The recently completed Treetop Trail allows visitors to experience the Minnesota Zoological Gardens through a renewed elevated perspective. The Minnesota Zoo Treetop Trail embodies a profound commitment to environmental stewardship, guided by the overarching vision of “connecting people with nature.” Along 1.25 miles and four touchdowns (access points), the Trail guides visitors through many stories, site histories, animal exhibits, and existing and restored ecosystems, all atop remnants of the abandoned monorail infrastructure. The Trail promotes physical and mental well-being and uses a scaffolding approach to help visitors develop a personal relationship with nature and accelerate their dedication to activism.
The Minnesota Zoo opened in 1978 as one of the first zoos to organize exhibits by their habitat rather than species. Originally named the “Minnesota Zoological Gardens,” it was designed to view animals in a naturalistic, outdoor, garden-like setting that aligned with their ecological and geographic environment. It included a 1.25-mile-long monorail ride that looped through the 485-acre grounds. The monorail was decommissioned in 2013, with the steel infrastructure remaining in situ. The Treetop Trail vision came from the newly appointed Director’s desire to reuse this infrastructure to live their mission through the landscape, draw more visitors to the zoo and create a framework for environmental change.
In support of the Minnesota Zoo’s mission to “connect people, animals, and the natural world to save wildlife,” the Treetop Trail invites users to uniquely interact with nature and animals, raise questions, and to empathize with ecological conservation efforts. The transformation of the monorail infrastructure into a fully accessible walking path allows all visitors to immerse themselves in nature, but unlike the monorail ride, they have the freedom to curate their own adventure. Along the trail visitors experience four touchdowns, reconstructed ecologies, and interpretive exhibits over eight varied animal habitats in six separate ecological zones. The journey is grounded in five interpretive: inspiration, wellness, recreation, resource, and science. Interpretive elements create moments where people can pause, contemplate, interact, and engage with stories and the landscape – focusing on human, animal, and habitat interconnections.
The landscape architect leveraged their community engagement methods/experience to support the Zoo in a collaborative six-month co-design process facilitated by the University of Minnesota. The focused outcomes of Welcome, Access, Equity and Comfort became the primary frames for the design, influencing interpretive themes and design decision-making. Frequently using the motorized rail cart, the landscape team created film, photography and 2d annotation of experience, views, and smell; this laid the groundwork for site understanding and design iteration. The project required expansive collaboration between the landscape architect, architect, structural and civil engineer, construction manager and zoo specialists. Of the many outcomes of this collaboration, one was a set of unique construction methods allowing the trail to be built in sections off-site, craned onto the monorail, pushed along the rail and set. This prevented animal and operations disruption from occurring along much of the trail and minimized impact on the existing landscape.
The project has been transformational for the zoo with a 66,000 person/month increase in visitation since opening last year with associated revenue, and what stands as the largest successful capital campaign in their history. Richard Louv’s book, Last Child in the Woods, catalyzed a call to action for the Minnesota Zoo and inspired the vision for this project. The episodic nature of the Trail and interactive features connect people more deeply with nature and animals with the aim of improving physical and mental health of children and adults. The project’s ambition, as it re-centers and connects visitors, is to inspire them to take action in their own communities. The project is currently tracking to be certified SITES Silver.
Architecture offices involved in the design: Snow Kreilich Architects
Location: 13000 Zoo Blvd, Apple Valley, MN 55124
Design year: 2020
