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Houston Zoo

https://www.enr.com/articles/56392-d...-for-engineers

Designing Houston Zoo's Galapagos Islands Exhibit Proves Rewarding for Engineers

By Daniel Tyson

May 4, 2023

Providing engineering services for the Houston Zoo’s Galapagos Islands exhibit was a challenge for two Walter P Moore engineers but a gratifying change of pace.

“It was probably the most rewarding project I’ve ever done,” said Ted Vuong, an infrastructure engineer and managing director of Houston civil engineering. “We were building [the exhibit] for the animals. We had to consider how they lived and their environment. There were so many things you don’t see in other designs.”

Structural engineer and Project Manager Jessalyn Nelson described working on the project as “really, really cool.” She continued, “We were always learning… We had many conversations with the zoo staff who shared their knowledge about the animals and their habitat.”

Many of those conversations required the engineers to think out-of-the-box, they said.

From working in a 500-year floodplain to using materials deemed safe for animals, the engineering and design principles used in building retail space only applied partially to constructing a zoo exhibit.

The exhibit, which opened in early spring, highlights the delicate balance of an ecosystem. The Galapagos Islands, located off the coast of Ecuador, are part of an isolated archipelago home to various rare animals. According to the zoo, roughly 97 percent of reptiles and land mammals, 80 percent of the land birds, and more than 30 percent of the plants found there are endemic. Most of the animals in the exhibit are closely related species.

Conserving the animal’s environment was paramount for the engineers, said Vuong, adding that conservation issues included how to build around 100-plus-year-old trees to how to handle detention in developed areas. The engineers built around the trees and incorporated the detention structure into the new design plans by adding green spaces.