Afrykarium – Oceanarium in Wroclaw | ArC2 Fabryka Projektowa

Idea

Simple, black Africarium building in Wrocław ZOO is 160 m long, which is equivalent of the length of the Centennial Hall’s diagonal, 60 m wide and 12 – 15 m high, which dimension is proportional to length of the base. From the exit you can view ZOO’s main entrance and Centennial Hall located on the axis of the building. Ferroconcrete structure of Africarium and its external black corian shell are our 21st century answer to then modern 1912 Max Berg’s building. Along the entrance elevation, we designed a shallow body of water reflecting the black and slightly wavy north façade. The black façade is an important aspect of the design: it refers to the beauty of Africa’s inhabitants’ bodies. Entrance to the building is from the side of eastern path. You walk along the arcade decorated with a glass, illuminated mosaic and the name ‘Africarium’ rendered in African pictographic writing. At the south side you will find an external open body of water and eared seals and penguins pens. You can view the animals both from outside and from the deck of the ‘ship-building’ plunged into the main volume of Africarium structure.

function

The concept of Africarium building is based on a clear principle of grouping halls housing five African biotopes and animals’ expositions around the attractive, multifunction lobby.

A visitor weary of wandering around African biotopes returns to the lobby filtered through with just the stripes of light. The layout of the exposition and the mode of viewing it are subdued to the principle of the viewer’s blending in with the landscape full of animals.

A visitor starts the journey viewing info-boxes. Here ne can watch films on African biotopes, on problems of Africa – poverty, hunger, droughts and wars – on protected species, etc. Walking into the depths of the Red Sea, a visitor views an amazing underwater exposition of the coral reef. Then, there’s the Nile River (Exposition of the Nile and African Great Lakes) with hippos and the viewing platform in front of waterfalls. Then, the visitor comes right to the huge window of the sharks’ exposition (Exposition of the Mozambique Channel). The central part of the tunnel has a 360 degrees spherical cross-section. Below the visitors swim sharks, huge rays, etc. Now we walk in a direction of the ship’s wreck: remaining under water we watch swimming penguins and eared seals (Exposition of Namibia’s Coast). In the upper part of the building there’s a restaurant. From here one can watch African penguins and eared seals – standing on ‘ship’s’ gangways you are so close to the animals you can almost touch them!

Having some rest, a visitor sets off on his last journey: Congo jungle is the essence of the African adventure. On one of the paths you actually struggle through the jungle, admire swimming crocodiles and manatees, cross the narrow footbridges over the rivers. Watching from above the animals and lush African flora, the visitor remains within the space populated with small birds, monkeys, etc. From this Heart of Darkness, the jungle of Congo, the visitor walks onto a viewing terrace and then exits the building passing through the souvenir shop. Here, he is again welcomed by a magnificent view of the monumental structure of Centennial Hall.

Products and materials used in Afrykarium:

concrete shell of a building and tanks

black corian large format cladding

Roof beams of glued laminated timber

ETFE foil cushions on a roof

liquid applied tank waterproofing on the basis of two component polyurethane

acrylic windows and tunnel

African mosaic glass of the glass furnace