Featured Project

Kansas City, Missouri

79,250 SF, 2-story facility including office spaces for Friends of the Zoo, I-Max Theatre, entry experience and walk, fresh water aquarium, ticketing, gift shop, classrooms and community rooms, an inviting lobby and circulation spaces into and out of the Kansas City Zoo

Other significant projects include the renovation and replacement of 175 acres of the Kansas City Zoo with over 20 various exhibits and 30 separate projects, and the 3,638 SF Orangutan Holding Facility

Unique features

• Awards include the Cornerstone Award, Municipal Arts Commission Urban Design Award of Excellence, Central States Region AIA Design Award, and American Society of Landscape Architects award
• Entry pavilion offers both offices for Friends of the Zoo as well as the ticketing function for the Zoo itself.
• There was an IMAX theatre constructed within the entry building.
• Entry pavilion includes gift shop and small café area.
• Entry pavilion has an area called a "Right of Passage" in which zoo visitors were taken through an animated Hollywood set type feature in which the animals and earth could be described.
• Construction of man made streams and pools in which water can be circulated and pumped.
• Many natural materials such as large stones were stacked and utilized for retaining walls.
• Entry pavilion was a large wood or timber structure that utilized curved glue laminate beams and exposed wood decking.