Speculative Pittsburgh Zoo Masterplan

Brayden Delashmutt

Brayden Delashmutt

Well-Known Member
Pittsburgh Zoo is my personal favorite zoo in the northeast - it’s a charming and unique facility in an awesome city, with fascinating exhibits and several rare species. However, as time has progressed, the zoo has slowly begun to become outdated - so, in response, here’s a speculative masterplan I’ve made that would add to the zoo’s current exhibits and build new ones where old ones once stood.

NEW SPECIES IN BOLD

First off, I don’t really like the idea of an escalator being the only entrance to the zoo. It’s a bit of a risk, and is a huge annoyance. I’d make a large set of stairs, accompanying an elevator building for those in wheelchairs.


Upon entering the zoo, the first exhibit is the Forest Passage. While most of the exhibits would remain where they once stood, I’d renovate the area to become an “Asian Forest” exhibit. In addition to replacing the Canada Lynx with snow leopards and expanding their exhibit, I’d add golden takin, markhor (from the Bronx maybe?), red pandas, and possibly giant pandas on their own trail. Several native bird aviaries could be added as well.


Asian Forest


  • Snow Leopard
  • Amur Tiger
  • Red Panda
  • Giant Panda
  • Golden Takin
  • Markhor

  • Asian Bird Aviaries (Species Not Listed)

The African Savannah as a whole isn’t bad at all. However, expanding the elephant exhibit is a requirement - in my masterplan, it’d take over much of the current cheetah and savannah areas. In addition to this, I’d replace the amur leopards with painted wolves and revamp the predator area to fit the African theme. Hippos and nile crocodiles would be added alongside lesser flamingos, taking up a portion of what was once islands/the restaurant plaza. A new campsite/restaurant area would be added at the beginning, helping to expand the African theming.


African Savanna


  • African Lion
  • Painted Wolf
  • Cheetah
  • Giraffe, Common Ostrich, Impala, Springbok, Grant’s Zebra
  • African Elephant
  • Black Rhinoceros
  • Hippopotamus
  • Lesser Flamingo
  • Nile Crocodile

The next major portions of the zoo are the rainforest exhibits. Comprising the tropical rainforest building, jungle odyssey, and islands, all of these exhibits are great in their own right. I’d combine the exhibits into a “tropical rainforest” complex, and open it in several phases.


The tropical rainforest building would be totally renovated on the inside, moving the orangutans to the central exhibits and allowing them outdoor access. The gorillas would take over all of the previous orangutan area. Several small mammals and birds would be added in San Diego style aviaries on individual outdoor rainforest trails, including the Congo, Amazon, and Southeast Asia. In particular, the Amazon trail, consuming what was once Jungle Odyssey, would be home to jaguars, macaws, tamanduas, and more.


Tropical Rainforest


  • Indoor Species Not Listed

  • Lar Gibbon
  • Bornean Orangutan
  • Western Lowland Gorilla
  • Guereza
  • Blue Monkey
  • Jaguar
  • Black Spider Monkey
  • Scarlet Macaw, Hyacinth Macaw
  • Harpy Eagle
  • Southern Tamandua

Tropical Rainforest Aviaries (Species Not Listed)


The PPG aquarium is already a masterpiece - however, I’d love to expand on this, and change the lighting to make it more similar to the Scott Aquarium in Omaha and Berlin’s aquarium. A few more exhibits would be added, while the general layout would be about the same.


PPG Aquarium


  • Species Not Listed

Perhaps the most iconic animals at the zoo are their polar bears. Since phasing them out isn’t an option, I’d expand both their and the accompanying elephant seal exhibits to fit their respective species. I’m not sure whether or not room for the sea otters could be found, but if possible I’d move them into a new exhibit here.


  • Polar Bear
  • Northern Elephant Seal
Children’s zoos are usually rather bland and boring. However, Pittsburgh breaks the mold by holding several unique species here. I’d expand on this, and turn the entire children’s zoo into an area for native wildlife as well as playgrounds and such themed around the temperate forests of Pennsylvania. The exhibit would begin with bald eagles, owls, raccoons, and river otters, and eventually end up featuring bears and red wolves. I wouldn’t call it a “children’s zoo” per se, but I’d add more educational material and allow some of the exhibits to revolve around forest themed playgrounds and splash pads.


As for worlds of discovery, I never have had the time to visit. However, I’d add several new small mammals, reptiles, etc and integrate it into the area’s theme.


