The CSI Indianapolis Chapter is holding their May Chapter Meeting on Thursday 21 May 2015 from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at the Willows on Westfield.

“The program focuses on the idea of designing a facility that is optimized for two species. Our buildings are always designed for people.   But what does it mean to design for people but also to design for a different - but nevertheless sentient and highly intelligent - species.  We'll also talk about what the facility means culturally for Indianapolis.”

 The Simon Skjodt International Orangutan Center at the Indianapolis Zoo, a 17,500-square foot exhibition and conservation center for orangutans, is one the most innovative zoo exhibits in the world.  The exhibit was specifically designed to meet the physical, social, and intellectual needs of the species, honoring the client’s wish to establish the most technologically and functionally advanced orangutan facility in the world.

 Through state-of-the-art exhibits and interactive computer games, visitors are offered an unprecedented intimate level of interaction with one of the planet’s most endangered primates. A landmark project in the arena of animal husbandry, the facility affords its occupants the freedom to travel in and around the exhibit building with greater mobility than the human visitors. The facility allows its unique inhabitants to ascend a 75-foot tall climate-controlled interior viewing space, access two outdoor yards, and freely traverse and nest about an outdoor network of masts, cables and platforms – collectively referred to as the Hutan Trail. The iconic 150-foot tall “Beacon of Hope” serves as a reminder and catalyst of dialog related to the species’ endangerment and the zoo’s ongoing conservation efforts.