Vertical Safari / Influx_Studio

Dec 2010

By Alison Furuto — Filed under: Misc ,Urban Design , Argentina, Buenos Aires, Influx_Studio

▼

Add this to My Bookmarks:

share by email

share by email

general view

The aim of Influx_Studio was to create a unique zoo experience that would implement a new urban function and redefine the typical layout for wildlife sightseeing for its visitors. Through their dynamic, vertical attraction in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a new kind of building is conceived with hopes of inspiring other architects around the globe as well as increasing awareness to the diversity of ecosystems. More images and architect’s description after the break.

aerial view

We propose that the whole zoo experience be inspired by the aim of modern Safaris. A trip taken for observes and photograph wildlife where visitors can drive their own vehicles and observe animals free, rather than viewing them in cages or small enclosures. We suggest the redefinition of zoo’s archetype with a new urban function that adds an unexpected bonus to the vertical zoo demanded by the competition’s guidelines: an observation wheel to create a dramatic and surprising city sightseeing safari over Buenos Aires’s skyline!

Courtesy of Influx Studio

The wheel injected to the Safari Zoo, will provide a new metropolitan dimension to the Reserve waterfront park, attracting an additional mass of visitors; as well it will reinforce the Reserve’s recreational and leisure vocation. Located in the projection of the visual axe joining the Reserve area to the Obelisk, From there, the zoo, rising 240 meters high, it will create a new visual appeal landmark beyond Puerto Madero’s docks (actually the view is blocked by the docks).

Courtesy of Influx Studio

Turning very slowly the observation wheel takes 30 minutes to complete a half circuit. Arrived to the top of the circuit, visitors can make a pause and enjoy sightseeing options at the visitor’s facilities level. It holds the educational program and the cafeteria, gift and souvenirs shop etc. That level is suspended into the void of the master volume above the wheel providing various dramatics and unexpected view sights to visitors.

Courtesy of Influx Studio

Our proposal for the Buenos Aires Vertical Zoo is conceived as a new kind of building, issue of several trends, and inspired by worldwide architectural icons. It can be defined as a hybrid that merges the skyscraper, the zoo, and the Ferry’s Wheel into one ecological urban new iconic landmark, encouraging visitors to take action benefitting wildlife and ecosystems.

Architects: INFLUX_STUDIO
Location: La Reserva, Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Client: ARQUITECTUM
Site Area: 95,000 sqm
Project Area: 5,000 sqm
Project Year: 2009-2010

: general view

: aerial view

: Courtesy of Influx Studio

: Courtesy of Influx Studio

: Courtesy of Influx Studio

: capsule

: night time view

: Courtesy of Influx Studio

: plans

: section

: diagrams

: concept diagram 01

: concept diagram 02

Cite:
Furuto , Alison . "Vertical Safari / Influx_Studio" 04 Dec 2010. ArchDaily. Accessed 26 May 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/93333>

Comments (10)
Tweets (22)
Links to this entry (0)

fokt says:

Nice project, but Archdaily needs to be more rigorous in investigating projects and accurately posting what they receive. This project was for a 2009 academic competition on arquitectum.com, and they won an honorable mention. Often times competition entries will be posted that haven’t won anything or advanced past a first round. And occasionally a student’s studio project from school will be posted. That’s fine, and some of them are great, but Archdaily needs to be much more clear in the way they portray submitted work.

# December 4, 2010 at 11:39

SimonB says:

I completely agree with you! Sometimes (or often) AD publish no interesting project. I remember 1 year ago, AD published 3 post a day with very good project but now is different… 10-12 post a day and not all so interesting. You should select the project to publish. I think the people prefer QUALITY and no quantity!

# December 5, 2010 at 07:43

jane lane says:

Brilliant concept and design. Just wondering how the service/utility/animal care (by that i mean waste segregation and stuff) planning is laid out though.

# December 4, 2010 at 12:02

toba says:

Come on jane, its hust a concept, nothing else. Now some people with start with the functioning and the technic aspects. Just anice concept, nothing less, nothing more.

# December 4, 2010 at 15:58

RL says:

A concept has to function, or it’s not valid.

# December 5, 2010 at 09:31

Kit says:

Okay, the renderings are pretty, but come on. It’s a zoo, with a very small amount of space for animals that need to roam. The concept of turning the already questionable practice of caging wild animals into a carnival ride is awful.

# December 5, 2010 at 04:21

billy toast says:

nice graphics, poor animals

# December 5, 2010 at 07:58

bLogHouse says:

The question of caging wild animals left aside, the mere concept of combining a zoo and a ferry wheel does not work well. The ferry wheel puts the visitor in a controlled and unchangeably ordered experience – from cage A to cage B to cage C and so on for equal amounts of time. What happens to the freedom to go to any animal you want and stay there as long as you want?!

# December 5, 2010 at 08:33

ArchNewsChloe says:

Funny. Karen Lewis was an instructor at the University of Kentucky when my classmates and friends, Graham Gordon (now at UK masters program) and Bobby Frederick (now at UCLA) proposed this VERY project for their studio–an idea they conceived of and researched; which Karen Lewis then reviewed as part of our final. Guess she was “inspired”??

# December 18, 2010 at 22:29

ukcod says: