tigers

Wild for Tigers
Believe it or not, I became involved with this project because my nine-year-old daughter, Savannah, plays tackle football.  I was watching one of her games when I overheard a teammate's father talking about a renovation at the Palm Beach Zoo.   Joining the conversation, I learned that he owned a general contracting company that builds large commercial projects and that he'd been hired to renovate the zoo's parking lot and utility infrastructure and build an exhibit facility for two Bengal tigers.  It was, he told me, the first phase of a long-term plan to upgrade the zoo at Dreher Park, a complex that also includes a planetarium and a museum. The work at the zoo, he said, was one phase of an effort by the city to create a quality facility that ultimately could serve as a low-cost alternative to Orlando's theme parks.  As part of the project, my new friend's firm also was acting as general contractor in the construction of a new tiger pen, the first of a series of new display areas planned for the modest zoo. When he talked about the watershapes involved, I jumped:  The design