What are the most important principles that should guide the design of a modern zoo habitat?
First and foremost, the habitat itself as a living environment. Animals should be able to explore the habitat freely and be challenged in different ways as part of their everyday lives.
Freedom and flexibility are essential factors. Moving elements and opportunities that encourage animals to search for food are important forms of enrichment. Mixed-species environments are also particularly interesting and enriching, as they allow different species to interact naturally and benefit from one another.
How do you balance animal welfare requirements with visitor engagement, education, goals and commercial considerations when designing a habitat?
I would talk about designing an experience. I want to invite visitors to immerse themselves in the experience and feel as though they are entering the animal’s natural environment. For instance, seeing a duck underwater, a gorilla eye to eye, or a tiger so close, you can actually see the detail of its fur — awakens more fascination than if they were simply viewing the animal from afar. So, I guess the key is perspective and proximity.
Ideally, commercial elements are integrated into the visitor experience, offering either a moment to relax and observe, or to take a souvenir with them afterwards. Best case the offer is integrated into the ethic of the park, with fair trade or ethically sourced products, and is connected to the zoo’s conservation work and introduced when visitors are still emotionally engaged.
Therefore, I like to design zoos or parks in specific chapters or zones. Within each zone, I make sure that the experience is immersive, maintained through the landscaping, buildings, props or different theming elements. All these elements are part of a layering of storytelling or storybuilding, as I like to call it. In our work, we pay a lot of attention to make sure that authenticity comes from the place itself and from the story that we are trying to tell.
The work we did with Chester Zoo on the Islands project is something I think was very successful in this respect. The project was all about allowing guests to understand the in-situ and ex-situ conservation work that the Chester Zoo team is carrying out across the islands of Southeast Asia. In this way, it became an authentic expedition that guests could discover for themselves — almost like an own personal expedition through the habitats.
From concept to completion, what are the biggest challenges in delivering a successful habitat project?
The biggest challenge in every project we have is nearly always the spatial and monetary challenge. From the outset, we need a clear understanding of what the project can afford, which is why we carry out thorough checks during the early stages. Through co-creative workshops with the client, we identify and prioritize requirements, ensuring the brief aligns with the available budget before detailed design begins. It is equally important to distinguish between essential, secondary, and optional elements. This allows us to develop a design that everyone agrees on and avoids costly surprises later. Throughout the process, we continuously review the programme, scope, and costs, adapting the design as needed to ensure the project remains within budget.
How can operators and suppliers work together more effectively to overcome this challenge?
We love to work cooperatively in the early phases. Zoo design is essentially prototyping, so depending on the design challenge, we reach out to experts as early as possible to initiate the thinking process.
For instance, a multi species mixed exhibit which includes Rhinos, Antelopes and birds will not only need differentiated facilities but will also need a highly complex netting structure, enrichment elements specific to each species etc. etc… and these need to be considered and designed at an early phase with the right expertise.
Some projects can become even more challenging because they are publicly tendered. The public tender process ties our hands to some extent, because suppliers must be selected through the appropriate process. We need to identify different options at supplier level and then, as early as possible, talk to the suppliers we believe are most suitable for the project.
Looking ahead, what innovations—whether in design, technology, materials, animal care, or visitor experience—do you believe will have the greatest impact on zoo habitats over the next 5–10 years?
Looking ahead, I think the biggest challenge over the next five to ten years will be the positive social acceptance of zoos. Zoos will increasingly have to help the public to better understand the amazing work that they do, what they contribute, and why the institution itself is important. So, ultimately, I think the future of zoos depends not only on how sustainably we design their habitats, but also on how convincingly we can demonstrate their real contribution to conservation, animal welfare and the future of the species they care for.
We need the public to be completely behind the work that is being done in zoos. And I think this requires one strong voice. Within the German speaking zoo community, for example, the VDZ — the Association of German-speaking Zoos in Europe — as well as the WAZA worldwide, play the role of being one voice for Zoos and Aquariums so that they can communicate and promote their cause more effectively. I believe this needs to become stronger and louder. It should not simply be about each zoo speaking for itself, but about creating something that the public can really get behind — a shared understanding of the important work that zoos are doing.
From my perspective, it needs to become a positive movement towards a better future for animals and for the habitats they originally came from. If we can somehow achieve a transformation in the mindset of visitors during the time they spend in a zoo, that could have an enormous impact. Ultimately, a zoo should be a place of behavioural and environmental enrichment — for animals and for humans alike. A place where we don’t just learn about animals, but where we learn how to be better humans.
