The team at dan pearlman, a leading brand and experience architecture group, has recently completed a project at Schwerin Zoo in Germany, where it was responsible for the design and implementation planning of the attraction’s new Red List Centre. This state-of-the-art 3,000-square-metre enclosure is home to several endangered or critically endangered species, such as Asiatic lions, Moorea tree snails, sky-blue dwarf day geckos and more.
Inhabitants at the Red List Centre include the zoo’s much-loved lionesses Heidi, Indi and Rubi, as well as Shapur the lion. The architectural concept of the new facility combines a unique visitor experience, in terms of an up-close animal experience, and insights into species conservation.
The Red List Centre
The Red List Centre is the result of a collaboration between Schwerin Zoo and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), creators of the Red List, which details how endangered various animal and plant species are around the world. It features glass viewing areas both indoors and outdoors, allowing guests to get a glimpse of the animals’ lives. Animal welfare was a key focus of the project too, with many behavioural enrichment elements included in the design.
Visitors will now be able to discover more about the categories of endangered animals. From “not assessed (NE)” to “extinct in the wild (EW)”, each category of the Red List is explained by means of an animal species on display at the Centre.
Inside, there are spacious enclosures for the zoo’s pride of Asiatic lions and its Rothschild’s giraffes, as well as bird enclosures and terrariums. The outdoor enclosure has several roofed glass vistas, showing the life of the lions on several levels. Places for sand bathing, a heating stone, and scratching and climbing elements offer the animals opportunities to engage in their natural behaviour.
The exterior and interior of the new enclosure flow into each other through the use of earthy, ochre and brown tones and, inside, a natural-looking floor enhances the immersive experience. Here, visitors can observe the inside of the lion house and through into the outside area through an anti-reflective panoramic pane. They can also watch the procedure in the feeding kitchen through a glass pane.
Education & animal welfare
On the next terrace, guests can view the savannah-like giraffe enclosure, before heading inside to discover a zoological rarity in one of the terrariums: the Moorea tree snail. Schwerin Zoo is the only place in Germany where this tree snail species, which is already extinct in nature, can be found. The terrarium is specially designed for this particularly sensitive inhabitant, in order to meet its needs and to boost the breeding programme, for later release back into the wild.
The Red List Centre provides education to visitors through the use of display boards and interactive screens. Here, visitors of all ages are able to learn about the threat status of wild species and find out more about the causes of habitat loss and what we can do about it.
The architects of dan pearlman Erlebnisarchitektur are responsible for the design and planning. The communication concept was developed by spring brand ideas.
Earlier this year, the dan pearlman Group also completed a collaborative rebranding and repositioning project for Arkade Linz, a shopping mall in Linz, Austria.
Images courtesy of Schwerin Zoo
