Antwerp ZOO: Even Closer to Nature
Studio Farris Architects redesigns part of the Antwerp Zoo, one of the oldest animal parks in the world. By focusing on the relationship between visitors and animals it creates a unique spatial narrative that leads from the city into wilderness.
Established in July 1843, the Antwerp Zoo is the oldest animal park in Belgium, listed as a national monument since 1983, and one of the oldest in the world, its initial objective being to encourage zoological and botanical sciences. Since its founding it has been managed by KMDA – Koninklijke Maatschappij voor Dierenbescherming Antwerpen (Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp).
Studio Farris Architects was appointed by KMDA as design architect to provide a new identity to the place, through a solution that defines the new restaurant, aviary, apes- and buffalo- shelter at the Antwerp Zoo in March 2013, in cooperation with ELD partnership, Fondu Landscape Architects and Officium.
The project was completed in June 2017. The main driving concept for designing this unconventional intervention was enhancing the visitor experience, and putting it at the center of a unique spatial narrative that leads from the city into wilderness.
Materials provided by Studio Farris Architects
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