ANTWERP THE EXPERIENCE OF NON 1من اصل2

-TRADITIONAL IN THE OLDEST ZOOS IN THE WORLD
Established in July 1843, the Antwerp Zoo is one of the oldest animal parks
in the world. Since its founding it has been managed by the Royal
Zoological Society of Antwerp.
Studio Farris Architects was appointed as design architect to provide a new
identity to the place, through a solution that defines the new restaurant,
aviary, apes- and buffa lo- 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 dri ving 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.
The new restaurant, that accommodates 350 seats indoor and 400
outdoor, is located between the home of the great apes to the North and the
buffalo’s habitat and aviary to the South. By means of extending the
existing animal shelters on both sides, the project aims at establishing an
intertwining relationship between visitors and animals: the walk-through
aviary provides an unexpected experience that brings visitors closer to the
birds, apes and buffalos in their natural habitat.
The building that hosts the restaurant is appar ently understated in its
elevation, that defines a very ample window opening towards the inner
space of the zoo. In plan, however, it reveals a more distinct character and
a rather complex geometry is revealed that expresses the multiple relations
and interconnections with the tensile lightweight structures built around it.
To the North, the restaurant visually extends, through its large glazing, into
a tensile lightweight structure that protects the outdoor park where the
gorillas and chimpanzees can move around.