Minnesota Zoo

Aware of the work Michael McCall's team had completed at the Field Museum of Natural History, the Minnesota Zoo invited the newly formed Strategic Leisure to develop a strategic plan for its nearly 500 acre site in suburban Minneapolis. The January, 1992 engagement was not only Strategic Leisure's very first consulting assignment, it was the first in a series of Strategic Design responsibilities Strategic Leisure had over a five year period.

Strategic Leisure was next asked to evaluate the Zoo's food service operations and make recommendations as to how the business might be improved both physically and economically.

As a State of Minnesota agency, the Zoo's management needed presentation tools to use in seeking funding for the project from the State legislature. Again, the Minnesota Zoo turned to Strategic Leisure to prepare an initial concept for what later become known as Discovery Bay, a $25 million dollar shark and dolphin presentation which the Zoo had long desired.

For the development of Discovery Bay, Strategic Leisure was originally asked by the Zoo to strategize and script the exhibits' storylines and the guest experience.

To this end, Strategic Leisure was still able to author the concept of "Ecolibrium" and created a series of characters to become the narrative voice of Discovery Bay. However, as the local architect';s drawings emerged, it soon became clear that the ability to significantly impact the exhibit's story was severely impaired by the budget being absorbed into the base building.

Strategic Leisure advised on the "look & feel "of Discovery Bay's lobby area, and guided the design of the environmental graphics (including the project's logo) lighting and a small interactive exhibit area.