Learning at Zoos: Design Guidelines, Part 1

We at DesigningZoos.com always love guest bloggers and new, insightful information.  So when former PGAV intern, Russell Ploutz, offered to share his thesis project on learning in zoos, I jumped at the chance to share his brilliance with the world.  He has summarized his extremely in-depth and thoughtful project for us, and I'll be posting it via 3 installments.  Without further adieu... Cognitive Based Zoo Design Guidelines by Russell Ploutz

What is learning?

Learning is the process of transforming information into knowledge using cognitive processes - the “mental process that individuals undergo as they think, learn, and perform problem-solving and decision-making activities.”  If humans use predictable processes during learning, how can zoo exhibits engage those processes to improve visitor learning? Insights from cognitive psychology provide guidance for how to facilitate human learning processes, creating fulfilling visitor experiences while achieving zoos’ mission of education.

By researching the fundamentals of learning I developed a set of design guidelines for zoo exhibits which stimulate and facilitate visitor’s learning processes. I created the design guidelines by gathering professional zoo designer’s input, reviewing literature and personal findings resulting in a design manual for engaging cognitive processes. The manual contains three elements: background information synthesizing literature specific to zoo exhibit designers, design guidelines for engaging learning processes and, example projects I designed illustrating the application of the guidelines.

Learning Principles

Fifty-three design guidelines are grouped into nine principles addressing different aspects of learning. Each learning principle contains related guidelines and background information which ground the guidelines in scientific studies. Additionally, the principles contain methods and potential design strategies for employing the design guidelines.

The first principles describe prerequisite cognitive processes to engage prior to transforming information into knowledge. Meeting these initial principles is critical because without their provision learning is unlikely to occur.

1. Identity - learning needs to fulfill our motivations.

For learning to succeed in places like zoos where we control how and what we engage, we need to want to learn. The Identity principle builds on Falk’s work on Visitor Identities describing visitor’s motivations and needs. The principle explains how to fulfill each visitor’s Identity by productively satisfying their social and personal needs with learning opportunities.

2. Attention - we must engage the exhibit.

Once visitors are motivated to engage in learning, then exhibits can assist visitors in focusing on learning content. For learning to occur, we must direct our attention in the exhibit to acquire information. The Attention principle describes how exhibit characteristics can direct visitor’s attention on learning content to engage the information.

3. Inform - we need to know how to engage.

In addition to directing visitor’s attention on learning content, exhibits also need to inform visitors as to how they can engage in learning. If we do not know how to engage the exhibit, how can we learn from the exhibit? The Inform principle explains how exhibits can directly and indirectly notify visitors of learning opportunities.

4. Recall - we use prior knowledge with new information.

Once visitors are prepared to learn the exhibit can facilitate one of the most critical aspects in learning, the recall of prior information and experiences. We use our past experiences to understand new information and situations through contextualization. This principle explains how exhibit elements and design characteristics can evoke past memories helping visitors understand new information.

Stay tuned for Part 2 and Part 3...

September Animal of the Month: Snow Leopard

The Snow Leopard generally leads a solitary and snowy life among the rocks of the Himalayan mountains.  Learn more about them by signing up to receive the PGAV Destinations Animal of the Month fact sheets by contacting me directly. Check out a past fact sheet here.

August Animal of the Month: Manatee

Oh, the lovely sea cow.  Once believed to call to sailors, as would a mermaid or, say, a siren, this slow moving, blubbery beauty of the order Sirenia was our focus in August.  A favored friend of Florida, the West Indian Manatee is now endangered and relatively rare in captivity.  Learn all about this sweet creature here.

ATTENTION: This will be the last Animal of the Month that will be posted to the blog.  In the future, I will send out the fact sheet via email.  If you are interested in receiving them, please contact me.

DZ visits the Lemur Conservation Reserve

After a quick email exchange and phone conversation with Patti Walsh, Director of Research and Operations at the Lemur Conservation Foundation, a visit to their Lemur Reserve was in order.  Located just outside Myakka City, FL, a town with little more than a farm store and a yellow light, the Reserve is over 100 rural acres of mixed pine and oak forest.

