Tenji has been involved with the design of a very ambitious new night club venue called The Dive Bar in Sacramento for over the past year and the installation is in full swing now. The theme is of a “rough-around-the-edges joint” with broken walls and distressed interior. The main feature is a 48 foot long aquarium suspended over (yes OVER!) the bar. Check out the massive steel support structure in the pictures.

The aquarium will feature schools of silvery and colorful fish and the interior of the tank is themed with another bar that happens to be in a sunken booze-running prohibition era ship. It’s complete with roulette wheel, floating booze bottles, torn holes in the hull, old suitcase, and other period details.

Now, get this… Every once in a while, without announcement, a fully costumed mermaid will provocatively swim the length of the tank and back. A special access weir box has been included in the tank design to facilitate her surprise entrance.

The tank was lifted into place at 3am on Thursday, August 19th, so now begins another exciting Tenji installation!  You can read a bit about the bar in this Sacramento Press article.

Stay tuned!

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Discovery Place saw a 26% increase in attendance after the new remodel.  Congratulations on all the hard work done!

You can read more here.

The spectacular Aquamarine Fukushima (AMF) aquarium had it’s big 10th year anniversary party earlier this month. People attended from all over the world and Tenji was one of 10 speakers asked to present at the event. The symposium theme was the future of aquariums and sustainability. Tenji spoke on the topic of the importance of providing exhibits that cater to families and kids.

The festivities spanned three days and the media coverage was extensive. It was a great honor to be asked to attend and participate. Tenji has a long history of collaborating the Director Abe and his team – actually starting back at their first year. The synergy of our teams is very exciting.

By the way, Tenji turns 10 this year too!

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