Zoo Shop
The Zoo Kids’ Shop is a 4,800 SF facility combining children targeted retail, storage, ticket sales and concessions at the Cincinnati Zoo.
The design explored soft, biomorphic tectonics. The play of two intersecting volumes originated in clay; it was then controlled and refined in a digital model. The form dynamics reflected abstracted animal movement, while trying not to mimic any particular species. As a result, two series of quadratic surfaces defined interlocking bodies, which were superimposed to imprint traces into one another. The imprints were revealed through changes in texture, color and orientation.
The building is clad in 3 different profiles of milled cedar, a natural material which carries its weight well in the lush botanical garden surroundings. Following the biological metaphor, its skin was layered to expose internal stratification. The smooth, light, outer epidermis “peels off” to reveal a rougher, darker substratum; the layer below it shows inner organization; and finally, tissues allow a peek into the interior: glass. The roof is a scaly copper membrane, which has since turned into deep verdigris.
