My Master Plan: The Salisbury Zoo, Salisbury, Maryland

I'm at it again.  This time with the Salisbury Zoo in Salisbury, Maryland.  It's a lovely little zoo with a reasonable focus (species of the America's and Australia) that sits on 12 acres of land in a neighborhood park in the largest community in Maryland on the eastern shore.  Largest isn't saying much.  Salisbury was founded in 1732 by Lord Baltimore himself as an outpost at the headwaters of the Wicomico River; however, it didn't incorporate as a city until 1854.  Today, it is home to about 30,000 people with an annual influx of students to Salisbury State University.  It sits in the center of Maryland's poultry industrial complex under the anchorage of Perdue Farm Industries, and sports a handful of other tech and pharmaceutical related factories/facilities.  I mention this, because while in my fantasy zoo renovation world, I underwrite the majority of costs, it's important to identify other players who can step in and continue to support the institution into the future.  As well as, academic partnerships.  Salisbury state might establish a degree in zoo husbandry or zoo administration in partnership with the zoo to both institution's mutual benefit.

Another reason for selecting the Salisbury Zoo was it's recent suspension of its coveted AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) accreditation.  A girl's got to have standards, but she can also be a bitch sometimes.  This zoo has given a lot to the mission of the AZA, and in no aspect more than its Species Survival Program for the Andean Speckled Bear.  Now, I'm not saying that the place doesn't need up-grades.  So in this the AZA and I are in agreement.  But when dealing with a small zoo with limited means, it disappoints me a little that they don't provide at least grants to help these members meet standard.  My redesign addresses the issues ensuring a return to accreditation.  

Without further ado -- My Plan!

You can see from this drawing how the zoo in situated in a neighborhood.  In conceiving of my plan, I maintained most of the zoo's current species and focused on expanding and up-grading their habitats.  To accomplish this I pushed more the exhibits to the edge of the Beaverdam Creek to the north and push the perimeter of the zoo closer to the edge of the South Park Drive to the south.  Further, I have defined the perimeter with a barrier.  In this case a fence made up of a stone wall base to an average height of 30 inches topped with wrought iron vertical bars to an average height of 8 feet. 

The look is classical and the effect is to limit access to the zoo to predetermined entrances.  Specifically, the East Gate and West Gate public entrances, the Admin Complex driveway and the ESBA Educational building exterior entrance.  Creating a secure perimeter is part of the AZA accreditation protocols.  

Additionally, I applied my criterion of "wonder" to the design.   While animal welfare and habitat authenticity are both primary considerations, so is creating a sense of wonder.  To accomplish this, the design holds several key access to wonder experiences.  For instance:

• The West Gate's multiple aviaries.  Guests are greeted by five amazing habitats and a plethora of birdsong and wonder.
• The new Jaguar habitat with it's expanded size, natural rock formations, and below water observation area.
• The new North American River Otter habitat with its expanded stream and deep water pond.  A path goes under the exhibit to allow guests an underwater view of the otters at play.

In all, the renovated areas of the zoo are divided into seven zones.  I hope to expand on my thoughts and share more about the designs and reasons behind each in latter posts.

My New Zoo

My latest project, a ground up design of an imaginary zoo.  I love projects!

Brandywine Zoo Redesign #5

Following the lead of other natural (open) Aviaries, the transformation of a large area at the top of the hill into such a habitat creates a new home over 1,000 times larger for the zoos ducks, cranes and herons.  It also creates an thoroughly interactive experience for guest and adds another 8 species to the zoo's current 6 in this category of birds.

Brandywine Zoo Redesign #4

The other major inclusion to the zoo is an expanded Tropical Rain Forest "Complex".

Rather than one building with a focus on exterior exhibits as in the previous iteration, this design creates a major interior experience with several exterior habitats for the larger animals.  The main building also features a two story waterfall that takes visitors from a main floor with wonderful Macaw enclosures down to the ground floor Amazon River open Aquarium habitat.

The major addition via species survival is a Jaguar habitat.  It is designed to house newly born kits.

Brandywine Zoo Redesign #3

I love a good herpetarium.  While they are expensive to create and require specific zoological expertise to manage and maintain, they also provide opportunities to see a great variety of animals in a contained space that is impervious to the seasons or weather.  Because this zoo is build against a hill, this structure also serves the purpose of providing a second means of accessing the upper zoo from the lower zoo for the physically challenged.

Brandywine Zoo Redesign #2

With a current exhibition holding of around two dozen species, a limited footprint on the ground that can only expand to about 26 acres total, and a desire to be deeply involved in ecology and species survival, my focus included these themes and then some.  Others to include:

• A unified design aesthetic: Stone walls and façades, red cedar and while oak natural woods, wrought iron and obstruction free viewing.
• Creation of structures that are all-season viable:
• The Tropical Rain Forest Complex
• The North American Herpetarium Plus
• The Heritage Farm's Endangered Heirloom Rabbit collection
• Cool weather tolerant and/or habitable species: North American, South American & Asian
• Inclusion of endangered species with state-of-the-art facilities for the breeding and infant care of select species:
• Red Panda
• Red Wolf
• Jaguar
• Ocelot
• Sloth Bear
• Andean Speckled Bear
• Amur Tiger
• Choices that broaden and deepen the collection profoundly
• Mammals: from 12 to 32
• Birds: from 11 to 23
• Reptiles: from 1 to 18
• Amphibians: from 2 to 13
• Fish: from 0 to 13
• Total increase of species to see: 75 new species, an increase of nearly 300%.
  
  This gives you a sense of the scope of the growth of the zoo and a visual that shows the continent of origin to better illustrate the geographical focuses of the zoo.
  
  The detail of the central layout.

Brandywine Zoo Redesign #1

The Brandywine Zoo is a small zoo located in the Brandywine Park in Wilmington, Delaware.  The park was designed by America's greatest landscape designer, Frederick Law Olmsted.  The zoo opened in 1905 and sits on 12+ acres of land.  Initially, it's holdings included Black Bears, Ducks, Geese, Belgian Hares, a Sea Turtle and a Sea Gull.  Times were simpler.  The footprint of the zoo has also morphed over time.  The zoo hit the skids in the 1960's and nearly closed in 1963.  For nearly a decade it limped along until 1971 when jurisdiction for it was transferred to the county and it's trajectory began a slow and steady rise to its present small, but well maintained status.   Today there are about 24 different species of animals on display.  Below is a recent map showing the relative size of the zoo.  One big change from this map, the Amur Tiger is no longer part of the zoo's collection.

 The Brandywine Zoo has a desire to grow and modernize further.  Below is a recent redesign of the zoo that wasn't realized.  It's currently working on a new one.

 With the collection's emphasis on animals of both North and South America, the zoo has also expressed interest in adding a Tropical Rain Forest building to both feature it's collection and expand it.

With this background in mind, what follows is my own re-imaging of this wonderful little zoo.