And over dinner, and a couple of three bottles of wine. As it turns out, Ernie Lied had passed away. There was no money in that foundation, but there was going to be substantial money in that foundation. And Ernie’s, long-time lawyer said, you know, there is a single individual… Read More
We went down and saw, and look, went through Disney’s botanical operation in Orlando. And Terry took us around and very quietly behind the scene said, okay, now we don’t know, Disney does not know anything about Legionnaires’ disease, but if I were you and I were going to do… Read More
And so having somebody that will, you know, over a drink someplace say, you know, we don’t officially know anything about this, but is huge. Now, let me, we’re going to talk about some specific exhibits that you’ve done in Omaha. Read More
But as you’re having this vision, how are you starting to think about the fundraising?… Read More
What comes first?… Read More
And you know, the idea is that by the time they come through, they’ve got a different attitude on conservation and preserving the natural world and all of that, or they’ve just had a good time. And one of the things that we’ve always tried to do is to make… Read More
And, you know, and if you can scare them a couple of times along the way, why are really surprised them, then, then they remember, they remember the conservation message if you surprise them or scare them a little bit. And if they’ve had a good time. And, but the… Read More
There was not a low bid thing. It was a, if we were, everything was negotiated, it’s always been negotiated. So you get a much better price. Plus you can make changes. You know, we did the Lied Jungle, which the Lied Jungle in the education section and the restaurant… Read More
And the important thing is to look at what’s really good about this project in the Bronx or in the wherever, and what’s, what’s bad, you know, and particularly if you can go out to dinner someplace and have somebody say my gosh, you know, if we can only do… Read More
What were you thinking in that direction of what it was, what were you trying to convey and how did you come to that particular idea?… Read More
Well, I think in part, and for instance in the jungle, because of working with, you know, around the world and, you know, and as I think I said, you know, I’ve been lucky enough to, you know, working with Ulie Seale and CBS and GM and on our own,… Read More
The desert dome mostly came about because I grew up at the desert. (chuckling) And so I’d always wanted to do a desert, you know, except that, instead of, because we did in tropical rainforest, we did Asia and Africa and South America, the threes, you know, three zones. We… Read More
Let’s draw back a bit. Read More
You, I understand the concept of what you’re talking about, but how do you come up or how have you come up with the initial vision?… Read More
You built the jungle. Read More
Why did you decide to do that as opposed to any other type of thing that you might have done?… Read More
And after a couple of drinks, why, you know, and, and off the zoo grounds, you get the answer. And early on, we did it as a formal thing. I had a thing where we made lists. And you make a list. You make the lists of number one, all… Read More
If you bring in an outsider, who’s a designer, an architect, whatever, they’re going to throw up something that’s really grandiose that makes a big grandiose statement, architectural statement, but probably is a functional abortion behind the scenes. And behind the scenes is more important than what the public sees. Read More
Absolutely no exceptions. If you can’t, if you can’t satisfy that list, you don’t do the project. And then, and then a list of all of the things that you would like to avoid if you can possibly afford it. And there’s always compromises. You can’t afford to do everything… Read More
And then the third list, and the final list is that same type of list for the general public. And inevitably, if you’ve done the first two, if you’ve satisfied the first two, you end up with a much bigger project. That’s why our buildings tend to be so big. Read More