AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE

CLEVELAND METROPARKS ZOO - CLEVELAND, OHIO

The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo master plan proposed replacing the zoo’s existing farm exhibit with a new facility that would exhibit plants and animals from Australia.  The result was an eight-acre exhibit featuring three major components—Kookaburra Station, Wallaby Walkabout, and Koala Junction.  

A 55-foot high Yagga tree creates a unique setting for children’s interactive play.  Other features include:

• a nineteenth-century ranch with barns

• contact yards

• camel rides

• demonstrations

• a rodeo-style amphitheater

• the Wallaby Walkway, where kangaroos, wallabies, and wallaroos roam freely around visitors

• a viewing area for koalas, in both outdoor and indoor display areas

• the lorikeet aviary, where guests may feed and interact with free-flying birds

The Australian Adventure is an immersion-style exhibit.  Plants, pavement materials, fences, and buildings all were developed thematically to create the “land down under.” 

Merit Award, American Society of Landscape Architects - Ohio Chapter

Construction Cost:  $10 Million