Copenhagen Zoo has revealed the designs for a new giant panda enclosure.
The two giant pandas are expected to arrive in Denmark from China in late 2018 as part of the giant panda rental program agreed in 2014.
The Panda House has been designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Schonherr A/S. The enclosure takes a circular shape divided into two parts like a yin-yang symbool to give the male and female pandas their own space.
A slideshow of the designs can be found on BIG’s website here.
A BIG presentation explains that, “the Panda House is designed to feel like the humans are the visitors in the pandas’ home, rather than the pandas being exotic guests from faraway lands. The habitat creates the freest and most naturalistic possible environment for their lives and relationship with each other, having the freedom to roam about and the ideal conditions to mate.”
The Panda House will be located on the site of the old Elephant House at the zoo. Construction is scheduled to begin in November this year and last for around a year. The total project investment is around 125-150 million Danish kroner (18-22 million U.S. dollars) and still has to be fully funded.
Images: Copenhagen Zoo and Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
https://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-03/26/c_136159306.htm
