Brookfield Zoo
- Thread starter wowman
- Start date
Thats really cool, what are you planning to do next?
Just finished up the Fragile Kingdom building (the large building you see on the far left of the map), and the rest of the big cats habitats (tiger is done, working on leopard/jaguar and snow leopard) that connect to the Fragile Kingdom building (the inside parts of the big cat enclosures).
Cant wait to see it
Francesca Falcini
Senior Community Manager
So, the area we are going to build is called The Fragile Kingdom. This is the old lion house that was converted to indoor exhibits and habitats. Currently in the zoo its split into two halves. The first is the Fragile Desert, which you enter a loop from one end of the building. The other is the Clouded Leopard Rain Forest, which is another loop that is entered from the opposite side of the building.
In the updated master plan, that I'm trying to use as a map for this build, has the two sides combined, entering from the desert side of the building...so this is how my build will be structured.
If you are interested, here is a video link (not from me), that shows what the current version of this building looks like.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RFyqYMl70U&t=78s
This first shot shows the overall layout of the exhibits and habitats inside the building.
-The gray slashes are keeper backstage areas of the building.
-The teal circled boxes are the various exhibits of insects, and reptiles.
-White is a faux naked mole rat exhibit
-Dark Pink: meerkats
-Purple: faux cape porcupine
- Light green: faux rock hyrax
-Dark Green: Faux caracal
-Yellow: faux bush baby
-Pink: Bat-eared fox/fennec fox
-Red: Clouded leopard
-Brown: Fishing Cat
-Blue: Bearcat
here are some of the walkway walls and ceilings going into place.
and a sneak peek at what the finished build will look like
In the updated master plan, that I'm trying to use as a map for this build, has the two sides combined, entering from the desert side of the building...so this is how my build will be structured.
If you are interested, here is a video link (not from me), that shows what the current version of this building looks like.
This first shot shows the overall layout of the exhibits and habitats inside the building.
-The gray slashes are keeper backstage areas of the building.
-The teal circled boxes are the various exhibits of insects, and reptiles.
-White is a faux naked mole rat exhibit
-Dark Pink: meerkats
-Purple: faux cape porcupine
- Light green: faux rock hyrax
-Dark Green: Faux caracal
-Yellow: faux bush baby
-Pink: Bat-eared fox/fennec fox
-Red: Clouded leopard
-Brown: Fishing Cat
-Blue: Bearcat
here are some of the walkway walls and ceilings going into place.
and a sneak peek at what the finished build will look like
looking at the build from the far end of the building (clouded leopard area). not much at all has happened yet with all the rest of the habitats.
Things are starting to take shape as I build across the exhibits and walkways.
So, I used a bit of forced perspective and lighting to help sell the illusion of wide-distant exhibits for many of the animals. I will point these out where I can as we see each completed exhibit later on. I used layered rocks and walls to help sell this. in some cases I even ended up using the building structure wall as the far wall and either had a mural or painted it with light. Here you can see an interior exhibit. I added some rocks up high on top of the ceiling of the animal backstage area. Also are a number of up lights that will make the walls light as though there is a late sunset going on as the foxes are viewed.
Things are starting to take shape as I build across the exhibits and walkways.
So, I used a bit of forced perspective and lighting to help sell the illusion of wide-distant exhibits for many of the animals. I will point these out where I can as we see each completed exhibit later on. I used layered rocks and walls to help sell this. in some cases I even ended up using the building structure wall as the far wall and either had a mural or painted it with light. Here you can see an interior exhibit. I added some rocks up high on top of the ceiling of the animal backstage area. Also are a number of up lights that will make the walls light as though there is a late sunset going on as the foxes are viewed.
When entering the building, there is a staff area to the left, which is how keepers get to the backstage areas around the back of all the habitats and exhibits in this building.
And to the right some rest rooms.
the main hallway starts with the Fragile Desert exhibits where animals of the desert are found.
more
And to the right some rest rooms.
the main hallway starts with the Fragile Desert exhibits where animals of the desert are found.
more
A few steps further in your get to choose to take the path to the left, which is the Fragile Desert habitats, or to the right, which are the Fragile Rainforest habitats.
Each has animals that fit those biomes. They do connect back up at the far end of the building at the clouded leopard habitat, and there is a crossover about half way through the building as well.
to the left is the faux naked mole rat exhibit.
And beyond that you can see the meerkat habitat further down the path. We will take a look at that next.
Each has animals that fit those biomes. They do connect back up at the far end of the building at the clouded leopard habitat, and there is a crossover about half way through the building as well.
to the left is the faux naked mole rat exhibit.
And beyond that you can see the meerkat habitat further down the path. We will take a look at that next.
So, here is a bit better look at how I tried to use layered scenery, and/or forced perspective to try and make the habitats look larger than they really might be.
Here you can see the main habitat up front...then a layer of stone (which actually hides the keeper hallway to traverse around the building)...and then a mural on the far wall, which is actually the building exterior wall. Also, change up the lighting for each layer and it should hopefully have more of a feel of a deeper more natural view.
Here is a side view showing the layers better and the backstage area.
Here you can see the main habitat up front...then a layer of stone (which actually hides the keeper hallway to traverse around the building)...and then a mural on the far wall, which is actually the building exterior wall. Also, change up the lighting for each layer and it should hopefully have more of a feel of a deeper more natural view.
Here is a side view showing the layers better and the backstage area.
