Add To Collection
Add to Collection
Fort Worth Zoo Museum of Living Art
Fort Worth Zoo Museum of Living Art
1989, Colonial Parkway, Fort Worth, TX, United States
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
Fort Worth Zoo Museum of Living Art
1989, Colonial Parkway, Fort Worth, TX, United States
The existing Herpetarium at the FW Zoo has long been a favorite destination among the more than one million visitors who visit the zoo each year. The fifty year old facility, originally designed by noted Fort Worth architect J.R. Pelich, was no longer able to accommodate the needs of the zoo’s enlarged animal collection or adequately address the increased needs for today’s educational and conservation programs. The program for the new 17,000 square foot facility, named the Museum of Living Art or MOLA, required not only the space and infrastructure to accommodate the zoo’s complex program for animal display and conservation, but also included a requirement that the architecture be unique from anything found at the zoo.
Working with the client and the zoo staff to understand each animal's needs and habitat's the team became inspired by the natural environment itself, both in landscape and wildlife. The galvalume panel roofs that float above the structure recall the prairie's rolling hills west of Fort Worth, while the galvalume panels curve to follow the roofs form, in much the same way that a snake's scales curve around it's body. The Cedar Hill Cream fieldstone walls echo the limestone
outcroppings that occur throughout the Fort Worth area. The walls are expressed as a series of separate volumes contrasted by using alternating fieldstone and honed limestone.
Changing light and shadow patterns on the interior fieldstone walls of the Discovery Hub also reflect the patterns found on many of MOLA's residents. The building interior frames and displays the animal exhibits as natural pieces of art. Low level accent lighting illuminates the interior volumes of the roofs and looks to the Texas sky for its inspiration. Moving through the exhibit areas, ceilings and light levels are lowered to create the sense of compression which is offset by the higher ceilings and increased light levels of the walk through exhibits and Discovery Hub. Translucent, stylized leaf ceiling panels let diffused light dapple onto visitors in MOLA's walk through exhibits.
Models at various scales were used extensively during the design process. The early designs were presented as a series of chipboard models that allowed the client quickly understand the building's complex roof forms. Architectural drawings were then created by transcribing the roof forms from the model. A computer cut model was then made to test the accuracy of the original transcription. The exterior exhibits, which can be viewed either from outdoors or from the building interior, allow for underwater viewing at several locations.
Working with the client and the zoo staff to understand each animal's needs and habitat's the team became inspired by the natural environment itself, both in landscape and wildlife. The galvalume panel roofs that float above the structure recall the prairie's rolling hills west of Fort Worth, while the galvalume panels curve to follow the roofs form, in much the same way that a snake's scales curve around it's body. The Cedar Hill Cream fieldstone walls echo the limestone
outcroppings that occur throughout the Fort Worth area. The walls are expressed as a series of separate volumes contrasted by using alternating fieldstone and honed limestone.
Changing light and shadow patterns on the interior fieldstone walls of the Discovery Hub also reflect the patterns found on many of MOLA's residents. The building interior frames and displays the animal exhibits as natural pieces of art. Low level accent lighting illuminates the interior volumes of the roofs and looks to the Texas sky for its inspiration. Moving through the exhibit areas, ceilings and light levels are lowered to create the sense of compression which is offset by the higher ceilings and increased light levels of the walk through exhibits and Discovery Hub. Translucent, stylized leaf ceiling panels let diffused light dapple onto visitors in MOLA's walk through exhibits.
Models at various scales were used extensively during the design process. The early designs were presented as a series of chipboard models that allowed the client quickly understand the building's complex roof forms. Architectural drawings were then created by transcribing the roof forms from the model. A computer cut model was then made to test the accuracy of the original transcription. The exterior exhibits, which can be viewed either from outdoors or from the building interior, allow for underwater viewing at several locations.
Product Spec Sheet
Were your products used?
Join as a manufacturer to add your products.