Elephant House Zoo Zurich

Design: The roof of the elephant house becomes part of the landscape with its freely formed shell construction. Its meshed and organic structure picks up on the surrounding forest. Inside, the spotty sunlight makes for a fascinating composition of light and shadows, as if finding its way through leaves in a tree canopy.

Wood: The roof was realized as a cantilevered timber shell made of nailed up cross-laminated timber boards. The boards of the first layer were shaped using centering, with the boards of the second and third layers rotated by 60° each and nailed to the first layer. The third layer featured the templates for the 271 openings which were then cut into the roof in situ. The utility lines, insulation, and sealing were added above the structural system. Sliced veneer boards form the outer shell of the roof structure, lending the elephant house its characteristic silvery appareance through withering. The openings are topped with ETFE pillows which let sunlight through without filtering out the UV components which are important to plant growth.

Energy: The heating is exclusively performed by the ventilation system with either circulating or mixed air and heat recovery.