INTRODUCTION          

© Matthieu Gafsou

Architects: LOCALARCHITECTURE

Location: Route du Bois Laurent 3, 1261 Le Vaud, Switzerland

Area: 315.0 sqm

Project Year: 2016

Photographs: Matthieu Gafsou

© Matthieu Gafsou

From the architect. INTRODUCTION          For 48 years La Garenne zoo had occupied a site below the village of Le Vaud .In 2013 a project took shape to move the entire zoo to a much bigger neighbouring site. A new concept was developed, featuring an educational trail that links up the various aviaries and enclosures, moving from a pastoral landscape to an alpine setting and ending with a treetop walkway among the trees of the local forest.
© Matthieu Gafsou

LOCALARCHITECTURE was commissioned to design an entrance pavilion for the new zoo. The key challenge for the architects was therefore to incorporate into this setting a built structure that would provide the necessary entrance functions and define the new identity of La Garenne zoo. 

© Matthieu Gafsou

LIMITSRight from the start of their research the architects focused on the question of limits and boundaries ? an inherent aspect of a zoological park: the park perimeters, access ways and entrances, public areas, barriers formed by plants and by ...