The Foundations’ 44 lemurs have free-range within two fenced-in forested yards, 10 and 13 acres each.  Compatible breeding groups are rotated between these two yards and holding facilities near the yards.  The holding facilities have both indoor stalls (of various size, but averaging 8’ x 8’) immediately adjacent to outdoor, fully enclosed yards.  These yards are approximately 20’ x 10’ x 8’ tall, and are elegantly appointed with all manner of lemur fun, playtime equipment.

Within each large forested yard, lemurs have the option to hang out in a holding facility featuring a geodesic dome which provides respite from the weather.  The domes are made from Styrofoam, covered in plaster, and offer insulating qualities in both the heat of summer in central Florida and the chilly temperatures that sometimes occur during winter.  The domes are located between two elevated outdoor stalls, and allow indoor transfer between the two outdoor yards for maximum flexibility and in case of emergency.

Currently, the Reserve features a small on-site clinic space—really little more than a room with veterinary supplies, and each holding building has its own small kitchen space.  The 13 acre yard holding building’s kitchen is slightly larger allowing for the bulk of food storage, but with fresh produce donations occurring twice weekly, no large cooler space is required.

The Reserve was opened in 2000 with 32 lemurs and continues to grow with successful breeding on-site.  The lemurs are often lent to other institutions for breeding as directed by the SSP. Long-term plans include the addition of another forest yard but is limited by both funding and growth of currently scrubby shrubs and seedlings.  In the short-term, the Foundation is looking forward to enlarging the clinic space to enable more procedures to occur on-site, rather than transporting, as they do now, to a local veterinarian, nearly 45 minutes away.

Ultimately, the goal of the Reserve is to return lemurs to the wild, but for now, it is used as a breeding facility and base for research.  The lemurs here are interested in people, and several came from their patrols in the forest to check me out from their perches high in the trees.  Those housed in the holding facilities ran to say hello.  So amazing!

If I could suggest anything for this special place, it would be to create an experience that the public at large could enjoy—right now, only researchers and special guests are allowed.  This would represent one version of the future of zoos as visualized by some designers.

Case study: Zoo Atlanta

Over on Yes, If..., Jon takes a pretty darn good stab at evaluating Zoo Atlanta's wayfinding and experiential issues.  So good, in fact, I've borrowed it for DesigningZoos.com!   Check it out here: Case study: Zoo Atlanta.

Keeping Animals Cool in a Scorcher Summer

We all know this summer was a doozy.  Droughts, heatwaves, and for me, an impending hurricane.  After one of my late morning dog walks, where poor little Moe Moe decided to give up after half a block, I wondered, what are our zoo friends doing to keep their critters happy and healthy in this extreme weather?

Of course, some of the animals love this weather!  The ringtail lemurs at the Lemur Conservation Foundation in Myakka City, Florida, for example, are native to Madagascar's hot steamy deserts and find the recent heat to be exhilarating.  In fact, Pattie Walsh, Director of Research and Operations, explained these guys prefer one specific yard over the other due to the drier, sunnier conditions, while their cohorts in the other, wetter and shadier yard-- the brown and mongoose lemurs native to rainforests--regularly take advantage of the misting system available to them.

For others, like the grizzly bears living in the, er, unbearable, road-buckling heat of Milwaukee this year, keepers must intervene with solutions.  Dawn Fleuchaus, keeper at Milwaukee County Zoo, told me they run hoses from the holding roof for misting the bears, and even added a shade structure to the outdated exhibit.  She stressed the importance of shade and, of course, lots of freezer space for making frozen treats.

St. Louis Zoo used garbage cans to make giant blocks of ice with food items frozen inside, which, as carnivore curator Steve Bircher explained to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, serves double duty: cooling the animals and providing extra nutrition when they are least willing to consume.

