Is the era of mind-blowing, blockbuster zoo exhibits over?

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
With the world's economy seeming to hover in a low-grade depression with no end in sight, is the era of great immersion exhibits in zoos over?

I'm talking about the mind-blowing exhibits that we hail as the masterworks of the field here: Congo Gorilla Forest, Disney's Africa savanna, Russian Grizzly Coast. All of these exhibits were built almost a decade or more ago.

It doesn't look like Disney is going to be building any more real animal exhibits as it is embarking on a billion dollar "Avatarland" building binge to construct imaginary ecosystems. The Bronx Zoo is closing exhibits. San Diego is still building stuff, but even though I like some of Elephant Odyssey more than most here, it is definitely not a classic exhibit.

Is Gondwanaland the last blockbuster immersion zoo exhibit that will be built anywhere for the foreseeable future, or is there something percolating out there that will advance zoo exhibitry and give us something new to rhapsodize about?
 
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DavidBrown said:
With the world's economy seeming to hover in a low-grade depression with no end in sight, is the era of great immersion exhibits in zoos over?

I'm talking about the mind-blowing exhibits that we hail as the masterworks of the field here: Congo Gorilla Forest, Disney's Africa savanna, Russian Grizzly Coast. All of these exhibits were built almost a decade or more ago.

It doesn't look like Disney is going to be building any more real animal exhibits as it is embarking on a billion dollar "Avatarland" building binge to construct imaginary ecosystems. The Bronx Zoo is closing exhibits. San Diego is still building stuff, but even though I like some of Elephant Odyssey more than most here, it is definitely not a classic exhibit.

Is Gondwanaland the last blockbuster immersion zoo exhibit that will be built anywhere for the foreseeable future, or is there something precolating out there that will advance zoo exhibitry and give us something new to rhapsodize about?
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Finger's crossed all goes well, we should be seeing the £30 million development 'Islands' at Chester sometime within the next 5 year time block (press statements say 2014).
 
Well, the Planet Randers project to create the world's biggest zoo is moving forward nicely in spite of the financial crisis.
 
Why? USA doesn't realise it lost its status but the world is going on. Zoos in Asia build many interesting exhibits. Singapore River Safari, for example.

Zoo professionals in USA and Europe would do well to watch new Asian exhibits. Otherwise more travelled visitors will soon complain. Why no animal encounters and walk-through exhibits in USA? Why no large sea tanks nor sea mammals in Europe? Why national parks don't come with semi-wild areas showing local fauna? Why no restaurants with tasty food and animals viewing?
 
DavidBrown said:
With the world's economy seeming to hover in a low-grade depression with no end in sight, is the era of great immersion exhibits in zoos over?

I'm talking about the mind-blowing exhibits that we hail as the masterworks of the field here: Congo Gorilla Forest, Disney's Africa savanna, Russian Grizzly Coast. All of these exhibits were built almost a decade or more ago.

It doesn't look like Disney is going to be building any more real animal exhibits as it is embarking on a billion dollar "Avatarland" building binge to construct imaginary ecosystems. The Bronx Zoo is closing exhibits. San Diego is still building stuff, but even though I like some of Elephant Odyssey more than most here, it is definitely not a classic exhibit.

Is Gondwanaland the last blockbuster immersion zoo exhibit that will be built anywhere for the foreseeable future, or is there something precolating out there that will advance zoo exhibitry and give us something new to rhapsodize about?
Click to expand...

When Congo Gorilla Forest opened, a very famous zoo designer (who had no part in the project) commented to me, "No one will ever build anything like this again." Not simply because of the cost but because it was the final zoo achievement of Dr. William Conway and so a certain level of WOW was required.

Russia's Grizzly Coast wasn't really that expensive and neither was Giants of the Savanna in Dallas. At least not compared to Congo or Disney. More of that sort will certainly be built... just not this year.

