The world’s second richest man, Carlos Slim, is poised to open a four-storey underground aquarium in Mexico City at a cost of approximately MX$250m (US$20m, €14.6m, £11.9m).
The 37,700sq ft (3,500sq m) Inbursa Aquarium is home to 5,000 marine animals (eventually to increase to 10,000) and features 230 different species (to increase to 307) of sea creatures, split across twelve different ecological zones through its 48 showrooms and five big tanks.
The aquarium, which opens to the public on 10 June, is one of the largest aquariums in all of Latin America, comparable to those in Atlanta, Shanghai, Dubai and London.
The building includes free internet connection and a smartphone app has been developed to allow visitors to scan a chip located next to the tanks to see each species in 3D or hear an explanation.
Inbursa is located in an area monopolised by Slim, which also features the headquarters of his conglomerate, Plaza Carso. Next door there is the Soumaya Museum, which holds 66,000 works of art by some of the best-known European artists from the 15th through to the 20th century.
The aquarium, which has the capacity to accommodate 7,500 visitors daily, was designed by Carlos Slim’s son, Fernando Romero of Mexico-based FR-EE Architects. Romero also designed the Soumaya Museum.
