Kingdoms of Artifice - Part 2: Woodland Park Zoo, Day One.
As the second part of my site research last summer for Disney and the Theming of the Contemporary Zoo: Kingdoms of Artifice, my collaboration with Dr. Benjamin George in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at Utah State University, I visited the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington.
Woodland Park Zoo. Click for link. Map data: Ⓒ Google.
Dating back to 1899, the zoo began—as many such collections of the nineteenth century did—as a private menagerie for a robber baron-era real estate and lumber magnate named Guy Carleton Phinney. Six years after he died, Guy’s widow sold his 188-acre estate to the City of Seattle and it became Woodland Park. Bisected by Washington State Route 99, the current zoo occupies the western half of the property. It has been consistently expanded and updated beginning in the late 1960s.
Woodland Park Zoo is true to its name. Wooded. The landscaping is surprisingly dense. I don’t know what I expected but not this. The footprint of the grounds is tall and fairly narrow. Though the zoo’s paths are organic, winding and twisting throughout the habitat zones, the land itself is a portrait-orientated rectangle framed by roadways on all four sides.
At the zoo’s main entrance adjacent to the front parking lot is the expected store, guest services, restrooms, and an education center where school groups assemble for tours.
This plaza has a very 1970s look. That style of dark wood and shingle roof that you see in strip malls around the San Francisco Bay Area. There are light “safari” touches like crossbeams that extend past the rooflines.
Savanna Overlook
As opposed to the Oregon Zoo, a paved Main Loop allows guests to navigate the grounds in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. Off that primary path are lots of sub loops. Most are unpaved, rough dirt or gravel. Directly ahead from the lobby / foyer moment of the entrance plaza is a Savanna Overlook area.
This intimate, African-themed village was added in 2001, shortly after Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened. During my visit I quickly began to notice that the newer the exhibit is, the more its design has been Disneyized. Rather than at the Oregon Zoo, where theming was employed in a significant redesign that changed the overall structure of the grounds and reframed its presentation, here at Woodland Park these elements have been added on incrementally, bit by bit.
Immediately around the corner to the right is a small thatch hut.
To the left is a weathered shed establishing a contemporary Central African setting.
Two larger huts draw guests into the area in the classic Disney wienie fashion. One is directly ahead, the other off to the right side.
Originally, the design of this space was more specific to Central and Southern Kenya. As the zoo described the original vision in a 2010 blog post:
We sought to augment that natural history story by developing an African Village area, a viewpoint along the Savanna that was themed with Maasai- and Kikuyu-inspired architecture and cultural interpretations about everyday village life and experiences at the intersection of humans and wildlife.
The interior of the largest hut was once used as a cultural performance space. However, the zoo changed its mind and began de-theming some of the more specific aspects of the Savanna Overlook. Again, from the same post:
Despite our original intentions, what we ended up with in the African Village exhibit area was ultimately appropriative. The space lacked the cultural engagement of the African diaspora in our own community, and has not appropriately represented key perspectives on East African modern culture and conservation challenges over the past 20 years…our conservation work and our representation of that work must be decolonized…removing cultural elements and interpretations that were created with an appropriative lens.
Again in the Disney style, a non-functioning well suggests a water supply. It’s all part of the set.
The primary shed structure beckons visitors with open doorways to both the left and the right. The silhouettes of wildlife observers in the darkened space create a dramatic visual.
Like at many zoos, the vistas are staged in a wide, landscape format. These enclosures, some with two large viewports like 16:9 eyes, provide a sense of theatrical voyeurism. You watch “the movie” through these massive glass panels. Depending on the animals and their distance from guests, these portals are partially open, as seen here.
On the interior walls are props in the Disney style with handwritten labels.
These aren’t intended to be didactic. Like the village well, they simply contribute to the narrative of the space.
I didn’t expect any themed typography. But sure enough, the capacity notice (likely required by fire code) is stenciled and weathered.
The exteriors all have faux distressing straight out of Hollywood central casting.
