Evolution of Heart of Africa at the Columbus Zoo

In anticipation of the opening of the Columbus Zoo’s new region, Heart of Africa, on May 22nd I thought I would take a moment to look back on the past plans for the exhibit. An African savanna has been part of the zoo’s masterplan for more than a decade. The name, species, and scale of the region have all evolved over the years. I’ll wait until I visit to judge the final product but it seems as though everything has been scaled back from the grand master plans. All the plans had two things in common: an African village and all were located in the same area North of Old Powell Road. The exhibit has been known as East Africa Plains, Africa Savanna, the African Safari, Safari Africa, Africa, and finally Heart of Africa. Please note this information is based on my own research; I have no insider info so please comment and correct if you know of any errors.

East African Plains 

When: 1998
Size: 65 Acres
Budget: $80 million
Attractions: Safari bus ride, village, lodge, playground

The earliest proposal for adding an Africa region that I've seen is of a plan drawn up in 1998 by PJA. The massive expansion was called the East African Plains and the plans looked simply incredible! Adjacent to the existing zoo, the East Africa Plains project was to be built on 65 acres of simulated East African habitats. A visitor’s journey would begin in a village overlooking a small lake with flamingos and pelicans. Warthogs burrow in an abandoned airstrip. In the village guests pass through the Customs House where they receive a passport. From the village, visitors embark on a bus safari through wooded and grassy savannas and kopje habitats. There would also be a walking path that leads through a gallery forest to a lodge, serving refreshments. Rested visitors can walk from the lodge to the kopje and interpretive playground. The budget for this was $80 million (in 1998 dollars). Sounds similar to Harambe area and Kilimanjaro Safaris at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Probably more of a “blue sky” idea rather than a serious proposal.

African Savanna 

When: 2002
Size: 50 Acres
Budget: unknown
Attractions: Train ride, boat ride, lodge/camping

The next set of plans are from the 2002-2003 time-frame and describe a new African Savanna region. On 50 acres of land at the Zoo, visitors will be transported to the African plains, the most productive grassland ecosystem in the world. A variety of hoofed mammals and the predators that typically follow them on their seasonal migrations will be visible in naturalistic settings. Moving herds of antelope, giraffe and zebra, as well as lions, wild dogs, hyenas, rhinos, hippos and warthogs will be viewed by the visitors as they travel over rail, paddle down a simulated Zambezi River and hike along walking trails. There will be potential opportunities for chaperoned group camping on the edge of a waterhole, for interacting with live interpreters and for participating in the bustle and activity of an African village market.

In this diagram from the Columbus Dispatch we see an African Savanna area is scheduled to be added by 2010:

Safari Africa

When: 2012
Size: 43 Acres
Budget: $30.4 million
Attractions: Ziplines, camel rides, giraffe feeding, cheetah runs

In 2012, plans for a new 43 acre African Safari exhibit were approved and scheduled to open in mid-2014. Safari Africa would feature a gateway to a simulation of a national park in Africa called Ajabu Park. The first overhead rendering of the region appeared in the Summer 2012 edition of Beastly Banner (shown above). The camels are not shown on the map but meerkats are. It also looks like the tram station was going to be located in the region (and not by the Polar Frontier region as it is now). Also of note is a zipline is listed as one of the attractions, though this was probably cut to differentiate it from the Wilds who already operates a zipline (which is better than any the zoo could build quite frankly).

When: 2014
Size:43 Acres
Budget: $30.4 million
Attractions: Camel rides, giraffe feeding

The latest official plans were released in February 2014 where the name Heart of Africa was unveiled. Zoo officials decided that Valentine’s Day was the perfect time to unveil the official name for the 43 acres that will be home to nearly 150 animals. The name of the region was changed from Safari Africa to differentiate it from the Wilds (there are currently banners up at the zoo with the Safari Africa name on them, oops). The meerkat exhibit, which was still being shown in the plans a year ago, has apparently been cut. The final budget is $30.4 million dollars and will open to the public on May 22nd, 2014. Giraffes, zebras, and cheetahs will make their return to the zoo.

Future Heart of Africa Expansion Plans

The Columbus Zoo’s long range plans already call for a Heart of Africa Expansion that would include an overnight-tented camp, a meerkat exhibit and other animal and visitor attractions that would end up tripling the size of the region. A new train ride would be installed that would end up as a replacement for the one currently in North American that would be removed when that region gets its extensive and much needed overhaul.

Conclusion

Heart of Africa at the Columbus Zoo is set to open next week and it’s interesting to see how the plans for the region evolved over the years. What we ended up with will be quite different from some of the earlier ideas. The plans were scaled back from $80 to $30 million dollars and from 60 to 40 acres. That’s not to say more won’t be added in a Phase II expansion soon. It’ll be interesting to see what surprises the zoo has in store for us. It was recently revealed that aardvarks will have a home in the exhibit, a species not previously mentioned in any of the plans! I look forward to seeing the final product. Stay tuned for our coverage of the opening of Heart of Africa.

