Lincoln Park Zoo Entry Plazas

Chicago, Illinois

The East and West Entry Plazas, the two primary visitor gateways to Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, integrate masonry elements, ornamental fencing, and public sculpture to anchor the ends of its Main Mall visitor spine.  At the west entry, a curved brick wall lined with benches separates the Pritzker Family Children's Zoo on the south from the Lincoln Park Conservatory's Formal Garden on the north.  Visitors follow it from one massive limestone block (with a Zoo sign and a sculpture of three black bears) on the street to another (with a sculpture of three gray wolves) at the west end of the Main Mall.  At the east entry, visitors walk from an exterior plaza centered on a bronze lion sculpture on a raised stone disk, between two plinths of ruggedly textured lannon stone supporting a sculptured arch of twisting vines bristling with tropical wildlife, to a broad oval plaza bounded by tall fences of steel beams and silvery see-through cables.

Project Data

Area/Budget: NA / $2,200,000

Scope: entry plaza with major public sculpture and entry gates on east and west sides of Lincoln Park Zoo

Project Team: David Woodhouse, Brian Meade (project architect), Seth Romig, Chuck Sejud

Matrix Engineering / Stearn-Jogelkar (structural); Infrastructure Engineering (civil); Schuler Shook (lighting); Daniel Weinbach & Partners (landscape)

Photographer: Barbara Karant