Antwerp Zoo

The Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp commissioned a master plan for Antwerp Zoo. This master plan seeks a balance between the rich historical qualities of the Zoo, its unique location in the city and new ‘experience’ trends. The zoo retains its enclosed character as a green oasis in the city, but new elements are added at strategic locations on its margins, so that the relationship between the city and the zoo is intensified.

The master plan creates a robust and spacious framework for the future, within which a slow and careful transformation can take place. The landscape qualities of the Zoo form the basis for this new framework: by making the margins of the Zoo denser with new animal enclosures, the historic zoo can be ‘illuminated’ and renovated.

The esplanade, which runs from the entrance to the Egyptian temple, forms a clear structure within the park: a promenading area with shady trees. Parallel to this runs the adventure experience route, named after the Congo River. It includes a mixture of scenes, types of vegetation and animals, with a variety of intensive experiences between people and animals as its central theme. The new decors of the animal enclosures are provided with architectural ‘icons’ at strategic points. These glass domes are the new roofs of the animals’ winter accommodation, and also form orientation points in the Zoo and the city.