At San Antonio Zoo, glass is doing more than enclosing space. It is shaping the way guests encounter wildlife, how animals move through an enriched environment, and how a major zoo attraction connects architecture, conservation, education, and experience.
Congo Falls, the Zoo’s new gorilla habitat, is a two-acre, immersive habitat that marks the return of gorillas to the Zoo after more than 35 years. At the center of the habitat is Mays Family Silverback Peak, a 70-plus-foot-tall gorilla tower, allowing gorillas to climb from the open-air habitat to an observation area atop the quarry wall with views of the San Antonio skyline and The Ralston event center.
Binswanger Glass installed the comprehensive glazing packages for Congo Falls and The Ralston, helping deliver a highly specialized environment where clarity, safety, durability, solar control, animal welfare, guest experience, and constructability all had to work together. The package included Tubelite T14000 storefront systems, 400CW curtain wall, Guardian Glass SunGuard SNX 51/23 on clear glass fabricated by Precision Glass Industries, GlasPro laminated glass for the gorilla habitat and viewing areas, NANA Walls folding doors, American Skylights pyramid skylights, Velux dome skylights, Record automatic sliding doors, and a Reynolds Acrylic bubble feature.
At Congo Falls, glazing moves beyond a conventional building-envelope role into a central experiential and performance role. The glass needed to preserve sightlines, reduce visual barriers, support animal and guest safety, meet demanding containment requirements, contribute to thermal and energy goals, and stand up to the realities of an active zoological environment.
Although Congo Falls and The Ralston were delivered as separate projects, the two are physically and experientially connected. The Ralston sits above Congo Falls on the former quarry wall, overlooking the Zoo, the gorilla habitat, and downtown San Antonio. PGAV Destinations, the architect and exhibit designer for Congo Falls, approached the two projects as connected elements of the Zoo’s larger campus vision.
The laminated glass in the gorilla habitat was among the most complex and critical elements of the project. GlasPro supplied multiple laminated glass configurations for the gorilla habitat and associated viewing areas. According to McNeill Bishop, project leader and vice president at GlasPro, the glass systems were engineered for a demanding zoological environment, including animal containment, visitor safety, structural performance, durability, and long-term visual clarity. GlasPro manufactured the laminated systems in accordance with project specifications developed by the design and engineering teams.
Beyond the laminated viewing glass, Congo Falls includes a series of specialty glazing and overhead viewing elements. The project incorporates American Skylights pyramid skylights, Velux dome skylights, and a Reynolds Acrylic bubble that allows guests to pop into the habitat visually and experience gorillas from a different vantage point.
For Marschner, the acrylic bubble is one of the features that helps pull guests into the habitat experience. “That’s one of the unique elements of it,” he says. “It gets you right into the habitat.” He described being inside the feature with a female gorilla above and another gorilla nearby, creating an unusually immediate sense of proximity.