Same with the hardscape throughout. Cracked and weathered.
African Savanna
The Savanna Overlook themed village was an addition to the larger African Savanna area which opened in 1980. Again, in the zoo’s own words:
Its inspired design was among the pioneering zoo exhibits that displayed immersive landscapes. The savanna made it possible for giraffe, zebra, ostriches and other wildlife to mingle together on a seemingly boundless and verdant landscape.
This is what I meant by wooded. The plantings completely remove you from the urbanity of Seattle and effectively block out the world beyond the zoo. The density of the landscape really slows you down to take it all in. Whatever rush of the big city you brought along with you just melts away. I entered eager and wound up; by the first ten minutes I was wandering the trails at a snail’s pace.
All of the views in the African Savanna are carefully curated and staged. There are natural openings in the canopy at each stop, and it’s evident that the landscaping is occasionally pruned of overgrowth to maintain each vista.
The vistas are postcard-esque, formatted in an almost widescreen aspect radio, ready to be photographed. Whether or not the designers were thinking cinematically, that’s the resultant effect. Perhaps since wildlife in contemporary times is meant to be experienced through the lens—either at a zoo or biological preserve or on open safari; with binoculars, a still camera, or with video—it’s really the only way to think about staging the animals in their environments.
Fencing is obscured by hedges and overgrowth, but if you look carefully you can see the chain link painted dark green deep within. It’s the same principal as employed at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, just far less sophisticated.
It’s pretty obvious which barriers date back to the early 1980s.
Yet themed elements now co-exist with older infrastructure and displays.
The material treatments all suggest everything was built by the local population. Signage beams include hand-tied, weathered rope and unfinished wood.
At times modern chainlink fences are required.
But wherever possible, barriers are also themed with organic, irregular wood.
Some of this is scattershot when seen up close. But from a distance, it serves as effective camouflage, disguising back-of-house and service areas.
All throughout the African Savanna zone, older, pragmatic and unadorned barriers collide with more recent, organically themed ones.
The designers also included evidence of natural, local problem-solving.
Everything is hand-tied, and shelters combining machined lumber with tree trunks provide a kind of realism. You can imagine this sort of jerry-rigged approach in Central Africa. You build with what’s at hand. As I saw at the Oregon Zoo, it’s sort of a Robinson Crusoe vibe. The message is that someone in the wild assembled this out of the elements they could find.
Faux rock work, which began with the immersion exhibit movement, is found throughout. These older examples are less sophisticated than what can be found at Disney parks around the globe. But they still date back to the work David Hancocks pioneered at the Woodland Park Zoo in the mid-1970s when he redesigned the gorilla exhibit to simulate a more natural environment. Zoos across the world eventually followed suit.
Typically in smaller, cave-like settings, the shapes of the wildlife viewing portals are organic and irregular rather than rectilinear.
In some places themed fencing has been integrated into this earlier rock work.
It was curious to find transitions in the hardscape between landscape zones. They are not as subtle as you’d find at a Disney park, but still the designers were at least thinking about it.
Given the layering that has been grafted onto the Woodland Park Zoom over the years, it’s not just barriers that are mismatched. The overall wayfinding and graphic design is all over the place. Some attempt a bare-bones theme with the typographic choices.
A handful of signs appears decades old, as above. Others are more late 1990s or early 2000s like this example.
Tropical Asia: Assam Rhino Reserve
After touring Africa I moved on to the Asia part of the zoo. Rather than a single zone, Asia is broken up into several smaller subsections which have been added and remade since the 1980s.
For many years this part of the zoo held a world-famous elephant exhibit. “After several years of mounting criticism over the condition” of the animals, they were relocated and the zone was redeveloped and reopened in 2015 as a rhino reserve.
Immediately, cultural elements are present. We are somewhere in Asia, but it’s not exactly clear where. With theming, it’s often to be vague and correct rather than specific and wrong. Disney took this approach to the nth degree at Animal Kingdom, creating entirely fictional villages for their Africa and Asia sections.
