Shedd Aquarium

Designed to simulate a deep-sea experience, Shedd Aquarium's 5000-sq.-ft., newly renovated shop features a huge sculpted-fiberglass octopus whose tentacles are wrapped around columns and suspended from the ceiling. Five departments fan out in scallop-shell fashion, identified by double-panel acrylic banner signage and fiberglass and acrylic sculptures of sea creatures mounted atop chartreuse, custom-made fixtures. Video walls and murals of ocean photography add to the underwater ambience.

Design and Architecture: Schwartz Architects, New York City (signage and graphic design; associate architect); Escherick, Homsey, Dodge and Davis, Chicago (project architect); Shedd Aquarium design team

Suppliers and Fabricators: Barsanti Woodworking Corp., Chicago (fixturing); Schuler and Shook, Chicago (lighting); Larson, Tucson, Ariz. (animals); Miliken, La Grange, Ga. (carpeting); Neal Deaton and Assoc., Plymouth, Minn. (octopus); Proto Productions, Addison, Ill. (graphics and signage); Shedd Aquarium, Chicago (sound, video); Victor Stanley Inc., Dunkirk, Md. (seating)

Photography by Don Snower, Chicago.