Interview with a Zoo Designer

I’ve always wondered about how to design a zoo and what you have to do to become a zoo designer. Stacey Tarpley of Designing Zoos is an expert in this area and she agreed to answer a few of our questions about zoo enclosure design. Many thanks to Stacey for sharing her experiences and thoughts on zoo design.

ZT: To begin with could you please give a brief description: who are you and what do you do? What software or tools do you use most frequently?

Stacey: I am a self-titled Zoological Designer at PGAV [Peckham Guyton Albers & Viets, Inc]. I am not an architect, nor a landscape architect, nor an interior designer, nor an interpretive designer; however, I do all of these things. I work with institutions--be it zoos, aquariums, museums, theme parks, resorts--who have live animals in captivity. I concept big ideas for new parks, new regions within a park, new exhibits, and even just new interpretives within an exhibit. I draw by hand, I use Photoshop sometimes, and I put together drawings in AutoCad (although these days, my time spent in AutoCad is far less than when I first started). I spend a lot of time with our clients--the zookeepers, the educators, the administrators, and in-house design teams. We work together as a team to find the best, most creative solution to the design problem at hand.

 

ZT: Sounds like you do a little bit of everything! How did you get involved with zoo design? What fuels your passion for zoo enclosure design?

This was a self-initiated journey! I realized that I wanted to design zoos and aquariums after a high school trip to the Rio de Janeiro Zoo, which was (is?) an extremely old-school and depressing place--rows upon rows of concrete cages with steel bars holding anything and everything from a tapir to tiger. I was moved to tears and realized I wanted to make sure no animals in captivity were subjected to such conditions. I went to Michigan State University and majored in Zoology with a specialization in Zoos and Aquariums (great program--Go Green!), and met a zoo designer, Tony Bauer, in one of the classes. He got me a summer job at the Binder Park Zoo as a construction leader for the wonderful Africa section there--digging holes by hand, hauling telephone poles through the woods in pairs. Another summer in undergrad, I was lucky enough to spend interning at the Cincinnati Zoo in their exhibits department where I learned how to make artificial vines from epoxy and had my first lesson in rock work. After undergrad, I went to North Carolina State University for a master's degree in landscape architecture. Most of my projects involved zoos, much to the chagrin of my profs! My master's thesis was on the adaptive reuse of the Elephant barn at National Zoo. I was hired by PGAV directly out of grad school, and the rest is history!

ZT: I’m familiar with theme park design but I suspect zoo design presents its own unique challenges. How does zoo design differ from a theme park? How do you design an exhibit centered around a living, breathing creature?

This is probably completely controversial...but the main difference between theme park design (involving animals) and zoo design is the end-goal. Although many theme parks with animals are very supportive and active in conservation and education, the main goal of any theme park is to make money. Zoos (by and large) are non-profit, and although money is essential to existence, the driving force behind the design is generally not revenue driven--its education driven. This is not to say theme parks are evil! It simply means their approach to design has a slightly different slant. Fun, fun, fun is the driver. Guests want fun; we give them fun; they come through the doors. The more people through the doors, the more revenues. That is and has been the theme park mantra forever. But really, there is nothing wrong with that. Zoos and aquariums are slowly coming to realize that, in fact, their main goal is getting people through the doors, too, although their prime incentive is to educate more people, rather than to drive revenues (but, increased attendance is also helpful for their bottom line as well). Because of this, zoos and aquariums are beginning to take cues from theme parks. Exhibits are fully thematic. Many zoos and aquariums have flashy shows. Interaction opportunities with animals are becoming more and more common. Fun things are getting injected into the zoo experience! Look for ziplines, exhibits with rides, elevated food experiences. So, really, there isn't much difference. It’s just understanding where on the scale Education v. Fun each client is most comfortable.

ZT: That makes sense but it must be extremely difficult for a zoo designer to effectively satisfy the needs of the visitors and the animals. I imagine larger exhibits, while maybe better for the animals, make it harder for the paying customers to see them.