Other solutions include pools.  One keeper suggested designing pools into most new enclosures, and adding blocks of ice to them when temperatures soar.  uShaka Sea World in South Africa designed each 'green room' stall for their fur seals so that it can function either dry or as a shallow pool.  They also utilized shower heads to provide chilled 'rain'.

Whatever means zoos utilize to keep their animals cool, one thing is for certain.  Designers need to provide flexibility and options.  Opportunities for shade is a simple one, as well as water hook-ups for misting or spraying.  Lots of room inside the holding building for storage and coolers, if needed.  We can't possibly predict every need within an exhibit, so providing staff with the ability to get creative and easily implement changes is key.

Now I want to know...What's your hurricane plan?

Labor Day Exhibit Openings

So far, I've heard about two new exhibits opening over the Labor Day weekend: National Zoo's newly renovated American Trail (link includes Portico Group's signature design fly-thru)  and Central Florida Zoo's river otters (which I'll be covering in person--stay tuned!). Traditionally, new exhibits are opened for the spring rush to experience an extra bump in attendance through the busy summer months. I wonder what is driving the timing of these two exhibits? Project delays? Or did they intentionally plan for Labor Day openings?

Summer as the high season for zoos and aquariums is not driven, as you might expect, by good weather--but rather the fact that kids are out of school. Weather is, of course, a factor in attendance, but even zoos, aquariums and theme parks located in yearlong mild climates see a bump during summer. Could these new exhibit openings be an attempt to correct the fall / winter slow down?

If you know of other new exhibits opening over Labor Day, let me know. And if you were involved in the opening date decision making, share your insight.

July Animal of the Month: Rhinos!

Last month we tackled the untackle-able, rhinos.  These tanks of the African savanna are powerful and thick-skinned, but how much space do they need in captivity?  Do they like to hang out in mud holes with other rhinos, or spend their days grazing alone in contemplation?  Learn more here!

June Animal of the Month: Meerkat

PGAV's Zoo Design Specialty Development Team is back in gear with fresh faces and new Animal of the Month fact sheets.  I'm already behind on posting them, so here is Meerkat from a couple of months ago.

The meerkat (not meer-kitty) is a social species from the deserts of Africa.  Much like human society, each meerkat takes on a role, a career you might say, from babysitter to sentinel.  Learn more about these rambunctious non-rodents here.

AZA Resource for Elephants!

The AZA Elephant TAG has created a concise resource for all things elephants including educational messaging content, exhibit design recommendations, conservation, husbandry resources among many other interesting and helpful info. Check it out here.

Hot Topic: Integrating Mobile Media into the Guest Experience

Every so often, a new idea has so much traction its all anyone can talk about.  The new idea at AZA this year?  Integration of mobile technology into the guest experience.  Big words.  Simple ideas. 8:30 a.m. Saturday.  Many people have left the conference by now.  Others are simply too tired from a long week (or a long Friday night out) to even imagine dragging themselves out of their comfortable Omni Hotel bed into the chilly gray Atlanta morning to listen to non-industry experts talk about Macro Trends.  But not me.  I'm there in room A305 along with a smattering of other over-achieving, artificially awake zoo and aquarium professionals.

Our reward this morning?  The Vice President of Marketing Strategy and Insights at Coca-Cola, Stan Sthanunathan, and Heather Baldino, the Senior Vice President of Network Marketing and Operations for Turner Broadcasting System.  Big wigs.  Real, world-class big wigs.  For us zoo folks, practically marketing gods.

This session was named Macro Trends in the Zoo and Aquarium Industry.  Not technology trends or social media marketing.  Trends.  But what did both of these big wigs have to tell us?  Get connected to your audience.  And not in the touchy-feely sorta way.  In the digital way.  And its got to be a two-way street.

Stan talked about the importance of this as a means to respond to the changing market.  Today's biggest changes?  Shifting demographics (the world is getting older), shifting economic center (its China and India, not the great West), sustainability as a core value (especially with limited resources of water and petroleum), the emerging middle class (expect an additional 800 million by 2020), the connected world (think "world news in a matter of minutes, if not seconds"), and a focus on well-being (the US is fat).

