Yukon Bay is taking shape at the Hanover Adventure Zoo

Recent research shows that today’s zoo visitors arrive with high expectations. They want to see animals in their natural habitat and expect an authentic experience. This includes surprises or unusual perspectives, such opportunities for education and play for children as teenagers, plus integration of catering and relevant merchandise. Every authentic experience enables visitors to establish an emotional connection to the animal and, by extension, the zoo – ensuring they want to come back to ‘their’ zoo.

To make a visit to Hanover Adventure Zoo as authentic as possible, dan pearlman – a Berlin-based architect firm – is creating a well-planned theme world that aims to take account of all these factors. In Yukon Bay, the zoo’s animals can be observed by visitors without visible barriers. Visitors reach areas within the theme world via tunnels, caverns and winding paths. A new habitat for animals of the northern tundra is being created over an area of 25,000 square metres. On their expedition, visitors can discover bison, wolves, prairie dogs and caribou before finally reaching a small harbour town on the Yukon estuary, where the main attraction is the ‘most northerly penguin enclosure in the world’.

As a result of seven years of planning and close collaboration between dan pearlman and its client, Hanover Adventure Zoo, Yukon Bay will become a reality. Based on a comprehensive master plan and a project budget of 32 million euros, construction started in January 2008 and Yukon Bay will be open to visitors in April 2010.

Interview

According to Kieran Stanley, Founder and Managing Director of dan pearlman experience architecture, an authentic experience is the result of integrated and holistic planning. This process not only creates a project, it also tells a story, because a well-told story creates loyalty – and loyalty creates sustainability.

What special organisational challenges does the Yukon Bay project involve?
They undoubtedly include the short construction period, leading to a short construction drawing phase, the complex tender phase due to the application of European tender law, as well as the necessity to include existing structures within the project and the integration of complex technical supply equipment. The highly complex, interlocking landscape must also permit disabled access, plus construction is taking place during the zoo’s operating hours, because it
cannot close to visitors during the renovation phase. The biggest attraction of Yukon Bay – the run-aground ship – is also the biggest design challenge. A hull, which visitors will be able to walk into, is incorporated within a water basin. The ship itself is based on authentic ship construction details. With dimensions of 33 by 13 metres, it will be built using around 950 tons of steel. Because of the resulting water pressure and integrated wave technology, sheets of glass up to ten centimetres thick are needed so visitors can view polar bear, seal and penguin enclosures through the hull – both above and below water level.

What are the reasons for using an online project collaboration platform and why did you choose think project!?
The size of the project, a construction period of just two years and the many companies involved in executing the project, meant that the use of an online collaboration system was absolutely essential. With think project!, we have a reliable platform that helps us to effectively manage and archive the huge volume of plans, documents, tasks, data and emails, and makes all this information available to everyone involved. think project!’s effective data management enables us to quickly exchange information with the building client, local companies in Hanover and our architecture office in Berlin, while documenting this information exchange to meet planning and legal security guidelines.

In what way does the building of a themed environment for a zoo differ from other building projects?

Compared to other architecture projects, a zoo construction project involves a large number of different challenges. For example, it’s necessary to weigh up the interests of zoologists, biologists and the needs of the zoo animals against the interests of visitors and the economic concerns of the zoo operator. Planning must always take account of the latest scientific and research information on the keeping of zoo animals, as well as current leisure technology. We’ve worked closely with the Adventure Zoo team on ensuring their internal zoo expertise is incorporated in development plans over many years.

The special aspect of planning an adventure zoo is the holistic, integrated approach to creating themed environments. Excellently conceived design enables visitors to become immersed in the animals’ environment – even if just for a moment. This authentic experience is created from the outset as a result of a comprehensive planning process involving zoologists, biologists, architects, landscape designers, structural engineers, designers, engineers and soil experts. As the general planner, we are responsible for coordinating all these experts, to guarantee that their expertise is reflected in the finished theme world. The real value of quality control is able to be realised by our clients, as only the optimum results of design and technical planning are presented to them.

This integrated, holistic approach results in truly authentic environments and is not only the trademark of dan pearlman, but has also made Hanover Adventure Zoo, with its highly innovative animal husbandry, the European market leader for adventure and leisure offerings.