Thinking outside the cage

The recent call to close down Kyiv Zoo due to the atrocious conditions the animals were being kept in has sent out a clear message - a new attitude towards animals is needed. But architects are here to help, bringing the zoo experience to a whole new level

Mladen Petrov

Strange things have been happening lately in the 100-year-old Kyiv Zoo. First, Boy, an Indian elephant and the pride of the zoo, collapsed and died in his enclosure last year. Secondly, around the same time, Maya the camel died from digestive illness, followed by Theo the zebra after crashing into a metal fence. Unfortunately, as animal welfare groups claim, these recent developments are far from being isolated cases. According to their accounts, dozens, if not hundreds, of animals have died at the now notorious zoo in recent years due to malnutrition, a lack of medical care and maltreatment.
New managers, appointed in October last year, admit that nearly half of the zoo's animals have either died or mysteriously disappeared over the last two years under their predecessors. In addition, a government audit has found that thousands of dollars were misspent as animals were illegally sold and funds earmarked for their food and care disappeared. The problems at the zoo, and the  apparent lack of workable solutions, have forced animal protection groups to call for its immediate closure, labelling it "a concentration camp for those with fur and feathers". An investigation is now ongoing, but the zoo's animals are still dying, despite the change in management. According to some activists, the reason for the death of the animals could be a secret real estate deal. The zoo, located in the centre of the capital, once closed down could be easily sold off, activists suspect.

A new attitude
Having the Kyiv Zoo story in mind, the news about the new zoological garden planned in St Petersburg, comes as a ray of sunlight for both animal lovers and fans of sleek contemporary architecture. Two French-based studios, the landscape design firm TN Plus, together with architectural practice Beckmann N'Thépé, won the international competition for the new Primorskiy Zoological Park in Russia's second largest city. Founded in 1865, the St Petersburg zoo is the oldest zoological park in the country. The problems the zoological garden is facing are not new to most of the others across Russia and Europe - the convenient location in the city centre unfortunately, over the years, has also brought with it a lack of space. The lack of good living conditions for the animals required by the EU has forced zoos in Romania to look for new homes for the animals abroad. In Varna, Bulgaria, the crisis has put on hold a project for a new zoo, three times bigger than the existing one. Other zoos, such as the one in Zagreb, which has now started a large scale programme aimed at increasing its area without relocating, are in luck. Warsaw Zoo has also been adding new facilities over the last few years, most recently a large new aquarium, which also features a pool for hippos. In St Petersburg, on the other hand, a decision has been taken to create a new zoo for 479 species of animals, which will range over 300 ha on the town's outskirts. The choice of the location is not random - the site lies within the protected zone of the Yuntolvsky nature reserve.
This is not the first time the two French teams have worked together - the architects have already jointly won design competitions in Vincennes in France (in 2006) and two years later in Helsinki. What is the architects' philosophy when it comes to working on such - not exactly typical - architectural projects? "Our main philosophy comes first from the new attitude towards animals, which is rooted in their well-being. We want to give them space and recreate their natural habitat as much as possible. For this we have consulted zoologists and specialists. Our inspiration comes from finding a genuine harmony between architecture-artificiality and landscape-naturality," explains Françoise N'Thépé of Beckmann N'Thépé. "The project has to be co-designed by a landscape designer, a zoologist and an architect. Our architectural attitude is not to be provocative, but rather to be innovative, especially when it comes to specific buildings, such as greenhouses, facilities or even the pathways which form part of the zoological park design. Even though animals are the main attractions,  architecture can also contribute towards creating the optimum atmosphere - both for the animals and visitors - and unforgettable memories," she adds.

Around the world
The winning project features a symbolic rendering of every continent, in an attempt to recreate the illusion of a re-formed Pang?a within the park (the massive island that existed before the continents separated). The archipelago thus created will be made up of islands representing South East Asia, Africa, Australia, South America, North America and Eurasia, with the latter two linked to each other by the ice fields of the  Arctic Circle. According to the project, the architecture is specific to each island and continent, and is expressed through contemporary forms. Furthermore, the topography, vegetal cover and hydrography will give visitors the feeling of actually being in the savanna of sub-Saharan Africa or the pampas of South America. Respecting the importance of the site, the project will occupy only one third of the terrain, leaving a large part of the area, with its many exceptional species of flora and fauna, untouched.
"Nowadays the public has high expectations when it comes to ecological honesty. One of the main purposes of zoos today is to inform us about the dangers which threaten biodiversity, and to educate us about what we can do every day in order to change the course of the damage that is being done. By involving the visitors in an emotional experience, zoos could become the most powerful media in the service of the global ecological cause," believes Bruno Tanant of TN Plus, the firm responsible for the landscape design of the project. As the architects explain, nowadays the attitude towards zoos is changing. Zoological parks that have been harshly criticised in the recent past,  are now considered important custodians of biodiversity preservation.

Places to wander
"Even though it is an artificially recreated leisure area, Primorskiy Park is above all an educational tool allowing each and every one of us to grasp our own history better, as well as being a research centre on helping to preserve our Earth. In a zoo you can witness the juxtaposition of African and Arctic landscapes, seas adjacent to mountains, and so on, providing many small windows to worlds and places that might otherwise have remained unknown. Zoological parks are places that feed our imaginations and encourage the mind to  wander," feels Bruno Tanant. At the end of the day, what constitutes a good zoo? "First of all, it is one that is adapted to its environment, meaning that the animal collection is mainly based on a contextual selection. Today's zoos are real natural reserves for endangered species. So a good zoo is one where people feel a sense of immersion, in which they can really understand the animals' natural environment according to its real scale," says Françoise N'Thépé.
Naturally, a good zoo comes at a price. The new Primorskiy zoological park, scheduled for opening in 2014, will cost almost EUR 287 mln.