  • Bald Eagle
  • Barred Owl
  • North American River Otter
  • American Black Bear (Cinnamon)
  • Red Wolf
  • Raccoon
Worlds of Discovery
  • Species Not Listed
 
Brayden Delashmutt said:
Pittsburgh Zoo is my personal favorite zoo in the northeast - it’s a charming and unique facility in an awesome city, with fascinating exhibits and several rare species. However, as time has progressed, the zoo has slowly begun to become outdated - so, in response, here’s a speculative masterplan I’ve made that would add to the zoo’s current exhibits and build new ones where old ones once stood.

NEW SPECIES IN BOLD

First off, I don’t really like the idea of an escalator being the only entrance to the zoo. It’s a bit of a risk, and is a huge annoyance. I’d make a large set of stairs, accompanying an elevator building for those in wheelchairs.


Upon entering the zoo, the first exhibit is the Forest Passage. While most of the exhibits would remain where they once stood, I’d renovate the area to become an “Asian Forest” exhibit. In addition to replacing the Canada Lynx with snow leopards and expanding their exhibit, I’d add golden takin, markhor (from the Bronx maybe?), red pandas, and possibly giant pandas on their own trail. Several native bird aviaries could be added as well.


Asian Forest


  • Snow Leopard
  • Amur Tiger
  • Red Panda
  • Giant Panda
  • Golden Takin
  • Markhor

  • Asian Bird Aviaries (Species Not Listed)

The African Savannah as a whole isn’t bad at all. However, expanding the elephant exhibit is a requirement - in my masterplan, it’d take over much of the current cheetah and savannah areas. In addition to this, I’d replace the amur leopards with painted wolves and revamp the predator area to fit the African theme. Hippos and nile crocodiles would be added alongside lesser flamingos, taking up a portion of what was once islands/the restaurant plaza. A new campsite/restaurant area would be added at the beginning, helping to expand the African theming.


African Savanna


  • African Lion
  • Painted Wolf
  • Cheetah
  • Giraffe, Common Ostrich, Impala, Springbok, Grant’s Zebra
  • African Elephant
  • Black Rhinoceros
  • Hippopotamus
  • Lesser Flamingo
  • Nile Crocodile

The next major portions of the zoo are the rainforest exhibits. Comprising the tropical rainforest building, jungle odyssey, and islands, all of these exhibits are great in their own right. I’d combine the exhibits into a “tropical rainforest” complex, and open it in several phases.


The tropical rainforest building would be totally renovated on the inside, moving the orangutans to the central exhibits and allowing them outdoor access. The gorillas would take over all of the previous orangutan area. Several small mammals and birds would be added in San Diego style aviaries on individual outdoor rainforest trails, including the Congo, Amazon, and Southeast Asia. In particular, the Amazon trail, consuming what was once Jungle Odyssey, would be home to jaguars, macaws, tamanduas, and more.


Tropical Rainforest


  • Indoor Species Not Listed

  • Lar Gibbon
  • Bornean Orangutan
  • Western Lowland Gorilla
  • Guereza
  • Blue Monkey
  • Jaguar
  • Black Spider Monkey
  • Scarlet Macaw, Hyacinth Macaw
  • Harpy Eagle
  • Southern Tamandua

Tropical Rainforest Aviaries (Species Not Listed)


The PPG aquarium is already a masterpiece - however, I’d love to expand on this, and change the lighting to make it more similar to the Scott Aquarium in Omaha and Berlin’s aquarium. A few more exhibits would be added, while the general layout would be about the same.


PPG Aquarium


  • Species Not Listed

Perhaps the most iconic animals at the zoo are their polar bears. Since phasing them out isn’t an option, I’d expand both their and the accompanying elephant seal exhibits to fit their respective species. I’m not sure whether or not room for the sea otters could be found, but if possible I’d move them into a new exhibit here.


  • Polar Bear
  • Northern Elephant Seal
Children’s zoos are usually rather bland and boring. However, Pittsburgh breaks the mold by holding several unique species here. I’d expand on this, and turn the entire children’s zoo into an area for native wildlife as well as playgrounds and such themed around the temperate forests of Pennsylvania. The exhibit would begin with bald eagles, owls, raccoons, and river otters, and eventually end up featuring bears and red wolves. I wouldn’t call it a “children’s zoo” per se, but I’d add more educational material and allow some of the exhibits to revolve around forest themed playgrounds and splash pads.


As for worlds of discovery, I never have had the time to visit. However, I’d add several new small mammals, reptiles, etc and integrate it into the area’s theme.


