Exhibit Designing Competition

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What can I say other than WOW! :eek: All the enclosure designs were absolutely fantastic, and everyone deserves ample praise for their efforts. But for me, the winner has to be redpanda. The design was absolutely amazing. The diversity of species was incredible, and the way both the enclosures and educational areas were designed was fantastic. When I finally get around to owning my own zoo, I'll be in touch ;) Now, I must stop gushing, and congratulate the other three competitors. Under ordinary circumstances, these would have been enough to win, and I hope you continue designing exhibits.

Congratulations redpanda, I look forward to reading your challenge and just have to say, keep up the good work.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
What can I say other than WOW! :eek: All the enclosure designs were absolutely fantastic, and everyone deserves ample praise for their efforts. But for me, the winner has to be redpanda. The design was absolutely amazing. The diversity of species was incredible, and the way both the enclosures and educational areas were designed was fantastic. When I finally get around to owning my own zoo, I'll be in touch ;) Now, I must stop gushing, and congratulate the other three competitors. Under ordinary circumstances, these would have been enough to win, and I hope you continue designing exhibits.

Congratulations redpanda, I look forward to reading your challenge and just have to say, keep up the good work.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Like I said, I had a lot of fun designing it.

As for my challenge, I think we'll try something a little different. In 2008, the Bronx Zoo opened Madagascar!, a renovation of the old Lion House on Astor Court. A plan of the exhibit can be found here:

Images for Bronx Zoo

But what would you have done? My challenge is to come up with a different idea for the Lion House’s renovation.

The rules:
  • The exhibit must be completely within the building, you may have interpretation outside, but no actual exhibits.
  • The exhibit is only replacing the current Madagascar! exhibit, the terrace (9 on the map) and main hall (2 on the map) will remain the same.
  • The building is protected by law, so you must keep the walls in the same place as they are on the map.
  • The animals should be available in zoos, but I will let you have one unrealistic species.
  • The exhibit can be based on anything you like and may be taxonomic or zoogeographic.
  • There is no minimum or maximum number of species.
  • The exhibit may have the same theme as one already in the zoo, for example, you could design a penguin exhibit even though the Bronx Zoo already has one of these.

The challenge here is the building, and you will be judged on the creativity of your design and its use of the space available. Good luck, and I look forward to reading what people come up with.

Deadline is 8pm Tuesday.
 
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Would you happen to have the length for 3,4,6,7,8. Just length, Im having trouble placing animals, The renderings make it look massive but Im not sure if its true or not

Thanks for the help

C
 
Since Bronx took their nocturnal house away, I decided to create a new nocturnal house of the former lion house. The exhibit is called ‘’Nocturnal Animals’’. The first exhibits are the smaller exhibits for scorpions, cave fish and a small aviary for Long-eared owls. Next up is the Australian exhibit. It has three smaller exhibits. The first exhibit keeps Short-beaked echidnas, the second keeps wombats and the third keeps Brown kiwis. The next exhibit is the Aardvark Paradise. This is a big desert exhibit for a pair of aardvarks. They share this exhibit with some springhares and galagos as well. The next exhibit is the huge Bat Cave. Here lives four different species of flying foxes (Indian flying fox, Egyptian flying fox, Rodrigues flying fox and Seychelles fruit bat.) This is a walk-through exhibit, and in the middle of this big exhibit, there’s also a small lake for catfish and a small exhibit for Fennecs in the middle of the exhibit. The kids can also see the fennecs in their cave through a glass window. In the end of the bat cave, there’s also an exhibit for Aye-ayes. The next exhibit is South America. It has a big exhibit for two-toed sloths, armadillos and owl monkeys. They all share their exhibit, and it’s designed to be a nocturnal jungle. The last exhibit in the Nocturnal house is the margays, which have their netted exhibit here as well.