As the world changes, zoos and aquariums must adapt and evolve in our relationships with our market.  Baldino pointed out that on-demand entertainment (like Netflix, YouTube, Roku, XBox 360, iPhone, iPad, etc) has skyrocketed in the last two years alone causing a steep decline in non-electronic sources of entertainment.  People who like media, use media.  All kinds and all the time.  People are "watching CNN at home on the couch with their smartphone, pulling stats from the CNN website, investigating things they see on TV."  The younger generation are even more dependent on media, and much more adept at digital multi-tasking.

So, how do we increase our share of the entertainment time budget of our audience?  How do we expand the experience to before and after their visit to our parks?  Digital media, and more specifically:  mobile media.

Depending on the source, between 28-38% of the US population carries a smartphone.  Smartphone users access the internet (or some internet based app) at least four times a day, according to Baldino.  More than half of the US population accessed Facebook in June 2011.  These users are not just kids.  In fact, the majority of these users are between the ages of 25 and 54.  What does that mean for zoos and aquariums who tend to focus on content for kids?  It means an opportunity for developing a social experience within the family.

According to Baldino, most of the users of the Cartoon Network's website and Facebook pages are adults on behalf of their kids.  They don't access the pages FOR the kids, they access the pages WITH the kids.  These experiences can enhance the zoo visit by "amplifying and extending the experience."

Of course, it also presents an opportunity to reach out to our heretofore untapped resource of "adults with no kids" market, which as shown in our PGAV Zoo-Goer study, is interested and does exist.

But how do we do that?

On Friday afternoon, a large, happy group of conference attendees met to address exactly that question.  Currently, QR code integration and direct texting are the hottest methodologies in use at zoos and aquariums.  But, Mobile Excursions, LLC CEO, Dan Shropshire, recommends utilizing hybrid apps for smartphones.  Only 20% of the top 80 attractions by attendance are using apps at all, and he thinks its mostly due to price.  Hybrid apps are useful to zoos and aquariums with limited budgets as they utilize web content already created thereby bypassing the resource intense content creation phase.

Craig Leonardi, Lead Product Manager Industry Solutions at AT&T, points out that if you want to delve into smartphone apps and mobile web, you must have easy navigation, big buttons, an editor's eye to content, and ensure proper formatting.  If you don't deliver these things, your guest may use the app once and never return to it.  That obviously won't help us achieve our goals!

Leonardi goes on to suggest the use of QR codes.  If you've been asleep for the last year or so, QR codes are the funky black and white squares you see on almost every print ad out there.  You'll see them on products and packaging, too.  I've seen them on Pepsi cups at the Milwaukee County Zoo.  As a consumer, you simply download a QR reader app onto your smartphone, then scan the code with your phone's camera, and you are instantly connected to some specific web content related to that particular brand or attraction.  The Pepsi cup took me to a web-only commercial parodying and besting Coca-cola's famous polar bear ads.

The nice thing about QR codes is that any zoo can utilize them with minimal cost as free QR code generators are accessible and easy to use online.  All you need is a computer, a printer, and a video uploaded to YouTube.

That's exactly what Santa Barbara Zoo is doing right now.  Using a QR code generator called Kaywa, the Zoo is able to easily create expanded content for its guests.  And they've even utilized a fan video, which has gone mildly viral.  And I'll admit, I'm slightly obsessed with it.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgt49R9d-XM]

If you're going to use QR codes, Leonardi suggests taking advantage of your guests' downtime.  Meaning, any time they are standing in line, sitting down, or otherwise not actively engaged in an activity, make these opportunities available.  Dean Noble from the Santa Barbara Zoo went so far to suggest using them at exhibits that are known to be snoozers.  If you're animals aren't all that active, offer a code linking to a cool enrichment or training video.  It won't replace the live animal interaction, but it'll offer another aspect of the animal that the guest is not currently getting to enjoy.