  • Bald Eagle
  • Barred Owl
  • North American River Otter
  • American Black Bear (Cinnamon)
  • Red Wolf
  • Raccoon
Worlds of Discovery
  • Species Not Listed

Click to expand...
I would bet you everything I have plus more that Pittsburgh Zoo will never be getting Giant Pandas.
 
Brayden Delashmutt said:
Pittsburgh Zoo is my personal favorite zoo in the northeast - it’s a charming and unique facility in an awesome city, with fascinating exhibits and several rare species. However, as time has progressed, the zoo has slowly begun to become outdated - so, in response, here’s a speculative masterplan I’ve made that would add to the zoo’s current exhibits and build new ones where old ones once stood.

NEW SPECIES IN BOLD

First off, I don’t really like the idea of an escalator being the only entrance to the zoo. It’s a bit of a risk, and is a huge annoyance. I’d make a large set of stairs, accompanying an elevator building for those in wheelchairs.


Upon entering the zoo, the first exhibit is the Forest Passage. While most of the exhibits would remain where they once stood, I’d renovate the area to become an “Asian Forest” exhibit. In addition to replacing the Canada Lynx with snow leopards and expanding their exhibit, I’d add golden takin, markhor (from the Bronx maybe?), red pandas, and possibly giant pandas on their own trail. Several native bird aviaries could be added as well.


Asian Forest


  • Snow Leopard
  • Amur Tiger
  • Red Panda
  • Giant Panda
  • Golden Takin
  • Markhor

  • Asian Bird Aviaries (Species Not Listed)

The African Savannah as a whole isn’t bad at all. However, expanding the elephant exhibit is a requirement - in my masterplan, it’d take over much of the current cheetah and savannah areas. In addition to this, I’d replace the amur leopards with painted wolves and revamp the predator area to fit the African theme. Hippos and nile crocodiles would be added alongside lesser flamingos, taking up a portion of what was once islands/the restaurant plaza. A new campsite/restaurant area would be added at the beginning, helping to expand the African theming.


African Savanna


  • African Lion
  • Painted Wolf
  • Cheetah
  • Giraffe, Common Ostrich, Impala, Springbok, Grant’s Zebra
  • African Elephant
  • Black Rhinoceros
  • Hippopotamus
  • Lesser Flamingo
  • Nile Crocodile

The next major portions of the zoo are the rainforest exhibits. Comprising the tropical rainforest building, jungle odyssey, and islands, all of these exhibits are great in their own right. I’d combine the exhibits into a “tropical rainforest” complex, and open it in several phases.


The tropical rainforest building would be totally renovated on the inside, moving the orangutans to the central exhibits and allowing them outdoor access. The gorillas would take over all of the previous orangutan area. Several small mammals and birds would be added in San Diego style aviaries on individual outdoor rainforest trails, including the Congo, Amazon, and Southeast Asia. In particular, the Amazon trail, consuming what was once Jungle Odyssey, would be home to jaguars, macaws, tamanduas, and more.


Tropical Rainforest


  • Indoor Species Not Listed

  • Lar Gibbon
  • Bornean Orangutan
  • Western Lowland Gorilla
  • Guereza
  • Blue Monkey
  • Jaguar
  • Black Spider Monkey
  • Scarlet Macaw, Hyacinth Macaw
  • Harpy Eagle
  • Southern Tamandua

Tropical Rainforest Aviaries (Species Not Listed)


The PPG aquarium is already a masterpiece - however, I’d love to expand on this, and change the lighting to make it more similar to the Scott Aquarium in Omaha and Berlin’s aquarium. A few more exhibits would be added, while the general layout would be about the same.


PPG Aquarium


  • Species Not Listed

Perhaps the most iconic animals at the zoo are their polar bears. Since phasing them out isn’t an option, I’d expand both their and the accompanying elephant seal exhibits to fit their respective species. I’m not sure whether or not room for the sea otters could be found, but if possible I’d move them into a new exhibit here.


  • Polar Bear
  • Northern Elephant Seal
Children’s zoos are usually rather bland and boring. However, Pittsburgh breaks the mold by holding several unique species here. I’d expand on this, and turn the entire children’s zoo into an area for native wildlife as well as playgrounds and such themed around the temperate forests of Pennsylvania. The exhibit would begin with bald eagles, owls, raccoons, and river otters, and eventually end up featuring bears and red wolves. I wouldn’t call it a “children’s zoo” per se, but I’d add more educational material and allow some of the exhibits to revolve around forest themed playgrounds and splash pads.


