The $21 million faculity will utilize advanced safety features and provide more space for the animals One year after a Christmas Eve fire destroyed its primate house -- killing 23 animals and going into the record books as the worst fire in the history of American zoos -- the Philadelphia Zoo announced plans to revitalize its primate collection with a new state-of-the-art facility. John Rodgers, an official at CRL Design, Inc., the company commissioned to design the new complex, said the plan focuses on the primates' comfort and safety as well as on the visitors' experience. The facility will span two acres -- twice as large as the old "World of Primates" -- and will include both indoor and outdoor space for the animals. "Here the animals . . . can climb and do species-appropriate behavior," Rodgers said, highlighting the advantages of the new facility. Zoo spokesperson Antoinette Maciolek said the park has already raised $11 million of the house's estimated $21 million cost. A combination of city, state and private fund raising will provide the remaining $10 million. Last week, Mayor Ed Rendell promised that Philadelphia would donate $5 million if the zoo could raise an equal amount through private contributions. Deputy Mayor Kevin Feeley predicted that the zoo would have little difficulty raising the necessary funds through donations from companies such as PNC Bank and the Corporation for the Aging. Maciolek said the zoo is eagerly awaiting the arrival of new primates. She added that the animals were the zoo's biggest attraction before the fire. "[Primates are] everybody's favorite exhibit," Feeley said. "Maybe because they are closest to us on the food chain." Since the zoo was cleared of any wrongdoing in connection with the fire, it had no difficulty finding primates from across North America to fill the new exhibit, Maciolek added. She noted that Duke University's primate center -- which is one of the most respected in the U.S. -- donated two "rare and delicate" blue-eyed lemurs to the zoo's rebuilt primate collection. Chaka, a male gorilla from the Cincinnati Zoo, will lead the pack of new primates. His arrival will be a homecoming of sorts, since he was born at the Philadelphia Zoo in 1984. Rodgers said CLR's design for the primate house stresses open vertical space to create a comfortable and eye-pleasing exhibit. "We're trying to create a visitor experience of 30 to 40 minutes," he added. "The welfare of the animals is our first priority in the planning process. However, we are also striving to provide a new standard for the guest experience," Zoo President Alexander Hoskins said in a written release. Other features of the new facility include glare-free glass, climate control and a state-of-the-art smoke detection system complete with modern sprinklers. Rodgers added that the facility will be constructed of non-combustible materials. The zoo expects to begin work on the new facility in 1997, and the target date for the house's grand opening is in the spring of 1999, according to Maciolek.
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