As for texting, Monterey Bay Aquarium is utilizing a simple scheme to help visitors see cool things throughout their visit.  Everyone loves watching the critters get fed.  So, through a voluntary program where guests opt-in to direct texting for one day, the Aquarium, via text message, suggests guests make their way to certain exhibits minutes before an unscheduled feeding is to occur.   The Aquarium can use this system to selectively send guests to one exhibit or another based on attendance and crowding that day, ultimately helping to distribute guests throughout the Aquarium more efficiently.

With all these cool things zoos and aquariums are doing now, we have to understand that currently, today, right now, usage of these apps, QR codes, and direct texting is very low.  According to both Shropshire and Mike Chamberlain at Monterey Bay, usage hovers between 1.5-2% of attendance.  However, as trust of these new technologies increase over time, usage should also increase.

In order to succeed in integrating these technologies into the guest experience, Baldino suggests that the digital reward must be interactive and short.  According to her, smartphone users are looking for quick info, tidbits, immediate gratification.  She calls it "snacking."  If the content is too long, you'll lose the audience's attention.  She went on to say interactivity is absolutely key to digital content especially for kids.  Things like polls and voting, the ability to collect electronic prizes, like badges or digital animals, and share their collection with friends, photo tagging, games and live chats enable the audience to get involved, to interact, to connect.

"Digital is here to stay," said Baldino.  It should serve to amplify your product, not be the core experience.  It should engage and connect customers.  Many times, especially the older generations, feel digital experiences are alienating and isolating, which is the polar opposite of what we are trying to achieve in the zoo and aquarium world.  But according to Baldino and Stan, digital is actually community-building.  People tell each other about videos and apps, they send each other links, and talk to each other online.  "Its the new water cooler," said Baldino.  "If you're going to take advantage of Facebook, do it now."

August Animal of the Month

The inaugural run of the PGAV SDT is coming to an end.  As such, I am publishing the final Animal of the Month for 2011. This month's fact sheet is all about the king of fish...the Whale Shark.

Enjoy!

July Animal of the Month: Bottlenose Dolphins

They could be the happiest animals on the planet, or the most mischievous...Either way, they are the focus of the Zoo Design Animal of the Month fact sheet.

We were inspired by our incredible field trip to the Georgia Aquarium this week where we met with some awesome folks and very talented dolphins, the stars of the Aquarium's new "Dolphin Tales" show.

More to come on our field trip, but for now, just sit back and 'soak in' the good stuff about dolphins.

Dolphin SDT AotM July

June Animal of the Month: African Lions!

Panthera leo!  Who doesn't love the king of beasts?  According to PGAV's nation-wide poll, no one!  Big Cats have recently been identified by zoo-goers as their favorite animals at the zoo, and by a wide, wide margin.  Because of this, we wanted to share some interesting facts about one of America's most beloved critter! Infosheet here: Lion SDT AotM June

May Animal of the Month: Giraffes!

Explore the interesting world of Giraffes!  These long-necked, knock-kneed creatures are surprisingly more like my cat, Pablo, than they are to the more similar-looking horse...They're skittish, active in the dawn and dusk, and hate water. As always, enjoy!

For the fact sheet, click: Giraffe SDT AotM May

April Animal of the Month: Tigers

I think we're catching up to the calendar.  Expect May's fact sheet next week. But in April, we investigated the most endangered of the big cats...everyone's favorite...the striped ghost...Tigers!  Our fact sheet focuses on Bengals, but is applicable to Amurs as well.

As always, enjoy!

For the fact sheet, click here:  Tiger SDT AotM April

March Animal of the Month: Komodo Dragon

Yes, yes.  We're behind.  Stop chastising and enjoy the light reading all about our favorite real life dragons...Komodos!

For the fact sheet, click here: Komodo SDT AotM March.

