Creating the exhibits - A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer - page 192

simply started at one end of the corridor and kept walking until they
reached the other end. They would glance into each tank, but they never
stopped walking.
I noticed, from where I stood at the beginning of that long hallway,
that the outsides of the tanks all looked the same. Every window was
the same height, width, and distance from the ground. Nothing on
the exterior of all those exhibits di¤erentiated one from another. It
dawned on me that for some people the identical size and shape of the
outside of the tanks subconsciously meant that things were much the
same on the inside too. There was little motivating them to stop and
really look at what was on the other side of the glass.
The first-glance impression is a key element in determining a visi-
tor's overall day-at-the-aquarium experience. With that observation in
mind, I knew I had to make the outside of every exhibit tank at the
Monterey Bay Aquarium appear distinctly di¤erent. The aquarium win-
dows must vary in height, width, size, and sometimes shape from any
others within sight. This gives the visitor the subconscious message that
if the outside of each exhibit looks di¤erent, then the inside must be
di¤erent and therefore worth stopping to see. I believe that approach
has worked, and, except on impossibly crowded days, most visitors do
stop and look at what it is we're trying to show them.
LIVING KELP FOREST
Many exhibit projects needed to be tested to see if they would work.
The most experimental exhibit of all, however, the proposed living kelp
forest, was something of a gamble from start to finish.
A spectacular and unique underwater wonder of the world is the gi-
ant kelp forest habitat of the California coast. Not only was the grow-
ing tip of the giant kelp chosen as the aquarium's logo, but this beau-
tiful plant would be our centerpiece exhibit as well. Our vision was to
create for the aquarium visitor the exhilarating feeling experienced by
a scuba diver “flying” weightlessly and freely through a forest of gen-
tly swaying golden kelp plants.
But there was a problem. Until now, only small-scale experimental
work had been done with giant kelp; no one had ever grown it to any