KOZOO - Korkeasaari Zoo
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Client: Korkeasaari Zoo
Team: Stig L. Andersson, Flemming Rafn Thomsen, Helene Koch, Salka Kudsk, Martin Søberg, Stine Christiansen, Ida Marie Wedfall, Nikolai Vittrup, Daniel Carlsen, Lene Dammand Lund
Design period: 2009
Area: 27 ha.
KOZOO – the new Korkeasaari Zoo – is a microcosm inscribed in a circle. Everything taking place within this circle focuses on the protection of not only animals, but biomass in a broader sense. Everything extinctable.
The design of KOZOO reinterprets the creation of the universe. Essentially different but simple things are put together, react on one another, and something new and unexpected is created. As time passes new reactions between people, materials and weather take place on the site, as nursing, wear and tear, and the influence of weather contributes to the ongoing process of change.
KOZOO is organized into different zonobiomes – inspired by the earth’s different ecological climatic zones. Each of these contains animals and plants from the same climatically uniform environment within the geobiosphere, such as the moist deciduous fern forest or the dry and rocky highland steppe.
The zonobiomes are penetrated by a system of paths. Walking through the zoo is thereby an experience of crossing from zonobiome to zonobiome, whilst receiving ever-changing experiences of animals and plants in different combinations. The paths are semi-borders between areas within a zonobiome.
Sustainable initiatives will apply on all levels of the KOZOO programme. A main issue integral with the mission of the zoo is environmental and faunal consideration. This includes a focus on the manufacturing and life cycle of materials. Environmental resource management should naturally be part of the revitalization of the Korkeasaari Zoo.
KOZOO is experienced in a million ways. Your receive information about your surroundings on every spot. In this sense KOZOO is truly an eye-opener. All experiences can be seen as a possibility of gathering information. The differentiation lies within the kind of information you will get and in which form it is communicated.
The paths are divided into three different types. Each type is strictly attached to a certain type of information and experience, but the routes can easily be combined, when visitors circulate through the landscape.
