Get a Behind-the-Scenes Look at OTL’s Alaskan-Themed Water Feature Coming to Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium
Posted in News -
Outside the Lines (OTL) craftsmen are putting the final touches on Alaskan Adventure, a children’s splash deck and water feature coming soon to the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha, Neb. Local ABC affiliate KETV NewsWatch 7 recently got a first look at the Alaskan-inspired splash park, which opens in June.
The $14 million water feature was funded almost completely by donors. It’s meant to teach kids how the Alaskan animals live and move, showcasing the habitats of orca and killer whales in an environment modeled after real photos of the animals in the wild.
Kids will be able to enjoy the new 75 bronze sculptures of puffins, salmon, brown bears and an 18-foot humpback whale, all while playing in the water sprays and spouts of the new splash ground.
Not only will the kids get to spend hot, summer days playing in the water zone, computerized systems will make it look like the animals are doing all the splashing.
OTL is completing the mechanical and electrical work for the whimsical water feature, which will systematically spray a mix of water and air through nozzles strategically arranged around the sculptures created by Nebraska’s Matthew Placzek. The computerized water effects simulate those made by the sea animals as they breech, porpoise, splash, spray water from their blowholes, and emerge from or dive into the ocean.
Alaskan Adventure is one of three zoological projects under construction or recently completed by OTL, which is nationally recognized for water feature expertise and for the design and construction of habitats that look and feel like the animal’s natural environment.
In addition to Alaskan Adventure, OTL created subarctic-inspired habitats for the $29.5 million Polk Penguin Conservation Center opening in April at the Detroit Zoo and realistic habitats for otters and grizzly bears for the 2015 expansion of Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia, S.C.
Their vast knowledge of hydraulic recirculation systems, temperature regulation and biological, mechanical and chemical filtration has also made OTL experts in creating habitats that incorporate aquatic Life Support Systems (LSS). That’s why world-class zoos and aquariums call upon the artisans of OTL to craft their intricate habitats, water flora and rock structures.
Read more about the Alaskan Adventure water feature project at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium at https://www.ketv.com/news/ketv-gets-look-at-omaha-zoos-alaskan-adventure-exhibit/38279732
If you would like to learn more about OTL’s zoos and aquarium expertise or how they make a nonviable environment into one that sustains life, contact OTL by email info@otl-inc.com or by telephone at 714.637.4747
