The following passage is taken from an article entitled “The Elephant in the Room” by Jesse Smith (© 2009 The Smart Set).
Zoo Architecture
- When the Bronx Zoo recently
- called lights out on the World
- of Darkness, I was
- disappointed. That’s not to say
- I was surprised: It’s news to
- nobody that the Bronx isn’t
- exactly flush right now, and
- something had to give. But
- though the loss of the
- nocturnal animals is a
- significant one, the exhibit’s
- closing was noteworthy for
- another reason. When it
- comes to zoo buildings, the
- World of Darkness is one of
- the most fascinating.
- The World of Darkness was
- built in 1969. It has no
- windows, and from above
- looks like a giant letter C;
- the exterior is made up of tall,
- narrow gray stone panels of
- varying heights, which pitch
- inward. Unlike a lot of the
- other things you find in zoos,
- there’s nothing goofy or
- frenetic about it. It is not
- austere or staid or “classic” in
- any historic way. You would
- actually never expect to
- stumble upon a building like
- the World of Darkness in a
- zoo. It’s the kind of structure
- you’d expect to find in a zoo
- on, say, the Krypton of
- 1978’s Superman. But this
- element of surprise is exactly
- what makes the building so
- compelling, its closing a loss.
- As a field, the architecture of
- zoos is a funny thing. The
- difficulty in distinguishing it
- from the design of individual
- animal enclosures lies in the
- fact that each impacts the
- other in almost every case.
- Structures like the World of
- Darkness — whose exterior
- design influences the shape
- of its interior but not the way
- its animals are displayed —
- are rare. Zoo buildings instead
- usually reflect a negotiation
- between prevailing notions of
- an animal’s best interests, and
- the desire to frame visitors’
- experience of looking at those
- animals in a way that they
- consider noteworthy. More
- simply, it’s a negotiation
- between what’s designed for
- animals, and what’s designed
- for humans.
- You can usually tell which is
- winning by where and when
- you stand in the history of the
- zoo. European zoos of the late
- 19th and early 20th centuries
- incorporated the visual
- cultures of their animals’
- native homes into ornate
- buildings — reflections of their
- nations’ colonial aspirations.
- The Berlin Zoo’s ostrich house
- resembled an Egyptian temple,
- with large columns flanking
- the entrance and scenes of
- ostrich hunts decorating the
- exterior. Berlin’s elephant
- enclosure was built in the
- spirit of a Hindu temple; the
- home for its giraffes adopted
- an Islamic architectural style.
- Zoos in Cologne, Lisbon,
- Antwerp, and Budapest,
- among others, created similar
- exhibits. These zoos were no
- home for subtlety: The
- animals they contained were
- exotic to most visitors; the
- buildings that did the
- containing reinforced the
- sensation.
- You can find similar nods to
- foreign cultures in some U.S.
- zoos. The Cincinnati Zoo’s Taj
- Mahal-like elephant house, for
- example, and its pagoda-like
- Passenger Pigeon Memorial
- Hut are both National Historic
- landmarks. In Animal
- Attractions: Nature on Display
- in American Zoos, historian
- Elizabeth Hanson compares
- the style of the National Zoo’s
- Reptile House to that of
- northern Italy’s Romanesque
- cathedrals — an
- appropriation that gave the
- building more than just an
- appealing look.
- Most American zoos, however,
- preferred their institutions to
- be more a point of contact
- with and celebration of nature
- than a display of colonial
- might or religious allusion.
- These were green, leafy
- landscapes, but that is not to
- say they wanted for compelling
- architecture. The antelope,
- elephant, and carnivore houses
- at the Philadelphia Zoo were
- built as elaborate Victorian
- structures, its gatehouses
- designed by Frank Furness.
- The Bronx Zoo’s Astor Court
- is a collection of turn-of-the-
- century, Beaux-Arts animal
- houses surrounding manicured
- lawns and formal garden beds.
- These buildings were pleasing
- to visitors. To animals, not so
- much. Elephants tend to be
- indifferent toward Victorian
- architecture, lions and tigers
- to the Beaux-Arts style. The
- animals prefer, instead, more
- space than the buildings’
- respective pens and cages
- allowed. As concern for the
- health and interests of
- animals grew over the course
- of the 20th century, the built
- landscape of zoos transformed
- in response. The institutions
- didn’t see complete overhauls
- but new construction and
- renovations to existing
- structures aimed to provide
- zoo’s collections with homes
- that more closely resembled
- what the animals would
- encounter in the wild.