Milwaukee County Zoo Takes a Shine to
Kalwall
Florence Mila Borchert Big Cat Country
 The
deputy director of the Milwaukee County Zoo, Dr. Bruce Beeler,
was concerned because the decades-old, stone and pre-cast
concrete Florence Mila Borchert Big Cat Country exhibit wasn’t
providing the health-giving effects of daylighting. Studies
show that daylight positively affects the reproductive cycles
of animals and is essential for the production of vitamin
D. A natural light cycle and a feeling of openness are necessary
to create a healthy indoor environment for the animals.
The zoo also faced another challenge: how to let the sun in
and still meet the state of Wisconsin’s strict ComChek
energy conservation codes for new construction and renovations.
“One unintended effect of the mandate is that the healthy
effects of daylight on mammals, including humans, might be
compromised for the sake of energy efficiency,” says
Dale Nielsen of Nielsen Building Systems in Racine, Wisconsin,
a long-time distributor of Kalwall Corporation translucent
building systems. “Many large-scale daylighting systems
inefficiently transmit energy from heating and cooling indoor
spaces to the exterior environment. And the benefits of daylight
are overpowered by poor energy performance.”
Fortunately, Nielsen also had the solution for Todd Johnson,
project architect from Zimmerman Design Group: replace the
roof with a revolutionary new form of translucent skylight
manufactured by Kalwall Corporation and strategic partner
Structures Unlimited, Inc. “Since we couldn’t add
insulation to the stone and concrete walls, this project would
not have met the building envelope requirements for energy
efficiency without Kalwall+ Nanogel®,” says Johnson.
Kalwall+ Nanogel delivers an astounding U = .05 and an NFRC
system U = .11.
 Today,
almost half of the Milwaukee County Zoo’s feline exhibit
roof area delivers balanced, healthy daylighting via the 34
x 34-foot ridge-configuration Kalwall skylight, directly over
the lion’s den, and the second, shed-style from Structures
Unlimited, Inc. And because the zoo also needed to daylight
a separate cheetah cage, a 10-foot diameter, Kalwall Geo-Roof™,
infilled with Kalwall’s traditional, translucent insulation,
was added. Though the Geo-Roof is a non-Nanogel product, it
delivers the impressive U-values and light transmission rates
for which Kalwall is famous.
In addition to the improved atmosphere for the big cats, expectations
are high for significant heating and cooling savings. One
early test recorded an outside, wintertime face sheet temperature
of 34 degrees F while the inside sheet was a toasty 81 F,
a testament to the near-miraculous insulating properties of
Kalwall+ Nanogel. With the success of the expanded and improved
exhibit area, the Milwaukee County Zoo is inspired to move
more residents into the feline house and even breed species
such as lions and Siberian tigers.
From the Smithsonian’s world-renowned Amazonia Exhibit
at Washington, DC’s National Zoo, to the famous Lied
Jungle at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, to the Orinoco rainforest
recreation at the Dallas World Aquarium, and now the Milwaukee
County Zoo, Kalwall has long been the preferred daylighting
system.
Florence Mila Borchert Big Cat Country
Architect: Zimmerman Design Group
Structures Unlimited, Inc.
Total Panel Area: 9,000 square feet
NFRC System U-Value: .11
Structures Unlimited Specifications:
Light Transmission: 20%
Panel U-Value: .05
Shading Coefficient: .12
Panel Color: White
Kalwall Corporation Geo Roof Specifications:
Diameter: 10 feet
Light Transmission: 30%
Panel U-Value: .23
Shading Coefficient: .27
Panel Color: Crystal
For more information, contact:
Bruce Keller
Structures Unlimited, Inc., 603-645-6539 (800-225-3895 N.
America)
or
Kalwall Corporation, 603-627-3861 (800-258-9777 N. America)
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