After 31 years, riverfront attraction is getting a makeover

By Katy Reckdahl

At age 31, the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas is up for a makeover.

The Audubon Nature Institute says it plans to close the aquarium’s Entergy Giant Screen Theater, move the building’s main entrance downriver, add 2,500 square feet by enclosing a breezeway along the front of the building and convert 17,000 square feet of interior space to exhibits and classroom use. Contractors also will upgrade mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, audiovisual and security systems.

Details are still being worked out. Audubon said the New Orleans architecture firm Eskew Dumez Ripple is working with CambridgeSeven, a Massachusetts architecture firm known for designing public spaces, and Cortina Productions, a Virginia firm known for museum design, on the changes.