Honolulu Zoo recently revealed the newest of their renovation work: a new Entry experience. The project has been ongoing since 2002, apparently falling victim to the ever-present issue of budget problems. The final cost of the new entry was just about $3 million. The old entry dated back to the 1960's, and while, in my opinion, seemed to visually represent Hawai'i quite well, it apparently had lived its life.

The new entry is quite beautiful, drawing both from the vernacular architecture and the Hawaiian landscape for inspiration. It adds capacity and increases the gift shop to 2000sf. Unfortunately, from what I can see, they did not incorporate any animals immediately upon entrance, which seems to be the hot trend as of late.