The Georgia Aquarium has put paperwork behind its next hands-on attraction. A building permit application has been filed for Explorer's Cove, a 9,400-square-foot project carrying a $4.3 million price tag. For an institution that already holds the title of the largest aquarium in the United States, the new space is less about adding size and more about changing how guests spend their time inside the building.
The emphasis is on touch. Plans call for two expansive touch pools, and the animals in them go beyond what many visitors might expect to handle. Guests will be able to interact with sharks, rays, guitarfish and sturgeon, a mix that puts some of the aquarium's more striking species within arm's length instead of behind glass.
Explorer's Cove also leans on screens as much as water. One feature lets guests draw an animal of their own in digital form, then watch that drawing swim across a giant video wall. The element pairs the real animals in the pools with a creative exercise, so a visit to the cove ends with both a hands-on encounter and a creature of the guest's own making.
The touch-pool project is not arriving alone. A second new experience is expected to debut at the aquarium in the same summer window. Called Destination: Dolphin, it is described as an immersive experience that features a theater with room for 1,800 people. Taken together, the two additions point to a busy season for the attraction, with one project focused on close encounters and the other on a large-audience setting.
Beyond the summer target, no specific opening date was given for either experience, and the permit filing marks an early step for Explorer's Cove rather than the finish line. For now, the plans signal continued investment at one of downtownATL's anchor destinations, which sits at 225 Baker St NW.
Original reporting by Libby Allnatt for What Now Atlanta.
