Pepper Family Wildlife Center
About the Project
Pepper Family Wildlife Center sits at the very center of Lincoln Park Zoo. Both of the zoo’s main gates open to this naturalistic lion habitat, first built in 1912 and deemed a Chicago historic landmark in 2005.
In 2021, in parallel with the building’s $35 million renovation, I revamped the storytelling strategy for this high-profile space, from ideation to execution, focusing on the importance of human-wildlife coexistence.
Making the Unfamiliar…Familiar
It’s easy to dazzle crowds with up-close views of “exotic animals,” especially lions, but all zoos struggle with building genuine empathy for the plight of their wild counterparts. To address this issue, one section of Pepper Family Wildlife Center uses two video screens mounted within a mural to highlight the similarities between African savannas and midwestern prairies.
While idle, the video screens complete their respective backdrop. While active, they tell two very similar stories that, taken together, show that “exotic” is in the eyes of the beholder. By sharing both stories side by side, I hoped to inspire a renewed passion for protecting Chicago’s local wildlife, as well as encourage donations to conservation efforts in Africa.
Life-Size Lion Cutouts
Each side of the outdoor lion habitat is anchored by a life-size two-dimensional replica of an African lion—one male and one female. These waysides provide guests with hands-on ways to explore lion adaptations and conservation. Guests can touch real artifacts and custom-made models to investigate how these incredible carnivores hunt and eat and what Lincoln Park Zoo’s partner, KopeLion, does to identify and monitor lions in the wild.
