The Asian Highlands Village exhibition was designed by the Portico Group from Seattle, and opened as part of an extensive redevelopment of Utah's Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City.

Working with Portico and the Zoo, Magian designed multimedia programs as an integral part of the exhibit's interpretive program. As well as featuring the animals, the exhibit tells the story of the way in which people of the region have incorporated animals into their culture and how they find ways to co-exist with wild cats to preserve these keystone species. The media programs include touchscreens, soundscapes and a keeper controlled video presentation program which is used in tiger demonstrations. Touchscreens are large format and have been built into weather resistant housings for outdoor installation.

The exhibit provides important conservation messages along with information about the habitats of these majestic big cats. The culture and way of life of the people who share resources with these big cats are also included in the exhibition along with animal behaviours and species ID information.

The keeper presentation program supports the Zoo's regular program of animal demonstrations. Education staff use a wireless iPod Touch to control the Keeper program which allows staff to manage a video camera in the presentation space. Keepers switch between the video camera and pre-recorded video as part of their interaction with visitors. When demonstrations are not in progress staff are able to switch the program to exhibition mode to display a number of videos about cat behaviours.

The Magian MMaP System supports all aspects of the exhibition including the rich naturalistic soundscapes. In order to keep pace with changing information about the conservation of big cats in the wild, MMaPS gives staff the tools to update and change the content in all of the multimedia programs in the Asian Highlands Village exhibit. The programs also inform visitors about the on-going program of enrichment that Zoo staff provide for the animals in their care.

Project:

Asian Highlands Village
Utah's Hogle Zoo

Location

Salt Lake City, UT USA