Design, Science and Technology

Mexico City-based BuBa Arquitectos proposes a vertical zoo wrapped in lush vegetation that relies on solar power, rainwater and natural ventilation.

Why not take the same theories and technologies used to grow organic produce and raise animals and apply them to build more compact, more sustainable zoos? Proposed by Mexico City-based BuBa Arquitectos, the Vertical Zoo is a balanced and sustainable space where people and animals can coexist in harmony. Wrapped in lush vegetation, the star-shaped building makes use of green building strategies to reduce heat gain, encourage natural ventilation and soak up rainwater. Totally self-sufficient, the tower's aim is to be a sustainable refuge for all animal kingdom species.

Via Lauren Moss

Randall Munroe, a former NASA roboticist who nows draws clever geeky webcomics at XKCD, used data from Vaclav Smil's The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change ("plus a few other sources") to create a visualization of all of Earth's land mammals, which include us, by weight. It does certainly put things in perspective, especially when you compare wild land mammals to us and our livestock and pets.

Via Lauren Moss

BIG presents a vision for the future of Denmark's Givskud Zoo where animals and humans "co-exist", and all the architecture is hidden within the topography.

Named Zootopia, the proposal reimagines the 1960s zoo and safari park in central Jutland as a continuous landscape of forests, savannahs and rivers that centre around a sunken courtyard of visitors' facilities. 

"It is our dream – with Givskud – to create the best possible and freest possible environment for the animals' lives and relationships with each other and visitors," said BIG, the office led by architect Bjarke Ingels.

Via Lauren Moss