List of exhibits + species + number on map
Smaller exhibits: (scorpions, cave fish and owl) Number on map: 3
Australia: (echidna, wombat, and kiwi) Number on map: 4
Aardvark Paradise: (aardvark, springhare and galago) Number on map: 5
Bat Cave: (4 bat species, fennec fox and aye-aye) Number on map: 6
South America: (sloth, armadillo, and owl monkey) Number on map: 7
Margay exhibit: (margay cat) Number on map: 8

Of course I'm talking about the map of the house that you posted to us, redpanda

Hope it was a good entry, tell me if something’s missing.
 
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Sealife357 said:
Would you happen to have the length for 3,4,6,7,8. Just length, Im having trouble placing animals, The renderings make it look massive but Im not sure if its true or not

Thanks for the help

C
Click to expand...

I've found some pictures on the gallery for each of the sections, hopefully you can gauge the lengths from this.

No 3 (This is the best image I can find, but the area isn't very large):

http://www.zoochat.com/547/madagascar-coquerel-s-sifaka-162419/

No 4:

http://www.zoochat.com/547/bronx-zoo-madagascar-41207/

http://www.zoochat.com/547/may-09-madagascar-79706/

No 6 (this is actually two exhibits which appear joined, one for the lemurs and the other for the mongoose):

http://www.zoochat.com/547/p1090214-105048/

http://www.zoochat.com/547/madagascar-109004/

No 7 (again, best I could find):

http://www.zoochat.com/547/madagascar-red-ruffed-lemur-162429/

No 8:

http://www.zoochat.com/547/bronx-zoo-madagascar-41226/

For more detail, have a read of this as there's lots of information and photos of every area:

http://www.aza.org/uploadedFiles/Membership/Honors_and_Awards/exhibit09-bronx.pdf

Hope this helps.


@Swedish Zoo Fan, your entry is fine.
 
I know you can't remove the walls but can you take the top of the building off and put on netting or glass?
 
Fossa dude said:
I know you can't remove the walls but can you take the top of the building off and put on netting or glass?
Click to expand...

Although some sky-lights were included in the actual renovation, the challenge is to work within the perametres of the building. As such, I think taking off the roof and replacing it with either netting or glass would be changing it rather too much.
 
For this challenge I chose to redesign the Bronx Zoo’s Lion House as an Australian exhibit showcasing the diverse landscape of this island continent. Since the Bronx Zoo’s collection is currently lacking in Australian species I feel that this would add a lot to the visitor experience. My renovation includes approximately 135 individual animals of 40 species.

When you enter the building, instead of seeing a tile mosaic of a world map, you see a large map of the Australian Continent with its biomes highlighted. Passing through the next set of doors you find yourself in a eucalyptus forest. Large replicas of eucalyptus trees can be found in the visitor space as well as inside exhibits. Currently the ceiling in the public space here is relatively low with the exhibit extending above. My plans call for a gradually sloped ceiling, getting taller the further away from the entrance you get, with the exhibit extending just slightly above the ceiling in order to conceal lighting. The first exhibit visitors see is a mixed-species exhibit for Crimson Rosellas (1.1), Varied Lorikeets (2.0), Blue-faced Honeyeaters (1.1) and Bush Stone-curlews (1.1) housed behind a mesh barrier. This exhibit would not be sunk down as much as it is in the current sifaka exhibit. Replacing the Tree Boa exhibit in this area is a tall glass exhibit for Children’s Stick Insects (0.0.30) which closely resemble the leaves of the eucalyptus tree.

Continuing on visitors find themselves still in the eucalyptus forest but in a slightly less wooded area near a stream. A large mixed-species riverbank exhibit for Australian Snake-necked Turtles (3.3), Saw-shelled Snapping Turtles (1.1), Eastern Water Dragons (2.0), Superb Fairy-wrens (1.1), and a Buff-banded Rail (1.0) serves as the focal point of this gallery. This exhibit is open-topped, with a chest-height acrylic barrier providing excellent views both above and below the water. Lighting encourages the birds to stay within the exhibit space. The river bends to the right, where a pair of Merten’s Water Monitors (1.1) live. This area appears to be connected to the first but it is not and is entirely enclosed behind glass. My plans here modify the existing Nile Crocodile exhibit by extending the visitor space further into the current exhibit. The riverbank exhibit hugs the rear walls here and is about half as wide as the current croc exhibit, resembling an “L” with the shorter portion being enclosed.