Conveying Field Research and Conservation Efforts to Zoo Visitors

By Guest Blogger Christina Clagett Significance

The purpose of zoos has evolved a great deal over their history. The role of the animal in the zoo has been steadily shifting from a source of objectified amusement to that of ambassadors of their wild counterparts. In the past few decades zoos have increasingly worked beyond their boundaries; researching and reaching out to the native habitats of animals. It is common for reputable zoos to have multiple research and conservation efforts simultaneously underway across the world. The future of zoos and related wild populations depend on these projects, with the ideal result being a combination of efforts inside and outside of the zoo to stabilize and eventually restore native populations.

Zoo visitors of all ages understand that what they are seeing in an exhibit is not the “real thing” despite even the best thematic efforts. However, as they watch a live animal on exhibit, do they understand the role of this ambassador animal in the larger scope of research and conservation? Or do they see a member of a collection there for their viewing enjoyment? The success of conveying deeper meaning varies in zoos across the world; however, a vocal minority opposed to zoological organizations is just one example of a group that currently sees the latter. With so much progress being made in the field directly relating to the future welfare of a species on exhibit, more has to be done to help visitors make a connection between the two. This will add lasting meaning to their visit.

Implementation

For better or worse, attention spans of visitors are getting shorter. Overly wordy interpretive signage hardly commands significant attention and visitors move on quickly if an animal is not engaging at the moment. However, this does open the door for interactive ways to communicate the message. Interactive in this context means any medium from which a user can have a unique experience whether it is a knowledgeable person at the exhibit or a cell phone application. Many of the following strategies are already being utilized to varying degrees in zoos across the world.

In-Person Interpreter

The most simple and cost effective method to convey field efforts to visitors is to have a knowledgeable person, whether it be a trainer or volunteer docent, at the exhibit to literally recount the efforts being made. They could present artifacts sent directly from the field and visitors could have a sensory experience by touching or smelling them. However, it is not practical for a person to be in an exhibit during all operating hours so the message only gets to those visitors who happen to be there at the right time.

Role-Play Areas

A role-play area can mimic field conditions which relate to an exhibit. The scale of these play areas can vary from simple to elaborate or immersive. Most important with this strategy is to celebrate the work being done and encourage conservation by having visitors “play” for the same team as the researcher or conservationist in the field. Viewing areas could mimic the vantage point of the field researcher as the visitor studies the ambassador animal in the zoo. They could collect data with simplified versions of the field research. Real world progress can be chronicled as it happens by sharing information from the field researcher and the game could evolve concurrently with the field work.

Implementation: Technology

The following strategies all depend on the researcher in the field having access to technology to chronicle their work in real-time. Although the information they capture does not have to be shown up-to-the-minute, visitors feel a stronger connection when the content is fresh.

Media Wall/Video Screen

It would be impactful for visitors to see the field work happening on a screen adjacent to the exhibit. For example, having the experience of a close-up encounter while the wild counterpart is visible on a large screen could be very powerful. The researcher could film clips regularly that play on a loop at the exhibit, chronicling recent progress and findings. This would provide a unique experience for even habitual visitors each time as the exhibit avoids becoming static. An added benefit is they come to have an understanding of the field research and will relate it to the animal ambassador in the exhibit.

Social Media

Along the previous topic, the field researcher could take the content they have created and use various social media to share with a larger audience. There could be advertising for this content at the zoo entrances or specific exhibit to spread the word initially and it could be available on YouTube, Facebook or chronicled in a blog. Imagine how it would impact an elementary school science class to follow a particular blog over the school year and see firsthand the real pace of progress; whether quick or painfully slow. Content visitors consume at the exhibit could be reviewed at home on YouTube and shared with friends, convincing them to head to the zoo for themselves.

Animal Apps

As more parents take their children to the zoo with a smart phone or tablet in their bag, the opportunities to share information multiply. Utilizing this technology, all of the data and media collected from the field researcher could be programmed for an experience unique to each guest or group. There are many possibilities to create an interactive experience which combines the exhibit happenings with the field work. Imagine being able access information on demand, and even be able to interact with parts of the exhibit or field researcher with your phone or tablet. In the exhibit, you could control media and interactives with the phone. To go even further, imagine pressing a button on your phone to interact with the animal on exhibit: i.e. controlling an element within the exhibit itself such as a stream current. Not only would this be memorable for guests but could serve as enrichment for the animals as well, as long as it is programmed to prevent getting out of hand. Perhaps there is a limit on how many times such an interactive could be engaged in a given period of time. It should not be ignored that these applications could be a revenue source for the zoos as well.

