While walking through the Mall of Louisiana, shoppers might stumble on the usual eye-catchers in shop windows, but something of a different, more unusual fashion can be found these days.
A 110-ton sandcastle stretching roughly 25 feet high stands in the Center Court of the Mall of Louisiana to catch every eye.
The California-based sand-sculptors Sandscapes built the project, dubbed “King Neptune’s Realm” for its articulate, oceanic theme featuring a gargantuan mermaid cove and shipwreck, sharks, dolphins, seashells and a King Neptune, specifically for the Mall of Louisiana.
“In Baton Rouge we put Styrofoam in the core to lighten the load,” said sculptor and Sandscapes partner Greg Glenn. “It’s equivalent to a 300-ton project.”
Glenn said that 99 percent of the time, Sandscapes will make the whole project out of sand, but for structural precautions in the mall, Sandscapes had to construct a Styrofoam core, then pack the sand on top.
Glenn said that they built the core and then brought local sand to the structure to pack on in giant masses.
From that point, they just carved and brushed down the sand to the end formations.
“I didn’t think it would end up looking like this,” said Kim Davis, a sales associate for Crystal Craze, a kiosk located next to the creation in the mall. “It was just dirt at first.”
Shoppers of all ages can be seen walking through the wooden overhanging, staring at the intricate and delicate creatures of the sea.
“Sand, it’s not just for kids,” Glenn said. “Everyone gets something out of it.”
Davis noticed that adults more than kids usually marvel at the site, and a lot of couples seem to be attracted to it.
Sandscapes, 14-time World Sand-Sculpture Champions, spent 18 12-hour days on the project from when they arrived and started gathering materials to the day they left.
Anyone who has built a sandcastle can testify to the short life-span of most of the fragile structures, and with 110 tons of sand, that could be a big mess.
“The way it’s compacted, they’ll last indefinitely,” Glenn said. “It’s indoors, out of the weather, and with the [Styrofoam] core, it’s more stable. We’ll have elements fall, but never something catastrophic.”
Glenn said that they do not push it on professional jobs, only in competitions.
Sandscapes, which was started in the early 1980s as a competition team on the southern beaches of California, became a professional job for the sculptors in 1987.
Each year, the team of six sculptors constructs about 60 projects — ranging from sandcastles to wildlife to fairy tales to celebrities. Most of the projects are for public attractions, half of which are indoors, but a few creations are for competitions.
“The subject matter is chosen by the client,” Glenn said. “We never practice [a project].”
The Mall of Louisiana, which has employed Sandscapes four times, learned about the company through the brochures and pictures Sandscapes sends through direct mailing to increase awareness of the company’s capabilities, Glenn said.
When children or adults finish building these brittle structures, they often run to their parents with big smiles seeking approval and get aggravated at the wind, ocean or younger sibling when they are destroyed, but not these professionals.
“Sand sculptors must be a strange breed,” Glenn said. I don’t get attached to it. I just analyze it, see what worked and what didn’t, then go on to the next. I think I got that from the beach where you were fortunate if it lasted a few hours. We’d just say ‘All right, it’s done. Let’s go to the bar.'”
“King Neptune’s Realm” will be featured at the Mall of Louisiana through June 13.