Site: AB Baltic Mega Mall

Project Start Date: August 2005

Completion Date: December 2005

Client: ICM (Reynolds)

In late August 2005 we were contacted by ICM (Reynolds), the world’s leading designer and project manager of large scale aquariums. We were given the task to build and install an 8 meter tall coral reef exhibit for a 300 000 liter tank located in a large shopping mall in Lithuania. The exhibit had to fulfill two main requirements:

• It had to be fully constructed and installed before the end of December, since the mall’s owners had planned to open the site in time for the New Years shopping season.

• It had to be built to allow installation in a very limited space, since the exhibit would have to be installed inside the tank with the acrylic already in place.

Based on designs and drawings developed by ICM, we constructed a 1:10 scale model which was inspected and approved.

With the model approved, full scale construction of the exhibit commenced in our factory in early September. Every single inch of the model was replicated right down to the last detail, and the entire exhibit was built in interlocking sections that would re-assemble together easily inside the tank. By the end of October we had completely finished the exhibit in our factory, having taken just 2 months to fabricate. The exhibit was inspected and approved by the client, and was then packed and shipped to Lithuania.

By early December the shipment had arrived in Lithuania and a three-man team was sent to start the installation. Each section of the exhibit was unloaded from the container and carefully lifted into the tank. Each piece interlocked one on top of the other with minimal work required to re-assemble the sections, a crucial advantage in such tight space within the acrylic walls of the tank.

All joints were made completely seamless and invisible, and the base of the exhibit was bonded to the bottom of the tank. This was done without using any penetrating pins or anchors, and without disrupting the existing waterproofing in any way.

The entire installation process was finished in less than 15 days, well within the year-end deadline.

In a grand opening ceremony, the mall opened to the public perfectly in time for the Christmas/new year’s season. The aquarium is now a major landmark in Lithuania, and is the largest of its kind in the Baltic region. The tank acts as a major draw in attracting potential shoppers and has greatly increased foot traffic through the mall.