World's Most Expensive Aquarium Made with 24k Gold, Mammoth Tusk & T-Rex Bone.

The Aquavista Dinosaur Gold - The only Aquarium with a 65 million year old history.

This is the world's rarest, most exclusive, most expensive - and undoubtedly the most bizarre- fish tank ever made. 
No surprise that it's a product of Stuart Hughes of Liverpool, maker of all things elite (with the world's most annoying and poorly designed website) who was commissioned by Aquavista UK of London to design something luxurious and unique.




The result is a wall mounted panoramic aquarium whose frame is made with a massive amount of pure solid 24ct gold in the form of 68 kilograms. Embedded in the frame are two side veneers made from real mammoth tusk with a unique piece of dinosaur bone from an actual T-REX diagonally shaved into the tusk.



The specifications:
• Low maintenance – designed to simplify your life, the Aquavista Panoramic Wall Aquarium requires less 
than 15 minutes per month


• No daily care – complete with embedded Automatic Feeder, caring for your fish has never been easier. 
Just refill the feeder periodically and enjoy!


• Complete advanced aquarium system – the Aquavista Panoramic is pre-assembled with dual filtration 
system, heater, air pump, lighting, CO2 generator, and automatic feeder that is controlled by an easy to 
use programmable touch-screen control that simplifies all functions. Essential aquarium 
care accessories are included at no charge.




• Create an underwater garden – each unit comes with a Carbon Dioxide Generator that allows live plants to photosynthesize and 
flourish. Aquascaping is a new and growing hobby, and it has never been simpler.


• Space-saving design – Aquavista Panoramic Wall Aquariums’ sleek wall-mounted design brighten up any wall to create a 
clutter-free environment.


The project took 4 months to complete in London where Aquavista UK is based. Installation by Aquavista UK
.

Available as a limited edition of only 3
Priced at $4.8 million or £3 million

Buy it here

The New Batumi Aquarium From Henning Larsen Is Inspired By Beach Pebbles.

Henning Larsen Architects has won first prize for its significant design concept for a new aquarium in the Georgian seaport of Batumi. The invited competition took place in spring 2010 with the German architecture company Drei Architekten and the two American companies PJA Architects and Pryor & Morrow Architects among the participants.



The 2,000 m2 aquarium will replace the previous aquarium of the port and will be situated on the beach side of Rustaveli Str. adjacent to Batumi 6 May Park featuring a Dolphinarium and Zoo.



Inspired by the characteristic pebbles of the Batumi beach (above), continually shaped by the wash of the waves through millennia, the building (below) stands out as an iconic rock formation visible from both land and sea.



The formation constitutes four self-supporting exhibition areas where each of the four stones represents a unique marine biotype – the Aegean Sea & the Mediterranean Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Black Sea & the Red Sea and finally the more interactive exhibition space for teaching and “edutainment”.







The four dispersed aquarium exhibitions are connected by a central, multipurpose space including café, auditorium and retail functions with views of the black sea and Batumi beach as scenic backdrop. Visitors gather in the central space to convene, play, eat, shop and relax before continuing their adventures through the exhibitions.



Batumi Aquarium will become a modern, cultural aquarium offering visitors an educational, entertaining and visually stimulating journey through the different seas.



The central, multipurpose space in connection with the aquarium features a café and retail functions and its flexible layout makes it well-suited for presentations and workshops.

“It has been important for us to create a design that relates explicitly to local characteristics of Batumi while at the same time reaching out to the world”, says Anders Park, who is project manager for a number of Henning Larsen Architects’ projects in Georgia. “The aquarium interacts with its surroundings and becomes a manifestation of nature itself”.

Unfolding around the aquarium, a landscape of different sea archipelagos provides attractive opportunities for innovative outdoor research and learning, public space and meeting places along the beach.




The building's significant expression inspired by nature will not only make Batumi Aquarium a spectacular new landmark in Georgia but also a state-of-the-art contribution to exploring life underneath the sea surface.

Please click on the cross sections and plans below to enlarge (note: you will be taken away from the blog):








Project facts
Location: Batumi in the Republic of Georgia
Client: Association A.T.U.
Gross floor area: 2,000 m2
Year of design: 2010 - 2010
Type of assignment: First prize in invited competition
Project team: Louis Becker (design director, partner) Anders Park (project manager), Viggo Haremst (design responsible), Michael Sørensen and Jaewoo Chun.

press release and images courtesy of Henning Larsen Architects

The City of Batumi

Batumi is the capital of the south-western province Adjara in Georgia. The city has approx. 120,000 citizens and is situated by the Black Sea, approx. 20 km from the border of Turkey. Batumi is a very active tourist city and commercial port. Unlike other cities in Georgia, the houses of Batumi are richly coloured and the city bears the mark of being a sailor city with a number of restaurants and cafés. Batumi also has wonderful beaches and many small hotels.