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
We went to whoever had, whatever zoo had a similar exhibit, but we also went to nearly every major botanical garden in the United States. Read More
And I actually even went to Kew Gardens in London and spent about four and a half, five days at Kew Gardens looking at them, not just looking at the place, but asking, you know, I mean, the big thing is what have you done, right, what have you done… Read More
And what, what they’ve done wrong is probably more important. Read More
So that’s when you, you know, that’s when you take a little money along and take the staff that actually run the place, take them out to dinner, feed them a couple of beers or a couple of stiff drinks and say, you know, what would you sell your soul… Read More
There’s absolutely no chance that you’ll ever get it done and fulfill it. We have managed a new project, a major new project. I’m thinking back, you know, in the course of, you know, being director, I think we did about 19 major projects and about 18 smaller projects in,… Read More
The good thing about a local architect is I got to live in the same town with you and that project forever. So they will listen to you. And we’ve kind of developed a philosophy over the years. And in the early, early time, we did it as a kind… Read More