A window this size cannot be transported by road and sea freight in one piece. Instead, AAT made nine 24.6 tonne sections - each 9 metres tall by 3 metres wide - at the company's wholly-owned PLEXIGLAS® manufacturing plant using certified German production methods. Each section was transported over 2,000 kilometres from the factory in China to the construction site on Phú Qu?c Island, South West Vietnam, where they were bonded 'shoulder-to-shoulder' to form the largest PLEXIGLAS® window ever made.
Commenting on the project, AAT Chief Executive, John Langmead stated “the Sea Shell's main tank has tremendous depth and volume, more than six Olympic swimming pools. Our PLEXIGLAS® window is over three-quarters of a meter thick to withstand the water pressure. As far as we know, this thickness is unprecedented.
The World of Giants tank is adjacent to a 3.8 million litre, 7 metre-deep World of Sharks tank, and running along the bottom of the two, connecting them, is a 58-metre viewing tunnel.
Sometimes called shark tunnels, these transparent underwater walkways are a much-loved feature of modern aquariums. What makes this tunnel different - aside from its length and the volume of water overhead - is that it passes through two dramatic underwater viewing rooms featuring PLEXIGLAS® walls and transparent ceilings made and installed by AAT.
Each 7-metre-wide domed ceiling comprises three sections of PLEXIGLAS® bonded together and then shaped over a mould in a purpose-built, 100 square-metre oven. AAT is a world leader at thermoforming giant, flat acrylic panels into prodigious structures for zoos and aquariums.
AAT invested over US $1 million in additional capital expenditure at its 18,000 square metre factory to deliver the Sea Shell.
Luciano Antonini, AATA Factory General Manager, is proud of his team's accomplishments, noting “our expanded workforce ran the factory 24x7 for eighteen months straight. We improved our energy resilience by converting our ovens to steam-heating, completed over 100 thermoforming works and over 115 panel-bonds.”