I do know of a USD100million exhibit in the fundraising stage in the USA, but budget is not the same issue as
advance zoo exhibitry and give us something new to rhapsodize about
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Still, @DavidBrown, you only focus on a certain approach to zoo exhibits. The USA immersion approach is really not much developed outside North America , Australia. Singapore and Northern Europe. And all except the Northern Europe examples depend on USA design firms (or those with USA roots). It is merely one approach.
Chester's Realm of the Red Ape is spectacular in many respects but not in this one. Do we discount it?
 
Thanks for the replies all.

@Javan Rhino: What will the Islands complex at Chester be?
@Toddy: Randers Zoo looks interesting. Unfortunately the concept drawing links seem to have been taken down.

@Jurek7: Thanks for drawing our attention to Asia. I started this thread to try and find out about projects around the world that I might not know about.

@Zooplantman: I didn't mean to discount anything. I don't know "Realm of the Red Ape", so will check it out. It is good to know that projects like Russian Grizzly Coast and Dallas's savanna exhibit complex are still achievable. Can you hint at what ecosystem the $100 million project you allude to will display? With that kind of budget hopefully someone can build something really ambitious.
 
As far as I am aware, no plans for the Islands exhibit have been put on show yet. I expect it will turn out to be a series of smaller developments built in a piecemeal fashion, linking in with existing exhibits, rather than a single massive development. This will allow the Zoo to match the pace of development to its income, as no-one seems to be optimistic about the future of the economy in the UK or Europe generally.
I hope that I am correct, because I think it will continue Mr Mottershead's principle of continuously developing the Zoo with innovative displays.

Alan
 
gentle lemur said:
I expect it will turn out to be a series of smaller developments built in a piecemeal fashion, linking in with existing exhibits, rather than a single massive development.
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I was perplexed at the idea of yet more new housing for the Sumatran orangutans. It seems totally unnecessary. Do you think their current enclosures in RORA will be linked to 'Islands' somehow, or is Islands going to be located in a different part of the Zoo altogether, making that not feasible?
 
Pertinax said:
I was perplexed at the idea of yet more new housing for the Sumatran orangutans. It seems totally unnecessary. Do you think their current enclosures in RORA will be linked to 'Islands' somehow, or is Islands going to be located in a different part of the Zoo altogether, making that not feasible?
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Islands is about as far from RORA as it could be, it is going to be behind the scimitar-horned oryx paddock on undeveloped land.
 
Residents of the Portland Oregon Metro area passed a bond measure that has funded a major upgrade of the Oregon Zoo. I don’t think the new exhibits will reach “blockbuster” status; but when completed the new polar bear and Asian elephant exhibits will be very nice for a zoo of this size. The plan also calls for enlarging the black rhino exhibit, renovating the primate house and tying it into the rest of Africa, and exhibiting California Condors which the Oregon Zoo currently breeds for release in an off-site location. It will take a few years to finish -they are working on a new Veterinary hospital now, that was their first priority- but I think it is worth keeping your eye on this project.

Metro: Thanks to you a better zoo
 
Let us not forget the Paris Vincennes Zoo is closed and being entirely rebuilt, purportedly to very high standards. Will be interesting to see what a major international city with a large budget can do when they essentially build a whole new zoo from scratch.

That being said, probably my two favorite zoos which are both 100% naturalistic and huge enclosures, are zoos that were done very simply using an existing forest for the exhibits. I am referring to Northwest Trek (near Eatonville, USA) and Le Parc Des Felins (near Nesles, FRANCE). Just goes to show with the right setting you do not need to spend a lot of money or build a lot of artificial things to have a natural immersion experience.

As for the original topic, though, I think really huge immersion projects like Congo Gorilla Forest may be a thing of the past. Certainly if the well budgeted San Diego Zoo has given up on the trend, things do not look promising. (Unless you live in Singapore).
 
