May 2007
Oceans at Indianapolis Zoo opened to the public this spring to rave reviews. Considered one of the zoo's most popular exhibit venues, the newly renovated aquarium building features an overarching conservation story line that speaks directly to the relationships between people and the ocean, and engages visitors through a series of interactive survey stations that allow visitors to state their responses to a series of opinion questions, and rewarding them with instantaneous responses as to how others have responded. Central to the experience is the opportunity for visitors to overcome their potential fear of sharks at the expansive shark touch tank.
July 2007
LZI has recently completed the Master Plan phase of work for Aquarium of Niagara in Niagara Falls, New York. Working with EHDD Architects, ConsultEcon, LaBonne Mer, and Oppenheim Lewis, the team was charged with conceiving of a plan that would renovated and expand the current facility, increase attendance, stabilize its operational finances, and ultimately restore the aquarium's position as an important regional asset in conservation education. Plans will be made public sometime in Fall 2007.
September 2007
LZI has been selected for one of US Fish & Wildlife Region 5 Indefinite Quantities Design/Build contracts. LZI designed the Kettle Pond Visitor Center for USFWS, which, since its opening in 2004 has served as the "flagship" model for all of the Service's new interpretive exhibit facilities. LZI and its team of Split Rock Studios, Peace River Studios, and Paul Erickson Communications look forward to their renewed relationship with the Service, and the opportunity to help create more visitor centers in the region.
September 2007
David Arnold, freelance photographer and journalist for the Boston Globe, is teaming with LZI on his new exhibit entitled “Doublexposure.” The exhibit features side-by-side photographs of glaciers in Alaska and Switzerland. The legendary mountaineer Bradford Washburn took the original photographs in the early and mid-1900s. Shooting from the exact same vantage point more than a half century later, Arnold has captured the current condition of the glaciers between the years of 2005 and 2007. These side by side comparisons are both beautiful and disturbing, as they capture grandeur of the glaciers that attracted Washburn, while clearly demonstrating the grave impact of global climate change upon these once magnificent places. Arnold’s exhibit will premier at the Museum of Science in Boston in spring 2008, and is intended to travel to other museums around the country in future years. For more information visit: www.doublexposure.net.
October 2007
LZI has been selected to join PBS&J and The Baker Leisure Group in the conceptual development of new exhibits and attractions for Miami Seaquarium in Miami, Florida. Located on Victoria Key in Biscayne Bay, Miami Seaquarium is one of the foremost marine mammal venues in the US. The design team is expected to focus on near, mid and long term projects over the next 10 to 15 years, which are intended to provide Miami Seaquarium with a fresh new offering of marine mammal presentations, and other aquatic attractions.
October 2007
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in eastern Pennsylvania will be working with LZI on the development of conceptual plans for new interpretive exhibits at the Sanctuary. This project represents a reunion of sorts, as LZI worked with Lee Schisler, Executive Director of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary while he was the Director of the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, for whom LZI designed their Environmental Education Center in Bristol, Rhode Island.
October 2007
Lyons/Zaremba Inc. and Houser Walker Architects of Atlanta, Georgia have completed the first phase of design for the expanded River Heritage Museum located in Paducah, Kentucky. The project is a highly interactive museum that explores the unseen and therefore unknown world of the working rivers. The focus is on the four rivers regions: Mississippi, Tennessee, Ohio, and Cumberland Rivers, which are known in the river industry as the “great rivers.”
Ongoing
Projects in construction that are due to open in 2008 include: The Trinity River Audubon Center in Dallas, Texas; Albany Civil Rights Museum in Albany, Georgia; The Welcome Center in Albany, Georgia; “Amazon and Beyond” at Miami Metrozoo; and The Central Arkansas Nature Center in Little Rock, Arkansas.
