after the award presentation.
The rooftop exhibit is an immersive recreation of a South American rain forest, which the aquarium calls “one of the most biologically diverse – and rapidly disappearing — habitats on Earth.” The exhibit has a capacity of 2,700 visitors a day.
Before the rain forest exhibit can reopen, Racanelli said, staffers need to move back more than 100 creatures who live there and were temporarily relocated to the aquarium’s Animal Care and Rescue Center on Fayette Street while the roof work was underway.
The list includes tropical birds such as the Blue-Crowned Motmot; two-toed sloths and golden lion tamarin monkeys, also known as golden marmosets. The only creature that wasn’t moved, Racanelli said, was a coqui frog that stayed behind.
Racanelli said last week that the animal move hasn’t started yet but is expected to take about three weeks. He said staffers will monitor the animals to make sure they’re settled before allowing visitors back in, and that’s part of the reason there’s not yet a firm reopening date.
“We have to make sure we give the animals enough time to get reoriented,” he said.
Racanelli noted that all of the old pyramid glass, about 46 tons, was recycled to make glassphalt, a paving material that incorporates crushed glass and will be used on roads around Maryland. Portions of Charles Street at one point had a glassphalt surface.
He said the aquarium will be able to make the roof lights any color, and the first color they plan to use is purple. At Chattanooga’s Tennessee Aquarium, which also has illuminated pyramids, multiple colors can glow in alternating sections, such as red and white for a candy cane effect.
The final phase of the roof repair work, Racanelli said, will be installing a new membrane roof over a flat surface that’s above the snub-nosed section that juts out toward the harbor and was used as a staging area for the glass replacement project.
Design Collective Inc. is the architect for the glass replacement project, and Plano-Coudon Construction is the lead contractor. Peter Chermayeff of CambridgeSeven was the original architect who conceived of putting a terrestrial exhibit atop an aquatic museum, an idea that has since been repeated around the world.
Marketing Baltimore
Named after the former mayor who famously took a dip in the aquarium’s seal pool when the aquarium didn’t open on time, Visit Baltimore’s William Donald Schaefer award is given to people in the tourism industry whose leadership and commitment support the agency’s efforts to market Baltimore to visitors.
As CEO since 2011, Racanelli leads a staff of 360 employees, 800 volunteers and 10,000 animals.
He told more than 400 people attending Visit Baltimore’s event that he was accepting the award on behalf of the aquarium’s entire team, staff and volunteers. He said he’s proud that 80% of the aquarium’s visitors — more than one million a year — come from outside Maryland and bring “new dollars” into the local economy.
“When people visit Baltimore,” he said, “we all benefit – cultural institutions, hotels, restaurants — all of us.”
This summer, he said, the National Aquarium and the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore welcomed 2,300 people who attended the annual conference of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, a gathering that drew visitors from 18 countries.
Last year’s recipient of the Schaefer award was Rebecca Alban Hoffberger, who has since retired as director of the American Visionary Art Museum. Racanelli said he has no plans to retire.
Other Visit Baltimore awards this year included “the Bridge Award,” to Donte Johnson of Hotel Revival Baltimore in Mount Vernon and Juan Webster of the Sagamore Pendry Hotel in Fells Point, and the Charm City Champion Award, to retired Major Milton L. Corbett from Baltimore’s police department.
