Danish architectural wonder Bjarke Ingels has added another wild design to his to-do list: a "zootopia" that is, according to his firm BIG, "the best possible and freest possible environment for the animals' lives." What does that mean, architecturally? A building that looks something like a human cell or a raw egg, with a visitors' center at the nucleus/yolk in the middle and a 2.5-mile hiking trail that loops around from African habitats to the wildlife of the Americas and Asia.
The "first phase" of his new park is supposed to be completed in 2019, in time for the Givskud Zoo's 50th anniversary. Why dive into a park project for zoo animals when there are still Lego museums to be built? Besides being totally on trend, it's also, according to the architects, an "exciting journey of discovery with the Givskud staff" and they are entranced by the "extremely complex task" of creating an "urban jungle."
For anybody else, the casual dropping of an elaborate and seemingly pie-in-the-sky renderings would seem out-of-the-blue. For Ingels, whose career is built on waste-plant-cum-ski-slopes in his homeland, rambling discs in Paris, pyramids in midtown Manhattan, and towers twisting and tearing in Miami, it's just another fun day with renderings.
Plus, as BIG writes, "Who knows perhaps a rhino can teach us something about how we live – or could live in the future?"
· BIG Unveils Design For "Zootopia" In Denmark [Arch Daily]
· All Bjarke Ingels coverage [Curbed National]
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