As for worlds of discovery, I never have had the time to visit. However, I’d add several new small mammals, reptiles, etc and integrate it into the area’s theme.


  • Bald Eagle
  • Barred Owl
  • North American River Otter
  • American Black Bear (Cinnamon)
  • Red Wolf
  • Raccoon
Worlds of Discovery
  • Species Not Listed
Click to expand...
Having visited the zoo back in June 2022, a couple pointers about your ideas:

Asian Forest
  • I like the idea of bringing snow leopards back! I can see the zoo potentially moving the komodo dragons over to Islands and potentially building a new space for their red pandas, and utilizing the komodo/red panda space for snow leopards. Personally though, I'd rather they highlighted the red pandas on their own and maybe have a side exhibit for cranes and waterfowl, as that's what the komodo dragon exhibit was when Asian Forest first opened.
  • No room for golden takin or especially for giant pandas, I'm afraid.
African Savanna
  • The zoo's not gonna get African wild dogs back due to a certain... incident. Bringing them back would not bode well for the zoo's PR.
  • Impala are quite flighty and require high fencing, compromising the sightlines of the current giraffe and zebra exhibit. The zoo used to have springbok before those were phased out in favor of nyala.
  • While the rhinos have a fair amount of space, the elephants could use a significant expansion. If the zoo's serious about maintaining their elephant program, significant choices would have to be made - and one of their proposed choices was building a new giraffe barn in order to theoretically dedicate the current large mammal facility they have to elephants.
  • Because there's not enough room for hippos (which are a resource-intensive animal), a good compromise, which the zoo took advantage of in Jungle Odyssey, was getting pygmy hippos instead.
Tropical Forest
  • LOVE the idea of consolidating Tropical Forest, Islands and Jungle Odyssey. I would tie everything together under a consistent design philosophy rather than the utilitarian makeup of Jungle Odyssey compared to the more high-budget theming of Islands to the '90s kitsch of Tropical Forest. I'd personally replace the entire roof and edit the signage of Tropical Forest, and also add as much natural substrate as possible to the exhibits. The great ape dayrooms could use a lot more natural light as well, since as is they are incredibly dark.
Bears (now defunct)
  • Theoretically, you could do snow leopards and red pandas here, as well as the takin idea you brought up earlier. I think doing a montane set of habitats here could bode well for the zoo's original Top of the World exhibit concept!

Aquarium (no longer sponsored by PPG)
  • Only minor tweaks I'd make would be bringing back species the aquarium used to have as well as potentially bringing in new species that would provide points of difference. That and also making the penguin pool a lot deeper.
Water's Edge
  • There's the Arctic Express plaza alongside some extra space which I honestly can see as a viable expansion to the polar bear exhibit! I'd also add misters as well as a chilled dayroom/cooled rocks for the bears to rest on, and maybe have a Henry Vilas style setup of an older female bear providing company to a younger bear.
  • Not sure where you'd put the sea otters - the elephant seal exhibit's decently large as is.
Kids Kingdom
  • Pretty solid ideas! As long as softscaping is employed and the native landscapes are emphasized as much as possible, you're good to go!
Worlds of Discovery
  • I'm surprised you didn't go into further detail about this area, as I do actually have a sense of nostalgia for the '90s-'00s style of signage and exhibit design which was employed here. Only thing I'd tweak about this building is giving the meerkats outdoor access, signing the fish tunnel and adding a better ventilation system for the bat cave since as is, it's... kinda rough smellwise. :confused:
 
Last edited:
Wisp O' Mist said:
Why Grant's Zebra [Which wouldn't even be Grant’s Zebras, given the Plains Zebras' loooong history of being bred indiscriminately amongst its subspecies in North America], which are only Near Threatened...

Over the Endangered Grevy’s Zebra or the Vulnerable Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra?
Click to expand...