Game applications which relate to the field work in a similar way to the role play games described earlier could be a huge hit with visitors. Once again, this is something they can engage long after leaving the zoo: it would succeed in keeping guests invested with the animals beyond their visit and create a lasting connection. If kids and parents alike can spend so much time playing games such as “Angry Birds” they could surely get into a game which relates to something they have personally seen or been involved with at the exhibit.

Utilization of an Opportunity

People, particularly children, are often emotionally affected by animals. This is especially true at the moment they connect with an animal in person. We cannot afford to squander the fleeting opportunity of this emotional connection. When a visitor moves on the emotional connection will diminish. We should use the moment to tell them the rest of the story and get them involved and engaged. We as zoo designers should do everything we can to nurture that connection and concern, and integrate the world-wide happenings from the field. We can nurture the formation of future attitudes towards animals and conservation in a more meaningful way than is currently being done on a mass scale.

Christina is a member of the PGAV Zoo Design Specialty Development Team.  She has been working at PGAV since 2008.  She has a Masters Degree in Architecture from Kansas State University, and is especially proud of her work on the currently under-construction Sea Lion Sound at the St. Louis Zoo.

Animal of the Month: Elephant (February)

So, much like the rest of the world, even a professional development team runs a little late.  Its April, and we're still working on our submission from March.  And, apparently, I am more behind than everyone since I am just now posting our Animal of the Month from February! Without further adieu...Here is your Animal of the Month for February 2011: Elephants.

Elephant SDT AotM February

Green Design in Zoos

Back in October 2010, I was honored to be a part of the AZFA (American Zoo Facilities Association) National Conference in St. Louis, MO.  In the shadow of my green genius partner, Mariusz Bleszynski (AIA, LEED AP), we presented a talk about the real nuts and bolts of green design in a zoo exhibit.

Because so much green design talk is generalized, we decided to tackle the issue head-on.  What are the practical applications of green construction in a zoo?  Most zoos utilize green methods somewhere on site, but usually it's applied in what I call the "easy places": nutrition centers, gift shops, special events pavilions.  Places that are typical construction in a non-traditional setting.  But the question always comes up...how do we make a green EXHIBIT?

Mariusz and I put our heads together and came up with a list of specific things that can, in some cases, be easily incorporated into an exhibit.  In other cases, its more difficult--generally because it costs more up front.

I've included a link to the AZFA 2010_If I Were A Green Exhibit powerpoint presentation, but for those who just want the highlights, here's a list of our top tips:

1.   Maximize Recycled Content: Reuse existing structures, spec materials that are recycled or can easily be recycled; Minimize non-recycled or hard to recycle materials like concrete!

2.  Use Geothermal Heating / Cooling: In thermally balanced environments, you can utilize this energy to heat / cool buildings and even small pools.  Wells can be placed almost anywhere, including beneath the exhibit or building.

3.  Use Solar Panels Strategically: Solar panels cost A LOT so use sparingly if at all UNLESS you have extra dollars to spend on green technology, want to create an educational exhibit, or can use to power specific items such as signage, interactives, lighting, gates, etc.

4.  Water Recycling: Can be any scale from rain barrels from roofs to zoo wide programs collecting run-off and wash down.  Can be used for exhibit wash down, irrigation, and toilet flushing.

5. Use Native Plants: Eliminates irrigation and fertilization needs and can be selected to mimic just about any environment.

6. Use Water Based Chillers instead of Traditional Air Based: More efficient, less noisy, longer lasting.  25% more expensive.  A bargain!

Within the presentation, we outlined initial costs, return on investment, and developed imagery to help everyone understand how these green technologies affect the visitor experience.

What is your zoo doing to become more green?