The Gorilla Trek, Primate Panorama, and Gorilla Viewing environments bring immersive storytelling, cultural authenticity, and operational performance together in one cohesive destination. We led the audio systems design to unify VR narrative, environmental soundscape, and campus-wide infrastructure into a seamless guest experience.

Primate Panorama—home to the Gorilla Trek VR attraction—was integrated into the networked parkwide PA system we designed for the zoo. This connection allows the area to function as part of the broader communications backbone while maintaining a distinct environmental identity. Paging, scheduled content, and localized playback operate within a unified control platform, ensuring operational consistency without compromising immersion.

Gorilla Trek transports guests to Volcanoes National Park, where they encounter mountain gorillas in an up-close VR safari experience. To extend that narrative beyond the headset, we developed an environmental soundscape for the Primates Plaza that reinforces both geography and culture. After researching historically and regionally appropriate music, we curated an instrumental version of the Intore Traditional Dance, historically known as the “Dance of Heroes,” traditionally performed before mountain journeys and gorilla safaris, and adapted it into a seamless loop. To further ground the experience in place, we incorporated authentic gorilla vocalizations sourced from field recordings in Volcanoes National Park. These sounds are distributed through a multi-track immersive playback system throughout the plaza, allowing guests to subtly “discover” gorilla calls as they move through the space. The result is a layered, place-based audio environment that bridges conservation, storytelling, cultural context, and spatial exploration.

At the nearby Gorilla Exhibit Viewing, as part of the broader habitat renovation, the zoo replaced the aging timber façade with a new steel frame structure that enhances durability, shade, and architectural character while remaining budget-conscious. The updated frame provides secure anchoring for tensioned steel netting, delivering unobstructed views into the habitat. A public-facing working wall allows animal care specialists to conduct health examinations in view of guests, highlighting the intelligence and training of the gorillas. Adjacent to the habitat, a themed play structure mirrors the gorillas’ internal climbing environment, extending behavioral storytelling into physical guest engagement.

Within the Gorilla Viewing area, we designed a flexible playback system to support keeper demonstrations and educational programming. Wireless presenter microphones, ambient sensing microphones that automatically modulate playback levels based on crowd noise, and carefully coordinated loudspeaker placement ensure clarity, safety, and adaptability. Keepers control sound effects, music, and voice-over content through the same intuitive iPad-based interface used throughout the zoo, maintaining consistency across campus systems.

Together, these environments demonstrate our approach to experiential AV design: integrate infrastructure with narrative intent, ground creative decisions in cultural research, and deliver systems that are as operationally robust as they are immersive and transformative.

Denver Zoo - Gorilla Trek / Primate Panorama

Client:
Denver Zoo