Modern architecture for elephants

published in architecture by seven on Apr 19 2009 06:29 PM

Animals Elephants Stables Zoo Pavilion

One of the responsabilities of an architect is to guarantee that the buildings they design are perfectly adequate to their users. If this task is sometimes difficult, due to the particular taste of some people, picture a situation in which the users, aside from not being human, are enormous. That's what happened with the elephant's pavilion at the Copenhagen Zoo, in Denmark, designed by architect Norman Foster.

A group of Indian elephants are the happy inhabitants of this new construction which tries to recreate, as closely as possible, their natural habitat. Two large spaces allow the animals to get together and even sleep in herds, which is unusual in captivity. The ceiling is a glass structure, in the shape of a bubble, which simulates the environment created by tree tops. In its interior there are also the obvious pools of water and mud, essential to their existence and some true comforts, such as a heated floor.

Animals Elephants Stables Zoo Pavilion