Visitors to the Shedd Aquarium will be greeted by a more lively and centrally located lobby decorated with more than 1,000 porcelain fish beginning Wednesday.It's the latest piece of Shedd’s $500 million Centennial Commitment, an eight-year plan that will conclude in 2030, the museum’s 100th anniversary.Located in the aquarium's former accessible entrance, which was separated from the main entrance on its pediment steps, the new lobby offers an easier experience for guests without splitting up parties, said Sarah Hezel, Shedd's vice president for design and exhibits.“One of the really important things to us designing this was that it was as seamless, as welcoming, and as accessible as we possibly could make it,” she said. “What we wanted to do was really establish an entrance for all.”Immediately above guests as they walk into the Shedd is a hanging sculpture featuring 1,600 porcelain fish representing six Lake Michigan native species. The 94-year-old building had only sculptures of saltwater species despite its location next to Lake Michigan, part of the largest freshwater system in the world. Hezel said the new sculptures fill that missing element within the aquarium.“It’s a way for us to appropriately uplift our mission for all aquatic life, not just marine life,” she said. The Shedd Aquarium’s hanging sculpture features 1,600 porcelain fish representing six Lake Michigan native species. Jim Vondruska/For the Sun-Times The Shedd Aquarium’s new entrance includes a service desk, a members suite and a large-scale porcelain fish sculpture.Jim Vondruska/For the Sun-Times The new entrance is more centrally located in the aquarium. Visitors can follow a ramp from the lobby to the Oceanarium or take the escalators up to the Shedd's historic galleries and Amazon Rising exhibit.Meghan Curran, Shedd’s chief marketing and experience officer, said the location gives visitors “an ability to understand all there is they can see at Shedd right as they walk in.”Along with the easier navigation point, the lobby features a gift shop and a members lounge, where current and prospective Shedd members can relax and get answers to membership questions. Related Amazon Rising exhibit at Shedd Aquarium lifted to new heights The new lobby was part of phase two of the aquarium’s Centennial Commitment plan. Up next will be a new “Wonder of Water” exhibit that will feature a dual habitat, one freshwater and one saltwater, in the aquarium’s rotunda. An opening date has yet to be announced. Construction for the Centennial Commitment, which includes two more phases, will be completed in 2027, when the focus shifts to programming until 2030.Outside the new entrance, surrounding the Man with Fish statue, a new garden and ticketing center will be completed by the spring. Hezel said the garden creates a more interactive and immersive experience as visitors arrive at the aquarium compared with walking up the less lively pediment steps. Curran said the new entryway creates a more welcoming space to start a visit to the Shedd.“It wasn’t always easy to get into Shedd,” she said. “Creating an entrance that sets up the experience, to easily move into immersion, helps us start the visit on the right foot and put the experience in the control of the guest.” The Man with Fish statue is in a new courtyard created outside the Shedd Aquarium entrance.Jim Vondruska/For the Sun-Times The Shedd Aquarium’s new entrance and lobby.Jim Vondruska/For the Sun-Times