Seeing it now in a second zone, the most recent themed attempt at a signage system are these thick bamboo poles with reader panels mounted in the middle.
Again, tied off with thick rope in a shipwreck fashion, as if they were built by locals out of natural elements.
Most of the theming here is accomplished by the fencing. Sometimes barriers far stronger than bamboo are required. These are rhinos after all, which when aggravated can charge at up to 40 miles per hour.
Just like in the African Savanna, barrier types collide at times.
In this zone most of the paths are paved, but there are occasional loops which are not, and are more like the dirt nature trails found at state and national parks. Walking further into the foliage, I discovered lower fences which are clearly cultural. They don’t seem practical as barriers for most animals. These are just for effect. Where were they leading?
As I made my way through a rather dense forest canopy, the path wends and curves before terminating at a very Disney-esque reveal. This seemingly ancient temple is staged exactly like Sleeping Beauty’s Castle—the classic wienie.
This is Peacock Plaza, which opened back in the 1980s as Thai Village. Though no current signage indicates this, we are supposed to be in Thailand. If you didn’t know the original backstory, the restrooms and programming theater area here carry a vaguely South Asian / Indian / Nepalese theme.
Here I began to discover that all the major didactic displays at Woodland Park Zoo incorporate Disney-style props in one way or another. This display teaches younger visitors about illegal wildlife exports.
Cargo shelving suggests customs inspections at SEA-TAC airport.
All lettering is themed in the Disney style with appropriate stencil typefaces choices. It was nice to see these hand/spray painted rather than digitally printed. Props are appropriately weathered and distressed. Patinas are realistic.
Kids open the crates to discover what is being smuggled, and learn about what wildlife products are banned and why. It’s a neatly staged experience quite similar to what you find at many museums.
Moving on through the Asia section are various exhibits, all presented as having been built by the local population. The materials are a mix of wood, bamboo, and tin roof-type sheds. Most enclosures feature full glass walls, some with frosted vinyl graphic treatments.
The hand-tied logs and crossbeams are really well done. It would appear the designers hired fairly skilled artisans to execute this work.
The Rhino Barn as seen here I found particularly interesting. Same vaguely Asian architecture as Peacock Plaza on the outside. But inside, behind the massive panes of thick glass, is an area where rhinoceros are brought out for educational demonstrations. There are ropes and playthings and props.
This ancient temple design is borrowed directly from Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Though not quite as aged or distressed, there is a stylized wall treatment with Indian graphics, and the barrier poles here are topped with brightly painted, teal blue pointed newel cap spires. I immediately thought of the set design from The King and I (1956) with Yule Brenner. It’s a pop interpretation, as opposed to the temples at Animal Kingdom which have more of an air of authenticity.
Tropical Asia: Trail of Vines
The final area in this part of Asia is known as the Trail of Vines where animals are showcased both within stylized enclosures as well as outdoors. As in parts of Africa, faux rock work and caves are well-integrated with organically contoured viewing portals.
There is a mix of concrete sculpted tree trunks and natural landscaping.
You get the sense that the jungle is continually trying to take back the manmade structures. Faux vines creep and crawl over the panel displays.
Again, themed typographic treatments help establish a sense of place.
Hand-tied logs and beams everywhere. All really well done.
For the first time at Woodland Park, I found attention paid to the interior ground surfaces; realistically aged floor planking.
The shape language of the primary didactic displays is similar to what I found earlier. Each sign varies slightly based on the environs. Here, rather than hand-tied bamboo, a series of planks are nailed up to the two support columns which harmonize with the deck treatments.
Same with the fencing. No ties here; all the railing work is nailed in place. The effect is one of a particular population using certain materials in a particular way. This kind of specificity isn’t really necessary—the designers could have easily treated all of Tropical Asia in the same fashion. But these subtleties enhance each subsection and make them distinct from one another.
For my second day at Woodland Park, I’ll take a look at the more recent additions to the zoo and how the theming of these exhibits is increasingly Disney-like.
