This looks like a nice roomy habitat. I love the juxtaposition of the reasonably naturalistic yard with the stylized and textured 1970s exposed concrete building behind, reminds me of my distant memory of the zoo in Munich! Although I am not sure that they had buildings in this style, but I certainly remember walls and railings of viewing areas being similar. Sometimes it is nice to have structures that feature an honesty of materials in an artful design rather than a sea of simulated rock; if this exhibit was located at Milwaukee County Zoo it would have a backdrop of stylized rockwork instead. How do you feel about this example of an unthemed backdrop?
This looks like a nice roomy habitat. I love the juxtaposition of the reasonably naturalistic yard with the stylized and textured 1970s exposed concrete building behind, reminds me of my distant memory of the zoo in Munich! Although I am not sure that they had buildings in this style, but I certainly remember walls and railings of viewing areas being similar. Sometimes it is nice to have structures that feature an honesty of materials in an artful design rather than a sea of simulated rock; if this exhibit was located at Milwaukee County Zoo it would have a backdrop of stylized rockwork instead. How do you feel about this example of an unthemed backdrop?
When softened by mature vegetation, as in this photo, this sort of simple "honest" architecture is preferable to the monotonous and cheap artificiality of Milwaukee's "rocks." However, I would guess this is a fairly bleak prospect from November to April--I can almost feel the prairie winds sweeping through the concrete wind tunnel. I must say I'm impressed with Sedgwick County Zoo's use of hardy (bamboo) and seasonal (bananas etc.) plantings to create a sense of lushness during their peak summer months.
I consider the entire African Veldt section of the Sedgwick County Zoo (black rhinos, reticulated giraffes, African elephants, warthogs, bontebok, Grevy's zebras) average at best, and arguably the weakest part of the entire zoo. I'm definitely not a fan of the 1970's building in the background, and thankfully in places it is obscured from view. But then again anything is better than Milwaukee, which is a zoo that has remained static for 30 years and is one that I'll probably never revisit.
We are hoping that by the time the new elephant exhibit is built, then we can improve the old veldt building. However, with the economic downturn, money are hard to come by. Our attendance are down recently. But our director is trying really hard. So we are still optimistic that our new elephant exhibit will happen.
