National Zoological Park - Bird House

Gordon has a long and storied history of providing consulting engineering services to Smithsonian within the National Zoological Park (NZP) for over 25 years. Gordon’s work has included multiple exhibit designs, infrastructure improvements and services to support NZP’s operations and maintenance. This project’s history dates back to 2013 with initial program planning with construction recently finishing in 2023.

Smithsonian dubbed this exhibit “Experience Migration”, which tells an amazing tale of bird migration and the science behind it. The main entrance was expanded to both retain the historical portico and add new flair with an abstract nod to birds taking flight in the new fa?ade construction. On the site, Gordon was responsible for site design inclusive of utilities, pavements, stormwater management, and site permitting. One of the highlights includes intricate multi-tiered bioretention cells which are directly integrated into the landscape to provide stormwater management benefits, educational benefits, and bird habitats all in one. The site also provides key connection to other points of the zoo including Asia Trail and Olmstead Walk.

One of the unique challenges of the project was specific care to historical and complex existing conditions. Many building and site improvements have occurred to the Bird House since it’s original construction in 1928. After almost 100 years of building modifications, site infrastructure changes, and exhibit recreations, understanding the site’s history was very important. From relocation crumbling electrical ductbanks with no visible manholes to non-flat finish floor elevations, each discovery made for its own interesting and testing characteristic. Coordination of existing animal enclosures was a fun challenge as well: Flamingos had to be relocated from their original yard to a temporary swing space constructed with the Bird House and then back to their new exhibit after construction of new life safety equipment.

This project went through two phases of Design Development, two separate criteria for stormwater management regulations (pre-2013 vs post-2013 regulations), regulatory submission changes from paper to electronic submittals, regulatory body name changes (DCRA/DOB and DDOE/DOEE), contractor project manager switchovers, a multitude of SWM site inspections, and almost 6 years of construction. The NZP Bird House certainly had some interesting features, though the project ended with a LEED Gold certification in 2024 and will support years of public education to come.

Gordon is a platinum sponsor of LDDI at Virginia Tech . Learn more about Gordon here.