Design firm proposes 'Zootopia' where animals are free, humans are enclosed

Architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group has proposed a radical redesign of the traditional zoo concept, where humans will be the ones kept in enclosures and the animals will roam free. (Photo from Bjarke Ingels Group)

An international architecture firm has proposed a radical overhaul of the traditional zoo concept, where humans will be the ones kept in enclosures and the animals will roam free.

Denmark-based Bjarke Ingels Group has plans to transform the 45-year-old Danish Givskud Zoo into a "Zootopia," by creating large natural environments for animals to live and enclosed spaces where visitors can observe the animals.

On its website, the firm said the most important goal of architecture is to design environments where all diverse groups of people can exist in "harmony while taking into account individual needs as well as the common good."

"Nowhere is this challenge more acrimonious than in a zoo," the firm said. "It is our dream – with Givskud – to create the best possible and freest possible environment for the animals' lives and relationships with each other and visitors."

Initial plans of the redesign show three distinct areas where the animals will be able to live and roam freely: "America," "Asia" and "Africa." All of the areas will be connected by a central square, a circular enclosed area that will blend into the natural environment. This square will serve as a starting point for the zoo's visitors.

(Photo from Bjarke Ingels Group)

A key element of the redesign is that all of the animal environments will be built to simulate their natural environments, while the visitor buildings will be obscured or integrated into the natural landscape as much as possible.

"We would like to build homes for the animals that are both tailor-made especially for (the animals) and at the same time has the qualities from their original surroundings," the firm said.

This means, for example, that the building to view the elephants could be hidden in a hill of rice fields, and the huts to view the bears could be hidden in between stacks of lumber.

Visitors to Zootopia will be able to explore the different areas of the zoo by foot, boat, car or via gondola-like pods criss-crossing the skies.

(Photo from Bjarke Ingels Group)

(Photo from Bjarke Ingels Group)

The firm said it hopes its design will enhance the quality of life for the animals, zoo staff and visitors. It also hopes to learn something from the experience that it will be able to transfer back into the "urban jungle."

"Who knows perhaps a rhino can teach us something about how we live – or could live in the future?" the firm said.