The Wegeforth Bowl at the San Diego Zoo is an outdoor amphitheater. Named after Dr. Harry M. Wegeforth, the founder and first president of the Zoological Society of San Diego, the amphitheater showcases various animals and their trainers entertaining and educating zoo visitors. In 2016, the San Diego Zoo celebrates 100 years!
FPBA designed a Panda exhibit guest queuing experience with associated themeing, interpretive structures, exhibits and management structures for Takins, Red Pandas and Asian vipers.
FPBA designs the new San Diego Zoo electric vehicle charging parking structure with photovoltaic panels. https://youtu.be/LoTqWoLSv4Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ8WMDtHQSI
This 3,300 SF dine-in restaurant and grill at San Diego Zoo is a key component of the overall Elephant Odyssey project. Strategically located, this full-service dining venue includes a large (4,500 sf) open-air seating plaza designed to accommodate large gatherings including weddings. The site, on a mesa overlooking the main exhibits, offers unobstructed views of a range of animals including the elephants at play, California Condors soaring from tree to tree, leopards chasing fish in a site-created stream, and many others. The complete catering kitchen supports Zoo-wide events.
This 1,400 SF merchandise retail store at San Diego Zoo shares guest support functions with the adjacent Sabertooth Grill and offers a range of themed merchandise in an open-air, bazaar-like setting. Products from around the world reinforce the Zoo’s commitment to education of guests of all ages. A significant portion of the shop’s retail income is dedicated to the Zoo’s global conservation and educational programs.
For the Elephant Odyssey Exhibit on 7.5 acres, FPBA worked to integrate four Asian elephants from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park with the San Diego Zoo’s three African elephants to the newly designed space. This provided a perfect opportunity to replace the outdated elephant habitat as well as over 9 acres of other aging exhibits in the center of the Zoo. The resulting redevelopment was the Zoo’s largest single project in its history touching over 30 separate species in 21 individual structures. The redevelopment includes updates and expansions to primary utilities, demolition of nine aged exhibits, mass grading of the entire site (over 8 acres), construction of major roads and retaining walls and mitigation of hazardous materials prior to demolition. The range of exhibits and accommodations, delivered as a single design and construction project, represents many individual projects, each requiring individual programming and interface with separate curators, keepers and stakeholders.
The Institute for Conservation Research at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park houses six laboratories, six research divisions and is a LEED Silver facility. Dedicated to making ground-breaking innovations in science and technology, the Institute for Conservation Research helps solve complex conservation issues and is one of the largest zoo-based multidisciplinary research efforts in the world. It is the research arm of San Diego Zoo Global and houses more than 150 research professionals in nine different fields that gather scientific knowledge and carry out research vital to the conservation of animals, plants, and habitats in over 35 countries worldwide. FPBA designed the state-of-the-art facility to house a genetics division which is home to the one-of-a-kind Frozen Zoo and contains more than 8,000 living tissue samples; a Wildlife Disease Laboratory working to prevent the spread of diseases in both zoo and wild animal populations; and the Reproductive Physiology Division which uses innovative technologies to assist in the reproduction of endangered species, including giant pandas, kiwis, and several aquatic species. The design incorporated the exterior of the building with the already-established San Diego Zoo Safari Park architecture and draws upon the style of the adjacent veterinary hospital. http://www.usgbc-sd.org/page-952933