1999 Abstract:
Good Exhibit and facility design depends upon close collaboration between all “stakeholders” on the zoo staff with the professional design team. Animal care staff play a critical role in this interdisciplinary process. It is also essential that the animal and exhibit management plan be developed concurrently with the exhibit design plan and that designers continue to have input with staff during the critical “commissioning” process after the exhibit opens.
This paper will briefly discuss the “design process” and suggest ways that animal care staff and other zoo professionals can become better informed consumers of design services and thus contribute more successfully in the design of the facilities they will be called upon to operate.
Question: “Should keepers and other frontline animal care staff play a significant role in planning the design and operation of exhibits?”
Answer: “Yes, if they are prepared to make a significant contribution.”