Vertical Zoo

Vertical Zoo now appearing on M.E. Design Magazine. Click link below to view article: http://www.medesignmag.com/content/1704/vertical-horizons/#gallery

As part of the redevelopment and revitalization of Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires, South America the design of a “Vertical Zoo” located on the Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve has been proposed. The “Vertical Zoo” has to be taller than 100 metres and have a horizontal footprint no greater than 200 metres squared. It has to be a landmark for the reserve in keeping with the characteristics of the site. The zoo is to be used for recreation and education on animal conservation.

The Vertical Zoo provides recreational activities such as a auditorium for lectures, MUS (Multi Use Space) for events, Cafeteria, three observational decks to view the landscape, souvenir shop and the zoo it’s self. There are also administration space and staff facilities.

To view the animals the people are caged in glass lifts which go straight through the animals habitats giving the feeling of evading the animal’s space. The visitors are restricted to where they can go creating the feeling of confinement.

In contrast to the high tech animal containers, the people areas are constructed from rusted metal and hard concrete to represent how animals are normally kept in captivity. These harsh materials create the feeling of loneliness, detachment and suffering. Slit windows emphasis the impression of being in a prison like space with not much natural light.


My disjointed design takes the priority of the animal’s welfare as the main user of the space. From looking at the Zoo Check guidelines all animals need:

Food & water
Access to fresh water and a balanced diet representative of that in the wild

Suitable living environment
A living environment that provides shelter, privacy and mental and physical stimulation

Opportunity to exhibit natural behaviour
Provision of sufficient space and facilities to permit natural behaviours

Protection from fear and distress
Measures taken to minimise mental suffering, stress and distress

Health care
Provisions minimising the risk of injury, illness, disease or infection

From taking into consideration the Animal’s physiology I have designed each animal container to the individual animal’s specification. The animals are arranged vertically around the structure to their needs.

Olympic Viewing Platform

The event which I chose to design a viewing platform for was the diving. The emotive words which influenced my design were velocity, plummet, impact and transition. I wanted the user to experience the feeling of falling through air and then the transitional impact into water. First I analyzed the movements and travel of a diver, mapping the time it took from leaving the platform to entry into the water. The result was four seconds. When a diver enters the water they create a rip position which enables them to create as little splash as possible. This entry inspired me to look at fluid dynamics and undertake a series of experiments recording dropping an object into water evaluating the form of the splash. Further experiments with wax and molten solder dropped into cold water, enabled me to create fluid forms.


The form will be suspended above the diving pool so that users can view the event at all levels. The bottom levels will be encased in a glass frame and will be submerged in the water so that the user will experience the transition into the water like the diver does. The bottom levels will be opaque so that the user can view the diver when they enter the water. The user travels in the same direction as the diver but at a slower rate.

Platforms suspended in the metal frame allow access to all the levels via spiral staircases and act as a support to the fluid forms. The platforms are made from clear glass so that the user can see down all levels and experience the feeling of the fall. The fluid forms create voids for the user to explore inside, capturing a moment in time as if the splash the diver has made has been frozen. From these spaces the users can view the diver on their descent into the water. These forms would be rapid prototyped and with the aid of CAD transferred into a structure which then can be constructed.

Time based experiments exploring the spatial relationship of fluid dynamics by dropping molten solder into cold water. Each sample represents a second in the total four seconds it takes for a diver to enter the water. I deconstructed the formation of the sequence to create a new form which has resulted in my final design.

Weather Station: Wind Filter

To design a weather station situated on Dartmoor which will record weather observations and relay its findings back to the MET office in Exeter. The weather station has to provide habitation for a maximum of two people. The structure should acknowledge its environment, but it should not defer to it.

The weather station is cut into the hill by a twisting curving foundation which channels the wind flow up the hill through the wind tubes to the wind sacs. Constructed from reflective mirrored metal which takes on its surrounding so that it appears to be submerged into the ground.

The Living pods are constructed out of opaque mirrored one way glass, so that externally people can not see in, but when inside the pod people can see out. The glass allows natural light to enter the living pods through the wind sac membrane. The frames of the living pods are made out of light aluminium with the glass curved over the structure. The wind sac acts as a second membrane to the living pod, inflating and deflating ventilating the space within. Wind sac membrane is made from Mylar fabric stretched between the wind tubes. When wind passes through the area, it inflates and deflates in reaction to the winds pressure and speed. The wind sac traps the wind so that it can be used as ventilation for the living pods by entering small air holes in the walls of the living pods, which filters the wind so that habitation can take place in the pods. The wind sacs also create a continuing moving structure which captures the natural element and makes the structure react to the change in weather. Wind tubes filter the wind into the wind sacs and pass it from one vacuum to another.

Living pods are entered by suspended walkways which emerge out of the landscape. Entry into the living pods is by means of a tube which the person has to crawl through to give the impression of emerging into a large void space. Automatic doors help decrease the threat of wind escaping from the wind sacs and wind from outside gaining entry into the living pods. Tubes with turbines in them at the end of the weather station’s foundations allow for power to be generated to the living pods