Living: Symphony on Pier 3

Its pyramidal glass roof juts proudly into the sky, 157 ft. its splash of gaily colored panels shimmers in the sun's bright glow. As architecture, the new National Aquarium in Baltimore is striking; as a scientific and educational showcase, it already ranks among the nation's best.

Perched on Pier 3 at the eastern end of the harbor, the aquarium—city-owned and built without federal funds—was begun in 1976. Although Congress did not contribute funds for its construction, it nevertheless designated the rising structure a national aquarium in 1979. By July its three huge tanks were filled with almost 500,000 gal. of salt...

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