News and Media Releases
Kids play in the rooftop tents on the Westpac Envirodome
03 Apr 2009
Westpac Envirodome Opens
Media Release
The Westpac Envirodome – expected to bring conservation education to 60,000 children and more than 500,000 zoo visitors each year – opens to the public on Sunday (April 5).
The result of major donations and sponsorship from Westpac and the Department of Education and Children’s Services, the Westpac Envirodome includes an interactive learning centre, rooftop open-air camping area, outdoor stage, classrooms, libraries and other support rooms.
The Westpac Envirodome is a major part of the $35 millionworth of construction and rebuilding occurring at the Zoo, which is due to attract international attention when two Giant Pandas arrive and move into their new panda enclosure later this year.
Zoos South Australia CEO Dr Chris West said that while the new front entrance and perimeter fence were deemed necessary because of the thousands more visitors expected each year after the pandas arrive, an education facility had been planned for many years.
Dr West said a six-person steering committee had spent two years carefully designing a centre that would attract and educate visitors about the environment and about the ways in which they can help prevent climate change.
“The Westpac Envirodome is a fusion of museum, zoo and science centre, and while the primary purpose is education it’s really interesting and fun, too,” Dr West said.
“We considered it very important that the centre be an appealing place with positive messages about how we all affect the environment – a place adults and children alike can learn about the life on our planet and our part in saving it.”
The focus of the visitors’ areas is the Discovery Centre, in which plants and animals combine with visual and aural displays to show how human activity affects water supply, natural habitats and carbon production.
Ingenious methods of imparting environmental messages include a brightly coloured water-usage display that – in what looks like a giant “Mousetrap” game - shows how agriculture, industry, homes and animals and plants use the water provided to the earth through rain.
Another demonstration, “A day in the life of Jo Average”, enables visitors to choose eight daily activities from a possible 26 and determine the environmental impact of their day and assess it on happiness, wealth and eco-friendly “meters”.
Other displays include a giant jigsaw puzzle for toddlers; real-time measurements of the earth’s population, carbon production, average global temperature and the number of hectares of wilderness remaining; displays focused on the River Murray and some of the Adelaide Zoo’s wildlife, the entrance’s “living wall” and a partition covered by tiles depicting about 420 of the Zoo’s species – the latter painted by Zoo graphic artist and steering committee member Janette Moore.
Westpac State General Manager, South Australia, Peter Logan, said Westpac has been tackling environmental issues for more than 15 years and was delighted to support the Westpac Envirodome.
“This partnership is more than just providing financial sponsorship. It is about working together to help achieve the incredibly important task of educating people, especially the younger generation, about the conservation of our great planet. That is what makes this partnership so exciting and rewarding,” Mr Logan said.
Royal Zoological Society of SA president Heather Caddick welcomed the Westpac Envirodome as an initiative that continued the Adelaide Zoos’ world-leading environmental and education programs.
She said the expertise of committee members Dr West, Ms Moore, Zoos SA Education Manager, Ruth Hall; Director of Conservation Programs, Kevin Evans; Director of Communications and Partnerships, Belinda Redman and Interpretation Manager, Michael Shanahan had ensured the Discovery Centre achieved the aim of providing an appealing centre for active involvement and “no preaching”.
Ruth Hall said the building itself incorporated many sustainable practices and materials, including the use of bamboo grown at the zoo for the dome that will cover the outdoor stage.
“The Westpac Envirodome will enable us to continue all our current environmental education work in a far better facility, to add new topics such as ‘Climate Change’ and ‘Living and Building Sustainably’ and build on our existing overnight programs,” she said.
“By hosting school or other groups of children – and later corporate groups - on the roof-top camping facility, we can reinforce our environmental messages 24 hours a day.”
Page Last Updated September 7, 2010, 2:35 am