Increasing visitor numbers at Bern Zoo triggered the need for an additional service facility along the main promenade of the Tierpark. Built as a wildlife observation pavilion it provides for a number of uses.
The new pavilion is situated amongst mature trees and the existing animal enclosures. Like an animal skin, the golden-green shimmering mosaic façade clings to the exterior walls and the roof, while the interiors continue the metaphor with their dark-red tones. Large gold-framed observation windows open out onto the woods and the zoo enclosures.
The internal circulation corridor lit by large roof lights as well as a ceiling recessed slot light along the wall widens towards its end. There a shallow staircase, which can also be used for sitting, leads to a covered shelter. This space serves multiple uses, providing a place for jazz matinees or barbecue parties as well as a weather-protected location from which visitors can observe wolves, marmots and small mammals. Because of the split level topography visitors can encounter wolves face to face. Nonetheless, the building and its surroundings are organized in a way so that they are fully accessible. Family-friendly and disabled toilets complete the pavilion.
The client’s brief demanded for low energy consumption. In response to that the sanitary rooms are grouped together, are insulated from the inside and are minimally heated during the winter season by the air ventilation system. In order to achieve minimal future maintenance costs robust materials were used. Where visible exposed concrete was painted and internal walls were rendered with a rough plaster.
As a bird protection measure pictures of forests were printed on the large windowpanes preventing any misleading reflections.
The new pavilion improves this part of the Tierpark and provides a well-received space for learning, social interaction and recreation amidst animals and nature.
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