OS: What is Asian about this project? I have been asked that question many times about just how Asian is my Tropical Asia pavilion. The Asian influences are in the wood materials and the traditional post and beam construction of the box ele- ments. The massing and juxtaposition of forms and mate- rials reflects some of the more contemporary conditions; over crowding, old vs new, and traditional vs modern. The African pavilion are more big ‘boxes’ that have then been themed. This pavilion has very little theming — the forms can be interpreted as programmatic elements and finishes are left raw (wood, concrete, metal). There are only lim- ited areas within the elephant exhibit space that has been left for theming.
new elephant pavilion at the Calgary Zoo — I was importing architecture. The Tropical Asia project reflects the Zoo’s new strategy of displaying animals according to location rather than by species. There are now pods within the Zoo that reflect specific locations in the world, a shift reflected in the new elephant pavilion. The existing Large Mammal Building once held African giraffes and hippopotamuses who were moved to the African-only exhibit leaving the Asian elephants behind.
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on |site 12
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