The zoo already keeps them, so I figure it would be more likely
 
StoppableSan said:
Having visited the zoo back in June 2022, a couple pointers about your ideas:

Asian Forest
  • I like the idea of bringing snow leopards back! I can see the zoo potentially moving the komodo dragons over to Islands and potentially building a new space for their red pandas, and utilizing the komodo/red panda space for snow leopards. Personally though, I'd rather they highlighted the red pandas on their own and maybe have a side exhibit for cranes and waterfowl, as that's what the komodo dragon exhibit was when Asian Forest first opened.
  • No room for golden takin or especially for giant pandas, I'm afraid.
African Savanna
  • The zoo's not gonna get African wild dogs back due to a certain... incident. Bringing them back would not bode well for the zoo's PR.
  • Impala are quite flighty and require high fencing, compromising the sightlines of the current giraffe and zebra exhibit. The zoo used to have springbok before those were phased out in favor of nyala.
  • While the rhinos have a fair amount of space, the elephants could use a significant expansion. If the zoo's serious about maintaining their elephant program, significant choices would have to be made - and one of their proposed choices was building a new giraffe barn in order to theoretically dedicate the current large mammal facility they have to elephants.
  • Because there's not enough room for hippos (which are a resource-intensive animal), a good compromise, which the zoo took advantage of in Jungle Odyssey, was getting pygmy hippos instead.
Tropical Forest
  • LOVE the idea of consolidating Tropical Forest, Islands and Jungle Odyssey. I would tie everything together under a consistent design philosophy rather than the utilitarian makeup of Jungle Odyssey compared to the more high-budget theming of Islands to the '90s kitsch of Tropical Forest. I'd personally replace the entire roof and edit the signage of Tropical Forest, and also add as much natural substrate as possible to the exhibits. The great ape dayrooms could use a lot more natural light as well, since as is they are incredibly dark.
Bears (now defunct)
  • Theoretically, you could do snow leopards and red pandas here, as well as the takin idea you brought up earlier. I think doing a montane set of habitats here could bode well for the zoo's original Top of the World exhibit concept!

Aquarium (no longer sponsored by PPG)
  • Only minor tweaks I'd make would be bringing back species the aquarium used to have as well as potentially bringing in new species that would provide points of difference. That and also making the penguin pool a lot deeper.
Water's Edge
  • There's the Arctic Express plaza alongside some extra space which I honestly can see as a viable expansion to the polar bear exhibit! I'd also add misters as well as a chilled dayroom/cooled rocks for the bears to rest on, and maybe have a Henry Vilas style setup of an older female bear providing company to a younger bear.
  • Not sure where you'd put the sea otters - the elephant seal exhibit's decently large as is.
Kids Kingdom
  • Pretty solid ideas! As long as softscaping is employed and the native landscapes are emphasized as much as possible, you're good to go!
Worlds of Discovery
  • I'm surprised you didn't go into further detail about this area, as I do actually have a sense of nostalgia for the '90s-'00s style of signage and exhibit design which was employed here. Only thing I'd tweak about this building is giving the meerkats outdoor access, signing the fish tunnel and adding a better ventilation system for the bat cave since as is, it's... kinda rough smellwise. :confused:
Click to expand...

Lots of awesome ideas I’ll address in my next post here. Out of curiosity, wouldn’t there be room where the education center is now for an Asian highlands area? I was thinking about adding grizzlies where the old grottos were, might that work?
 
Brayden Delashmutt said:
Lots of awesome ideas I’ll address in my next post here. Out of curiosity, wouldn’t there be room where the education center is now for an Asian highlands area? I was thinking about adding grizzlies where the old grottos were, might that work?
Click to expand...
Might be a tad snug for grizzlies. Perfect for Andean bears and coati if you could build suitable dens though!

TOP OF THE WORLD
Andean Bear, South American Coati
Cougar
Rocky Mountain Goat
Snow Leopard
Pallas’ Cat
Sichuan Takin, Long-Tailed Goral
Hamadryas Baboon/Gelada (rotation)

This is an idea I came up with for a Pittsburgh-inspired zoo in Planet Zoo, of course assuming that they had eight grottoes rather than four. Though, feel free to pick from this and see what you like!
 
By the way, I’ll definitely go more in depth about worlds of discovery in my next post as well - I just haven’t visited that area in a little while
 
StoppableSan said:
Might be a tad snug for grizzlies. Perfect for Andean bears and coati if you could build suitable dens though!

TOP OF THE WORLD
Andean Bear, South American Coati
Cougar
Rocky Mountain Goat
Snow Leopard
Pallas’ Cat
Sichuan Takin, Long-Tailed Goral
Hamadryas Baboon/Gelada (rotation)

This is an idea I came up with for a Pittsburgh-inspired zoo in Planet Zoo, of course assuming that they had eight grottoes rather than four. Though, feel free to pick from this and see what you like!
Click to expand...

That’s an awesome idea! I’ll cover that in my next post as well.
 
Also, would it really be that bad for the PR to add painted dogs back? After all, it wasn’t the dog’s fault that the child died…
 
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