Arizona Docent said:
As for the original topic, though, I think really huge immersion projects like Congo Gorilla Forest may be a thing of the past. Certainly if the well budgeted San Diego Zoo has given up on the trend, things do not look promising. (Unless you live in Singapore).
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There's really no way of knowing. Can no one see beyond this current economic situation? Can no one envision the zoo of the mid-21st century? Big ideas do not go away. And I heartily agree with Jurek7 that there is wealth and pride out there to build amazing things, even if today Europe and North America have little stomach for it. Perhaps you are all too young to remember the 70s?
 
A $150 million addition (shark exhibit) to the New York Aquarium is close to becoming real; a $40+ million elephant complex is being constructed in Zurich as we speak; Columbus is finishing up plans for a huge African complex; Denver is putting the finishing touches on a $50 million Asian Tropics (now known as Toyota Elephant Passage), and then today comes this announcement: Indianapolis Zoo to open $20M orangutan exhibit in 2014 | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com

Now, this new project looks suspiciously ecclesiastical (remind anyone of the now-defunct Great Ape "megachurch" at the KC Zoo?), but it is certainly ambitious.

Even in this dire time of economic slump, big dreams are being realized and new ones conceived. One can only hope, as Zooplantman implies, that this too shall pass (much like the terrible 70s did in the US).
 
It's certainly different. On the whole I would rather zoos turned away from such grandiose statements and instead focussed on being sustainable, natural and down to earth, using natural features, traditional building techniques, constructing things in harmony with the earth and its environment rather than over the top towers of babel.
 
reduakari said:
Columbus is finishing up plans for a huge African complex

Even in this dire time of economic slump, big dreams are being realized and new ones conceived. One can only hope, as Zooplantman implies, that this too shall pass (much like the terrible 70s did in the US).
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Does anybody know what the highlights of the Columbus Zoo African exhibit are going to be? Elephants? Underwater hippo viewing?

That Indianapolis orangutan exhibit looks completely horrible. It looks like it was designed by Pat Robertson and the 700 Club. Yuck. The director said that he wanted to build a world class gorilla exhibit that helped the survival of wild gorillas and their habitat. How did it evolve into an orangutan megachurch?

I don't mean to insult anybody's religion or places of worship with these comments, but this exhibit REALLY does look like a church and that seems really weird.
 
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DavidBrown said:
Does anybody know what the highlights of the Columbus Zoo African exhibit are going to be? Elephants? Underwater hippo viewing?

That Indianapolis orangutan exhibit looks completely horrible. It looks like it was designed by Pat Robertson and the 700 Club. Yuck. The director said that he wanted to build a world class gorilla exhibit that helped the survival of wild gorillas and their habitat. How did it evolve into an orangutan megachurch?
Click to expand...

Looking at the images from the press conference, "African" dancers led the procession to the announcement of this monumental, uh, whatever it is....can you say "confused?"
 
Arizona Docent said:
As for the original topic, though, I think really huge immersion projects like Congo Gorilla Forest may be a thing of the past. Certainly if the well budgeted San Diego Zoo has given up on the trend, things do not look promising. (Unless you live in Singapore).
Click to expand...

Singapore's zoos actually have rather modest spending on major exhibits (all those built in the last 2 decades cost below $10-million each). Projects like River Safari are once in a blue moon; the last such great project was Night Safari which opened in 1994.
 
DavidBrown said:
That Indianapolis orangutan exhibit looks completely horrible. It looks like it was designed by Pat Robertson and the 700 Club. Yuck. The director said that he wanted to build a world class gorilla exhibit that helped the survival of wild gorillas and their habitat. How did it evolve into an orangutan megachurch?
Click to expand...

Looking like a church aside, the "Hutan Trail" high line is poorly designed IMHO. It should loop all the way around or have criss-crossing lines. The proposed linear layout will have corners that the apes can get backed into during disagreements. Provision of multiple escape routes are important when keeping this many orangutans together.
 
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