It’s a constant challenge. Zoo and aquarium design, I believe, is the most difficult of any design discipline due to the fact that we have to balance the needs of 3 user groups, rather than a typical 1 or 2 users. We have to think about both guest and animal, but also the staff (primarily keepers) as they must be able to work efficiently in order to keep the animals healthy and happy and support the guest experience. Everyone on the design team brings their bias to their user group with the client generally representing the animal and keeper, and the designers representing the guest. However, as designers we must be aware that we are actually the representatives of all three. If one outweighs the others in importance, then the exhibit will fail. So much depends on the ability of the staff to do their work and to commit to using an exhibit in a certain way (ie animals may need to be rotated throughout various enclosures; use of enrichment devices; commitment to keeper talks, etc) that we cannot overlook their needs. Obviously the needs of the animals are key--we want them to be active and engaging, and long-lived. And, of course, the guest is the reason the exhibit exists at all. Without guests, zoos would look much, much different. In fact, most of the "prettiness" of exhibits is for the guest, not for the animals. Animals' needs, mental and physiological, can generally be meet in spaces that do not look nice. But, since the guest perception is so important in what we do, we have to ensure that exhibits feel comfortable to us and look lush and natural in order to appear to--from the guest perspective--meet the needs of the animals. And like you pointed out, if we were to only care about the animals' needs, we'd simply fence in a forest and guests would rarely see the animals! So, it's a balancing act of meeting everyone's needs--finding solutions that work for all. And its something that is not a simple black and white...its a lot of trial and error--we learn from every success and failure.


ZT: Wow, that’s a perspective I’ve never thought about before and the majority of zoo visitors probably don’t realize all of the factors that go into zoo exhibit design.  Beyond zoo enclosure design, what’s been the most challenging project you’ve worked on and why?

Any time we are working on a fully new park, it's a challenge. Zoos and theme parks are so complex! Everything affects each other. And, you can't just say, I'll put an exhibit here. We have to look at specifically what kind of exhibit it is, which means we have to research many species all at once. We have to learn the behavior of the animals, benchmark against other exhibits, look into regulations, etc. for many exhibits, not just one or two. That's a challenging juggling act. At the same time, we have to look at visitor circulation, revenue generation, guest support (restrooms, etc) and how all of these tie into service access. Another wholly different challenge is working outside the country. The US, Europe, and Australia are truly light years ahead of the rest of the world in terms of husbandry / exhibitry for captive animals, and anytime we work with an organization whose organizational philosophy about captive animals is so different from our own, it's a great personal, ethical challenge. But we always have to remind ourselves that any improvement, is an improvement.

ZT: Do you have any advice for anyone wishing to pursue a career in zoo design? Anything you wish you had known earlier that you know now?

I always say the same thing: get your degree in zoology, then get a design degree in either architecture or landscape architecture. You have to blaze your own path, create your own curriculum as there are no programs specific to zoo design. Every project that you are able to choose your own topic should be about zoos. Every job shadow or internship should be at a zoo. Learn everything there is to learn about zoos as a whole, not just design. I wish I had realized that I would be doing so much building design (my degree is landscape architecture)--then I'd have taken a few architectural classes or even gotten my architectural degree, too!


ZT: Great advice! I have to ask, do you have a favorite zoo? A favorite animal or exhibit?

This is not just blowing smoke, as they are one of my clients right now, but I am truly impressed by Columbus Zoo. They are far ahead of the curve...they are not afraid to take risks, to learn from other institutions (not only zoos, but theme parks, sanctuaries, etc), and understand what it takes to get the message across to the general public. The zoo itself has some dated exhibits, but generally, it is very modern, thematic, educational (without the heavy text!), and super fun!

 

I'm partial to the felids. I'm a cat person. And I have to say, the cats have been somewhat overlooked in terms of innovative exhibitry. There are few good ones out there (Disney's Animal Kingdom Tigers is my hands-down favorite exhibit), but generally the big cats (and small ones too!) are ripe for a revamp trend akin to polar bears and elephants.
 

ZT: Columbus Zoo is my “home zoo” and one of my favorites too! I can’t wait to see what the designers come up with for the Safari Africa expansion - the expectations around here are sky high for this most anticipated attraction. Thanks again to Stacey for giving us a wonderful peek into the world of zoo design. You can read more at her site Designing Zoos.

Woodland Park Zoo Map 2009

Looking for things to do in Seattle, Washington? Pictured here is a map of the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle from 2009. Although I’ve never been there I enjoy looking at zoo maps and examining how they are laid out and are organized. Also pictured is a rendering of the Humbolt Penguin exhibit.

Chincoteague Island Zoo Model Tour

I recently found this video of the Chincoteague Island Model Zoo's New Orangutan Exhibit for 2012! See more pictures of their model zoo exhibit models here. I also emailed the creators of this extraordinary zoo model and found out this information from the creator:

"...have been working on our miniature zoological garden since 1997.  We have created a pretty unique layout that has grown to a size we can no longer easily accommodate in our home.  It's a large collection consisting of items found, modified, recycled, and fabricated by us, and includes a zoo train that slowly winds its way around the zoo.  It also contains a collection of pressed pennies, from zoos across the country, placed by their respective exhibits..."

See more pictures of the Chincoteague Island Model Zoo here.

