The Indianapolis Zoo is still more than a year away from opening the International Orangutan Center, but friends of the Zoo can get a bird’s eye view as the future begins to take shape.
The International Orangutan Center Construction Cam presented by Turner offers the opportunity to watch all the action on the construction site. Whether you’re at home or on the go, visit the website to get real-time updates as work progresses on the exhibit.
The webcam, which is positioned on top of the Marsh Dolphin Theater, gives a perfect overview of the construction site. The exhibit location is on the far north end of the Zoo and the entire project site is about two acres, or roughly the size of two football fields.
Crews from Turner Construction Company began clearing the project site in early November 2012. But before the heavy equipment rolled in, the Zoo’s Horticulture staff carefully removed and retained the vegetation to be transplanted or used elsewhere.
Then the demolition began, and boy was it loud! Lemur Island was the only animal exhibit that will be displaced because of construction. Check out this fun video of the exhibit being reduced to rubble! But have no fear lemur fans! Long before the building came down, the ring-tailed lemurs were relocated to another exhibit in front of the Dolphin Theater where they will remain a part of the Zoo’s collection.
Demolition and earth moving have been the focus of the first few months of construction. In fact, 5,000 cubic yards of dirt have been removed from the construction site so far! And around the first of February, wall forms for the exhibit building began to rise up from the ground. These metal-reinforced sections serve as gigantic molds, and workers then pour in concrete to form the building walls.
Construction crews are using huge cranes to help position the forms. The cranes also provide a frame of reference for the scale of the exhibit. When the boom of the crane is fully extended, it reaches a height of 100 feet. By comparison, the indoor height of the Atrium will be 90 feet and the soaring Beacon of Hope will tower 150 feet above the exhibit.
Crews are now working six days a week, weather dependent. Work is scheduled to continue through 2013, so check the webcam regularly to see the changes happen right before your eyes!