ZOO DESIGN GO WILD
Protecting exotic and endangered animals as well as helping visitors understand the importance of conservation are among the aims of the latest zoo design projects
KATHLEEN WHYMAN • MANAGING EDITOR • ATTRACTIONS MANAGEMENT
African Elephant Crossing, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, USA
Islands will be connected by a boat ride Islands, Chester Zoo, UK
The Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Bali, Sumatra, Sumba and Sulawesi will be celebrated in Islands, a £30m (38.2m, US$46.6m) project due to open at Chester Zoo, Cheshire, UK in 2015. The development, which is the biggest of its kind in the UK, will showcase the zoo’s conservation fi eldwork. Connected by a boat ride, Islands will bring together some of the most endangered animals on the planet including Anoa, Banteng, Babirusa, Bali Starling, Cassowary, Rhinoceros Hornbill, Lorikeet, Sumatran Orang-utan, Indonesian crocodile (Sunda Gharial), Sulawesi Macaque, Sumatran Tiger and the Visayan Warty Pig. Designed by architects from the Dan
Pearlman group in Germany, visitors will be taken on a highly themed, atmospheric and immersive journey, which includes educational exhibits, play areas, restau- rants and village-style food stands. They can travel through the Islands by boat or on foot and will navigate mangroves, swamps, bamboo and tropical forests.
38
“Our intention is to create a world-class zoo exhibit, which will set the standard for future zoological exhibits, both in the UK and worldwide”
Covering fi ve hectares, the series of islands will be landscaped to mimic the habitat of that island through the horticul- ture and the architecture. A themed show house on each island provides indoor viewing of certain species and there’ll be a series of adventure paths, bridges and adventure routes for children. A central river adventure ride will give different views of the islands and the animals. Simon Mann, development director at
Chester Zoo says: “Our intention is to cre- ate a world-class zoo exhibit, which will set the standard for future zoological exhibits, both in the UK and worldwide.” Islands is the fi rst part of a long-term
Natural Vision project, which includes a themed hotel and a series of fi ve animal- based zones: Islands; Savannah; the Asian Plains; Rainforests; and Cheshire.
Read Attractions Management online
attractionsmanagement.com/digital
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo’s African Elephant Crossing features two sprawling outdoor elephant yards for roaming and foraging, a deep-water swim channel, waterfall, interactive visitor centre, fi ve African elephants, meerkats, naked mole rats, African birds and an African rock python. The fi ve-acre, $25m (£15.6m,
17.5m) exhibit opened last May and was inspired by a safari in Africa that the zoo’s director, Steve Taylor, had been on 10 years ago. One of the main themes of the
exhibit is that people and elephants need to share space in Africa in order to survive. To symbolise this, the Crossing Gate was designed so that visitors and elephants use the same path at various times through- out the day. During most of the day, visitors use the crossing to go from the Welcome Plaza to the interior sections of the exhibit. At certain points though, the gates swing out to protect the guests and allow the elephants to migrate from one of the outdoor ranges to the other. The building from the old exhibit,
a pachyderm house from the 1950s, was used in the new exhibit to rein- force one of the institution’s main goals – reduce, reuse and recycle.
AM 3 2012 ©cybertrek 2012
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86