Aquarium

About The Project

In 2015 the Toledo Zoo completed a full renovation of a WPA era building housing their aquarium. During the renovation, an old but popular sculpture of a Great White Shark had to be destroyed. Graphite Design and Build was selected to create a new and improved shark for the space. The replacement needed to be as realistic and eye-catching as the beautiful new interior of the aquarium. The final model measures 18 feet in length and features ultra realistic details. Visitors now have a terrifyingly real face to greet them at the entrance of the new aquarium.

Along with the life-size Great White Shark, we also created an interactive animated shark head to show the complex movement of a shark bite. Visitors can turn a wheel to bring the biting shark to life. Half of the animated shark head is skeleton only, this way visitors can see the complex movement of the bones in an entire shark bite. We also added a Pacific Octopus sculpture to the hand sanitizer station for the touch tank. All of these details help immerse the zoo visitors into the entire aquarium educational experience.