DENVER ZOO - GRIZZLY BEAR EXHIBIT UPGRADES
Denver, Colorado

The existing grizzly bear exhibit, Bear Mountain (which is on the historical registry), just celebrated its 100-year-old birthday, and needed an major update to accommodate modern zoo-keeping practices. The new exhibit, Harmony Hill, is all about how bears and humans coexist in their natural setting, and in our spaces. The Denver Zoo, like all AZA accredited zoos, rescues their animals, and bears often come to the Zoo by way of the conflict between with humans. Harmony Hill is an innovative exhibit that aims to help educate visitors about living in harmony with bears.

The natural setting has a re-activated river, and a lot of greenery. Two viewing areas allow visitors to see the resident animals in a recreated national park setting. Lanterns and other themed lighting reinforce the camping and nature theme, as well as location-specific bird and insect sounds to immerse visitors in the environment. A selfie station in this part of the exhibit shows how to take an animal-safe photograph.

The suburban neighborhood setting features a demonstration wall, with French doors that open to a working wall screen. Keepers can interact with bears on camera, and the video and audio is reinforced on video screens and speakers in the living room. The living room has seating for visitors, and a view of the “backyard,” with plenty of enrichment for bears, such as trash cans, grills, and bird feeders. These enrichment items allow for the Zoo to help educate visitors about the ways to keep bears and humans safe in the Rocky Mountain region.

Audio / Video Technology and Implementation

We used a clever software solution for selfies, that displays photos on a TV at the exhibit whenever someone tags their Instagram shot with #HarmonyWithBears. The new Q-Sys sound processing system gives Zoo workers the ability to make paging announcements at the attraction, or any other attraction on the system. For audio flexibility, we custom programmed speakers hidden throughout the exhibit. Typically, the speakers produce time-of-day and location-specific insect and bird sounds, but workers have the ability to override the system with local audio inputs such as during presentations on the bear exhibit, or park-wide audio streams such as for Zoo Lights or corporate events. All of the equipment is outdoor safe and weatherproof, including the cameras, TV’s, speakers – to ensure reliability, but maintaining the aesthetic of an indoor living room.

Client: Denver Zoo
Audio / Video Design, Sound Commissioning