Around the corner visitors enter the eucalyptus gallery, an area with jewelbox exhibits set in the wall for White’s Tree Frogs (0.0.3), an Eastern Blue-tongued Skink (1.0), a Spotted Python (1.0), and a Cane Toad (0.0.1). Replacing the current leaf-tailed gecko exhibit is an enclosure for Filled Lizards (1.1). A mixed-species exhibit for Sugar Gliders (0.5) and Long-nosed Potoroos (1.1) will replace the existing mouse lemur exhibit. In order to accommodate these species the exhibit will modify the current mouse lemur exhibit, extending it further along the rear wall here, thus limiting the visitors view to one side only. Glass viewing will allow close views of all species in this area.

Passing through a set of doors visitors enter the largest area in the building displaying animals from the arid scrublands of the continent. This exhibit contains reddish sand, rockwork nearer the rear walls of the exhibit, trees with minimal vegetation, and low-lying bushes. This entire exhibit area is not sunk down as far as the current spiny forest exhibit, although the visitor pathway is still about 1 foot above the exhibit floor. Tammar Wallabies (1.2), a Short-beaked Echidna (1.0), Princess Parrots (0.3), Bourke’s Parrots (2.3), Mulga Parrots (2.1), Crested Pigeons (2.3), Gouldian Finches (3.3), Zebra Finches (3.3) and Inland Bearded Dragons (2.3) all share this exhibit, showcasing the variety of life in the arid scrublands. A Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo (0.1) sits on in a tree nearer the entrance of this area and is restricted to this tree. The interpretive area across from this exhibit will be kept much the same as the current one, this time geared towards the arid scrublands of Australia. One animal exhibit will be added in this area. Enclosed in rockwork is a mixed-species exhibit for Shingleback Skinks (0.2) and a Spiny-tailed Monitor (1.0). Continuing on visitors can enter a large rock outcropping instead of a rotted baobab tree, which contains exhibits for Fat-tailed Dunnarts (1.2) and Yellow Sand Scorpions (0.0.4). Next visitors enter the “field station” area, very much like the current Madagascar exhibit. The ring-tailed mongoose exhibit has been eliminated and incorporated into the large arid scrublands exhibit. The nursery exhibit for tortoises here now houses a pair of Woma pythons (1.1) in a rocky setting.

Leaving the field station through a set of doors visitors enter the last area which represents the Australian rainforest. The current ruffed lemur exhibit will stay much the same in appearance but the wire mesh will be removed, giving guests a more intimate feeling of immersion. New inhabitants of this area will include Lumholtz’s Tree Kangaroos (1.1), Green-winged Doves (1.2), Metallic Starlings (2.3), Spotted Catbirds (1.1), and Orange-footed Scrubfowl (1.1). The area in this exhibit which currently houses various Madagascar cichlids will be sectioned off and form a new separate exhibit enclosed behind glass for Green Tree Pythons (2.1). The fossa exhibit will remain much the same but is now inhabited by a pair of Tiger Quoll (1.1).

Exiting the building visitors will pass by lenticular graphics showcasing iconic Australian wildlife, such as kangaroos and koalas. Guests will have the opportunity to donate money to conservation projects in Australia funded by the Bronx Zoo.
 
Like fkalltheway, I will focus on Australia.

The journey across Australia​

Here visitors travel across Australia - from the north to south, but also in time.

Visitors first see The Queensland rainforest (p.3 on the map).
It is inhabited by 1,1 Goodfellow's tree kangaroos, 1,1 Wompoo fruit doves and 1,1 Victoria riflebirds. The water moat houses most unusual animals for non-Australians - a pair of platypus. Here signs explain that for the long time, Australia was covered by rainforest, until continental drift pushed the continent into the desert climate zone.

