Immersion - You Are Here

The earliest zoo exhibits - like the menageries that predated them - were in the business of transporting the animal to the world of the human, surrounded by bricks and iron and tile and concrete.  The Hagenbeck style of zoo exhibit, gaining popularity in the early twentieth century, advocated for presenting the animal in its own world.  Towards the end of the century, however, an entirely new school of zoo design made the scene.  Like Hagenbeck, its practitioners advocated for displaying the animals within a recreation of their own world.  Unlike Hagenbeck, they wanted that recreated world to claim the visitor as well.

Immersion refers to the zoo exhibition style of creating the impression that the visitor is sharing space with the animals in a natural habitat.  If going to a traditional zoo could be likened to walking down the halls of an art gallery, looking at the portraits hanging on the walls while knowing that you are totally removed from them - a seascape in one frame, a portrait in another - immersion would be like walking through an outdoor, interactive sculpture garden.

To create an immersive experience, you start off with a natural zoo exhibit, such as Hagenbeck would have envisioned.  Then, you extend that natural design into the visitor area.  Use the least intrusive barriers between the visitor and the animal to blur the separation between the two.  Use the same landscaping - plantings, rocks, etc - in the exhibit and the public area to create the impression that the two areas are blended.  Avoid straight lines and right angles - neither exist in nature - instead favoring curves and natural contours.  Where non-natural items must be included - such as trash cans, benches, and exhibit signage - disguise them to blend in as seamlessly as possible; a bench could be made to resemble a fallen log, for example, or a trash can a tree stump.  Perhaps most importantly, try to isolate the experience.  You cannot have an effective immersion exhibit on a busy main path - it needs to be on a side trail, buffered from the noise and commotion of vehicles, large crowds, and concession stands and gift shops.  Create a segregated area for an intimate encounter, just the visitor and the animal.

To further develop the experience, seek opportunities to engage all of the sense (well, maybe not taste).  Hidden speakers could play natural soundtracks, not only to enhance the experience but to muffle other, unnatural sounds.  Sometimes when I clean our parrot exhibit at my zoo, I play a jungle soundtrack as a form of enrichment, and it's hard to deny the soothing impact it can have.  Use fragrant plants - pine for a northern forest exhibit, spices for a jungle.  Use as much natural material as possible - wood and stone - so that whatever a visitor touches when the grasp a railing or touch a fence post feels like it belongs there.  Even the path itself can aid in the experience - use mulch or stone dust or crusher or hard-packed dirt over concrete and macadam.  

This may seem like a lot of work for no obvious benefit.  Still, I believe that there is real value in immersing visitors in the environment of the animals.  It can led to a subtler, deeper appreciation for the animal and its place in the environment.  It has been demonstrated that the manner in which an animal is displayed can have a discernible impact on how the visitor perceives it - dangerous, stupid, boring, brooding?  Or imposing, majestic, beautiful?  Such perceptions, in turn, can influence how likely a visitor is to support the conservation of that species.

A little planning and a few minor touches when designing a new exhibit, it seems, can make a big difference.