Designing Zoos

I found an article from February of this year talking about the future plans for Brookfield Zoo, in the suburbs of Chicago.  Brookfield has been a client of PGAV for many years now, starting with the design and construction of “The Swamp” exhibit in the 90s.  Recently, we’ve worked with them to complete a master plan for the next 20 years, including plans for the upcoming Great Bear Wilderness, which is we also designed and are taking through construction. 

Brookfield Zoo's Adaptive Reuse Project "The Swamp"

For Great Bear Wilderness, the Zoo has already broken ground on the project, starting utilities and grading work earlier this month.  The historic Ibex Mountain was demolished last December.

At the end of the article, a reader expressed concern over the future plans for the Zoo.  This inspired me to address some of the factors in this master plan, of which I was involved, as a tool for illustrating how master plans are completed. 

Brookfield Zoo has a long history and a special place in the hearts of the communities surrounding it.  The Zoo was a donation by Edith Rockefeller McCormick in 1919, and was designed in the style dominant of that age – Romantic and Beaux Arts.  The zoo was built around a central cross axis with a gigantic fountain in the center (added in 1954; known as the Roosevelt Fountain).  The four malls of the cross axis terminated in either entry (North, which has been subsequently re-designed to route guests through a tunnel under a main road essentially by-passing the historic gates entirely, and South, which is the secondary entrance used mostly by members), and two visual anchors (Ibex Mountain and the main zoo restaurant).  The malls are very wide swaths of green lawn lined with large non-native trees. 

Roosevelt Fountain

The historic layout is a beautiful historic campus, but leaves a lot of unusable space.  Additionally, many of the buildings throughout the zoo are in the Art Deco and Beaux Arts style and have historic appeal.  However, most of these buildings are in dire condition needing totally rehabbing in order to use in any way.  Many of these buildings, despite their condition, are still being used to house animals. 

When we were called in, the administration felt conflicted as to how to approach the master plan.  Knowing the community and staff ties to the historic aspects of the zoo, they felt we needed to respect some of the historic architecture and layout.  But, in looking forward to the future, knew also that innovation may supercede the need to preserve history.  That meant difficult choices needed to be made. 

We had MANY meetings with the public, the board of directors, the staff, and members to feel out what everyone thought to be the most important aspects of the Zoo.  Of course, everyone had a differing opinion.  In the end, we found a compromise that left everyone, at least mildly, happy. 

One of the choices regarded the malls.  The need to take advantage of every square foot of space in the land locked Zoo lead us to the decision to keep portions of the malls, but to encroach, removing the outer most pathways (which were mostly unused anyway), but keeping the allee of trees, as much as possible.

One of the four malls. Preserved inner pathway shown.

We also compromised by replacing the failing and unsafe Ibex Mountain with a large Bison exhibit, as part of the Great Wild North, which may not be as visually exciting as the Ibex Mountain, but certainly plays into the Zoo’s heritage, as the Bison is the central icon of the Zoo’s logo. 

Additionally, the Zoo decided to keep elephants.  This meant dedicated a massive portion of the northwest corner of the Zoo to the large enclosure. 

As for the southwest portion of the Zoo, the failing Aquatic Birds building and the already closed Reptile House were a source of contention.  These two buildings face each other essentially creating a public square with a bird pool in the middle.  The pool is in disrepair, and no one lingers or spends any time in the square.  Since the Reptile House is already closed, due to unsafe conditions, the plan is to demolish it completely, while renovating the Aquatic Bird house, and adding an addition.  The new Bird house is concepted to be an amazing walk-thru aviary with smaller reptile exhibits interspersed. 

The overall master plan took into account the placement of revenue and food locations to take advantage of the most highly visited areas of the park, increasing sales across the Zoo.  Additionally, the complaint that the Zoo is too big and confusing took precedence in the general layout, where we minimized redundant paths (by removing paths) and created one large main path looping around the entire Zoo. 

Full Long-Range Master Plan

A lot of discussion and thought went into this plan, and the Zoo made every effort to get as many opinions as possible from all involved parties.  Of course, there will always be weaknesses in plans, and it remains to be seen if all of the plans will eventually be built.  However, the process allowed the zoo to prioritize and evaluate its real goals, giving them a solid insight into its future.