As the first major project undertaken by the Minneapolis-based firm, InterDesign, the Minnesota Zoological Garden incorporated contemporary thinking and zoo practices in its conception. These innovations included a monorail that would transport visitors to far reaches of the zoo, providing an aerial view of the exhibits, which consisted of animals living in naturalistic environments rather than cages, with glass partitions replacing metal bars. InterDesign’s multidisciplinary practice pioneered the use of computer-aided site analysis in its winning bid. Although land was donated in 1970, conceptualizing a new kind of zoo experience started in the 1960s with the project commencing construction in 1974 and opening to the public in 1978.