Check out our other zoo model posts.

Chessington Plans Safari Trail

Chessington World of Adventures (in the UK) is planning a new jeep safari attraction called Safari Trail. The tour is planned to feature giraffes, rhinos, and flamingos. The ride concept sounds similar to Busch Gardens Tampa's Rhino Rally attraction (minus the failed water feature). What makes this interesting to me is that in the UK, whenever a new attraction is built plans have to be submitted to the city or government or whoever detailing what the theme park or zoo is planning on building and these blueprints are available to the public to view. This is good news for people like me who want to know more about the design and planning aspect of zoo exhibit design. View the Safari Trail planning details here.

Conservation Station at Disney's Animal Kingdom

The Conservation Station is a walkthrough attraction located in the Africa section in Disney's Animal Kingdom. Conservation Station is part of Rafiki's Planet Watch, an area dedicated to the preservation and conservation of animals.The attraction has an outdoor animal area and an enclosed structure called the Hall of Animals. The Hall of Animals includes a variety of interactive screen projections, wildlife monitors, and special effects. Here is an overhead layout diagram of the conservation station.

You can access Conservation Station by taking the Wildlife Express Train directly from Harambe.

Bonniebeth's Playmobil Zoo Model

I recently stumbled across this YouTube video of a gigantic Playmobil zoo model. The video, entitled Bonniebeth's Playmobil Zoo Diorama, is embedded above. The miniature zoo has a variety of exhibits and animals which must have taken a lot of time and effort to stitch together. I wanted to know more so I contacted the creator and was able to gain some additional information about the passions behind this magnificent creation.

Bonniebeth: "...my biggest passion, besides Playmobil, is zoos! I visit zoos everywhere I go... so far I have been to nine different ones, with many more on my list that I'd like to see. I just love seeing how different zoos are laid out, what kinds of exhibits they build, and what types of animal enrichment they provide. Besides giving me inspiration for my Playmobil zoo, it gives me a chance to get some exercise and fresh air, spend some time with my husband who also loves zoos, and take lots of pictures of the animals. I just absolutely love zoos."

ZT: I couldn't agree with you more there! What inspired you to create this model zoo?

Bonniebeth: "So I guess you could my inspiration was just that... the various zoos I have visited, and my passion for animals and admiration of the conservation efforts that zoos take part in. It took me about four days to set all this up, but I had been planning it for a couple of years, planning different exhibits and acquiring the pieces I needed for it. A lot of the playmobil sets I used belonged to other themes, but I utilized pieces of them make creative exhibits, such as jungle ruins in the jaguar exhibit, a tree house for an orangutan exhibit, and a sun room for a tropical bird house. Also, some of the sets I needed for my ideas were older retired sets, so I had to turn to eBay to find what I needed. I actually got my very first playmobil zoo set almost 20 years ago, as a child, but I started back to collecting as an adult about four years ago, and now have an entire closet full of playmobil from not only the zoo theme (my favorite, of course), but many others as well."

ZT: Very interesting. Sounds like this has been in the works for quite some time. Where can people go to see more pictures of your model zoo?

Bonniebeth: "Here is a link to a playmobil forum, which I moderate on, where you can see lots of pictures. There's another round of pictures on page six of that thread."

ZT: I must say I love the attention to detail you're created. Thanks again for taking the time and showing us around your personal zoo diorama!

Check out our other zoo model posts.

Zoo Exhibit Design Interactions: Sniff Port

While at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium today I discovered a very cool interactive feature at the brown and polar bear exhibits in the Polar Frontier section. The bear enclosures feature a "Sniff Port", a small covered hole in the exhibit wall, located on the far left side of the polar bear's above-water viewing space. It allows the bears to easily smell you, and if you look through the tiny holes you can see their noses and hear them smelling you!

Here's a tip a zoo volunteer gave us to lure a polar bear over to the sniff port - eat some peanut butter! At the sniff port, you can breathe out and the scent that wafts through to the other side often lures the polar bears over. And peanut butter is the smell that seems to be the most alluring.

Are there any other exhibits that you know of that have such exciting and innovative features?

Map of the Minnesota Zoo 2009

Russia's Grizzly Coast is an exhibit complex at the Minnesota Zoological Garden in the United States of America where visitors can see various animal species from the Russian Far East. Above is a map of the Minnesota Zoo from 2009. Pictured below is the site plan diagram for Russia's Grizzly Coast exhibit.

Columbus Zoo Polar Bear Exhibit Model and Construction

The Columbus Zoo is adding a new bear exhibit and the Ohio State University Theme Park Engineering Group took a trip to see the initial ground work. They also saw some of the models used to plan the upcoming expansion.
Scale model of what it will end up looking like:





You can view the rest of the cnostruction pictures here.