Article source: Foster + Partners

Set within a historic royal park, adjacent to the Frederiksberg Palace, Copenhagen Zoo is among the oldest zoos in Europe and one of Denmark’s most popular cultural institutions, with 1.2 million visitors a year. Among the Zoo’s most visited inhabitants are the Indian elephants. The starting point for the design of this new Elephant House was to provide these magnificent animals with a healthy, stimulating environment and in the process to create easily accessible spaces from which visitors can see and enjoy them.

Image Courtesy © Nigel Young_Foster + Partners

• Architects: Foster + Partners
• Project: Elephant House
• Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
• Client: Foundation Realdania for Copenhagen Zoo
• Area: 3250m2 internal (building – stables and visitor areas), 3500m2 external paddock areas, 2050 m2 visitor circulation/landscape
• Internal breakdown: Visitor areas 900m2, Service areas 750m2, Stables 1600m2
• Site Area: 8800m2
• Number of Floors: 2 – main floor + mezzanine exhibition/entrance space
• Capacity: 8 elephants, 6 keepers, 4 staff, 150 visitors max at any time (varies throughout year)
• Glass domed roofs: Herd 45m x 23m, Bulls 30m x 15m