In the future, zoos will be very different to how we know them today. For several decades, it has been shown that animals’ captivity affects their well-being and life expectancy and also, in some cases they suffer due to the terrible conditions in which they live.
The increase of society’s awareness and respect for animals, means each day there’s greater concern for preserving and caring for their welfare, but we’re still far from this reality.
With the aim of showing that there are other ways of building zoos, better adapted to the times in which we live, the Archstorming team has organised an ideas competition: “Coexist: Rethinking Zoos”, where architects from around the world can express the new concept of zoos for the 21st century.
The zoo studied was Barcelona zoo and the winner is a team of Thai architects: Worawut Oer- Areemitr, Chanakarn Assavasirisilp, Thakan Navapakpilai and Bemjama Prasertpan.
The architects show that there are new ways for visitors to understand animals in a friendly and sustainable way. Their proposal considers the zoo as part of the urban fabric, instead of isolating it; people can experience the “Habitat Parc”, where animals can be observed in their natural environment. There is one clear purpose: to remove the “cage”.
