wo new exhibit areas for the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium moved a step closer to reality Monday night, with the selection of Tacoma- and Philadelphia-based architectural design firms.
BCRA Tsang of Tacoma was awarded an architectural and engineering contract to design the Wild Wonders Theatre, which will include and outdoor ampitheater, a holding area for zoo outreach animals and a landscape feature in the zoo hub.
Construction is expected to begin in the fall of 2002 and be completed by the fall of 2003. The contract price is still being negotiated.
BCRA Tang’s local projects have included design and construction services for the restoration and modernization of the historic Carnegie Annex and Main Branch Tacoma Public Library and the Pierce Transit bus turn-around and layover facility.
Metropolitan Park District Com-missioners also approved a $1.1 million architectural and engineering contract for the zoo’s Asia Exhibit to CLR Design of Philadelphia.
The Asia Exhibit, estimated at $10.5 million, is the largets phase of work to be undertaken with the $35 million bond package approved by Pierce County voters in 1999.
The exhibit will bring a number of new species to the zoo, including tigers, gibbons, babirusa (Indonesian deer pig) and small rain forest animals.
Planning is expected to take a year, followed by an 18-month construction period. The exhibit is scheduled to open after mid-2004.
CLR performed the design and implementation planning for the entire bond package.
The company is among the nation’s top designers of zoo exhibits. Recent projects include the Chinese Forest at Zoo Atlanta, Primate Reserve at Philadelphia Zoological Garden and Arctic Encounter exhibit at Toledo Zoological Gardens.