Chicago Innovation Awards Honor Third GP Building

The 21^st annual Chicago Innovation Awards event, honoring the most innovative products and services in the Chicago region, was held November 16 at Morgan Manufacturing. Out of a total of 365 nominees across a wide range of industries, the Lincoln Park Zoo Pepper Family Wildlife Center was one of 21 winners presented with the 2022 Chicago Innovation Award. The Pepper Family Wildlife Center was recognized as the most state-of-the-art lion habitat in the U.S., emphasizing significant advancements in animal welfare science in a reimagined and renovated facility driven by years of lion behavior and space-use data. The dynamic new habitat features thermal comfort zones, multiple micro-climates, food ziplines for lion enrichment, and a much more immersive, “nose-to-nose” visitor experience than ever before. The facility has now set a new standard for zoos across the country.

Additional Key Team Members
Client: Lincoln Park Zoo
Owner's Representative: Project Management Advisors (PMA)
Exhibit Designer: PJA Architects + Landscape Architects
Contractor: Pepper Construction
Structural Engineer: WSP USA
MEP Engineer: Primera Engineers
Lighting Designer: CharterSills

The event marked the third time a GP project has received the Chicago Innovation Award, with the core-supported 150 North Riverside office tower recognized in 2017, and the first-ever LEED-CS Gold building, 111 South Wacker, receiving the honor in 2006. This year’s program included more than 500 attendees across all industries, representing large and small companies, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, and high-tech, low-tech and no-tech businesses. Together, these groups demonstrate the breadth of innovation that is unique to the Chicago area.