Destination: Africa at the Calgary Zoo

Two years in construction, and more than 5 years from conception, the Destination: Africa at the Calgary Zoo has opened its doors to the public. This highly-themed project included the demolition of existing exhibit buildings and rerouting of and addition to existing site services. The two animal exhibit buildings, the TransAlta Rainforest and the African Savannah, are detailed throughout in African theming and provide a natural habitat for their new occupants. Safari Lodge Canada, a conference/function facility for 350 people, Kitamba Kafe, a 600 seat public dining facility, and the African Village landscaping and theming within the area between the buildings were also part of the Destination: Africa project. The TransAlta Rainforest houses a variety of rainforest species including bats, snakes, tropical birds, dik-dik (a tiny antelope), ring tailed lemur and Colobus monkeys. The anchor exhibit in this building however is a troop of Western Lowland Gorillas. In order to create the rainforest environment, the building maintains a temperature of 28O C, and 70% humidity. The plant life includes tree species that when fully grown will have 20m canopies. The African Savannah building houses warthogs, vultures, meerkats, ground birds, giraffe and hippos. One of the biggest attractions in this building is an 80,000 gallon hippo pool, with clear polymer walls that allow underwater viewing of these graceful animals. This is the largest indoor hippo exhibit in North America. Another feature that will draw more attention during the summer months is the huge aircraft hanger style doors along one whole side of the building. These will open to allow the giraffes to go outside and mingle with the other Bushveld animals ostrich and zebra. Theming was used extensively to create a real feel of Africa - stucco walls were treated and carved to make them appear aged, thatched roofing imported directly from Africa was used on some of the roofs, and walls were decorated with African motifs and animals. PCL-Maxam self performed all the structural concrete work.  Our involvement at an early stage led to extensive value engineering to meet the zoo's available budget, a process that saved over $14 million. PCL-Maxam also partnered the project with the Owner, Consultants and key sub-trades. This was one of the principal factors in the project being successful on time and on budget.