The second exhibit are Coastal Mangroves (p4).
This exhibit cut by half by the water table, showing 1,1 saltwater crocodiles, 1,3 Fly river turtles and various fish. This scene could be just as well 60 million years old, because all animals are almost unchanged from the time of dinosaurs.

Then visitors see The Dreamtime of Creatures(p5).
Here is the the copy of real rock paintings featuring extinct marsupial lion. Thanks to native artists, we know how this animal looked like in life: striped, with pointed ears and tufted tail. A sinkhole shows skeletons of extinct marsupials which fallen into the cave 40,000 years ago, preserved into this day. There is also animatronic Giant Kangaroo and a model of the front of rhino-sized marsupial Diprotodon. Children can sit on the model and made a photo of themselves riding a Diprotodon. Live exhibit has little feathertail gliders. The narrative talks how, after the extinction of dinosaurs, mammals diversified from the small forms and took over Australia.

The main exhibit is the Dry Zone (p6).
This long exhibit shows first a rocky hillside with a colony of yellow-footed rock wallabies, turning into the eucalyptus forest with a group of koalas. Freeflying birds include galah, rainbow lorikeets, rosellas, bronzewings and honeyeaters . Sharing the space are blue-tongued skinks and bearded dragons. The narrative tells how animals adapted to the desert Australian interior. Smaller terrariums to the right of visitors' path show reptiles, like frill-necked lizards, spiny monitors, taipans and spiny-tailed skinks. There is also a wall exhibit of "the oldest past" - fossils of Ediacaran fauna, the oldest large animals known, preserved in the Ediacara range of east Australia. They are not resembling anything alive today.

The last exhibit are Southern Oceans (p7).
The coast shows a colony of fairy penguins and 1.1 australian oystercatchers with underwater view. The gallery (p8) has large floor-to-ceiling aquarium with southern kelp forest and leafy seadragons and many other fish. There is also a film showing snippets of life of less known Australia animals.

PS. I relied on memory - Australian readers, did I mess up anything? :rolleyes:
 
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I couldn't let this one go- I think RedPanda's set an interesting one.

I want to put cats back in what was a cat house. Its a nice symbolic gesture and a gift for marketing. With that in mind I want to make the main hall (6) into a large enclosure for black-footed cat. Room for two cats in one large enclosure, with the option of splitting it into two smaller pens. Since its all indoors we can have a daylight reversal scheme, meaning the cats will probably be more active in the dark.

If we're having a nocturnal exhibit we're going to have to have some sort of baffle to stop light from the main entrance shining through into the main exhibit. We'll have that in section (3) with a big vivarium for Angolan Python along the way.

(4) is another nocturnal area. Sticking with the South-West African, it'd make a nice enclosure for straw-coloured bats perhaps sharing with Cape Porcupine. (5) will house a nocturnal enclosure for Mohol Galago. A rare species in captivity but one already kept by Bronx so no problem.

Another light baffle in section (7) (i.e. just a wiggly bit of path) with an enclosure for short-eared elephant shrews somewhere along the way.

Section (8) will be Namibian reptiles. Enclosures for Black Mamba, many-horned adder, and Cape cobra. EDIT: Should say, also, plenty of offshow facilities in this little section. I guess for venomous reptiles there are a fair few considerations that should be allowed for in off-show areas. Jobs a good'n.
 
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Sorry for being a bit late with this post, but I didn't have access to the internet at eight. So, without further ado, the winner is . . . fkalltheway! I thought that Australia really worked for the renovation and each of the areas were well thought out and cleverly designed. I can also really picture wallabies in the spiny forest enclosure! Well done to each of the three other contestants, each of your designs had aspects that I liked a lot. However, I think fkalltheway's entry was the best all round so congratulations and I look forward to your challenge.
 
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