The “above-ground” feeling

This disorientation is augmented by occasional views outside the gardens, i.e. the fringe of buildings lining Avenue Daumesnil, the lake in the Bois de Vincennes, etc. On the other hand, their appearance reinforces the feeling of being in a singular place, inside a jewel box in the heart of the city. As for the rest, all references to an urban milieu have vanished. There are no streets or sidewalks to hinder one’s wanderings. Here the Paris Zoological Park recovers the “above-ground” feeling of the great European zoos (Berlin’s Tiergarten or the London Zoo in particular), playing the same role of a green enclave in the context of a high-density urban area. As the zoo’s iconic symbol, the Great Rock is a milestone along the historical Parisian north-south corridor.

Total remake of the grounds

The Vincennes Zoo is part and parcel of Parisian collective memory. Atelier’s proposal consists of preserving the symbolic elements in order to counteract any temptation for nostalgia. The zoo has been organised around the Gardens’ flagship landmark, the Great Rock. This was one of the brief’s specificities and a strong point in Atelier’s proposal. Renovated in the 1990s, it could be preserved as such, like certain other isolated rocks, ponds and trees. On the other hand, rather than “sticking to the past”, Atelier suggested a total remake of the grounds.

Dichotomy between the hidden and the visible

A zoo is a singular entity. In contrast to more traditional parks where the general public breaks down into well-defined user groups (children, families, young people, the elderly, etc.), each space in a zoo constitutes a distinct group with tailor-made treatment. Atelier was able to benefit from the experience it had garnered when designing the African plain segment of the Tête-d’Or park in Lyons. In particular, the agency developed the principle of fabricated landscapes, a dichotomy between the hidden and the visible, with specific attention paid to the wild animals. The Atelier team worked in close collaboration with the NMNH to foster the well-being of each species by respecting their style of life while offering the public as much of a change of scenery as possible.

Five biozones in one Zoo

The Gardens of the Paris Zoological Park are now composed of biozones that completely immerse the visiting public. The animals are no longer disconnected from their natural habitats but are shown as an integral part of the whole. Used in all contemporary zoos, this principle was but one component in the agency’s brief. Visitors are called upon to discover an enhanced landscape in which the visual, acoustic and olfactory surroundings increase the sense of a total change of scenery. The new Vincennes Zoo is thus composed of five biozones: Patagonia, the Sudanese Sahel, Europe, Guyana and Madagascar, with a sixth, Equatorial Africa, to be completed at a later date. This doesn’t mean that the natural spaces of an exotic region are merely imitated, for the landscapes through which visitors and animals circulate are suggested.

In order to make these panoramas, Atelier used diverse references, e.g. travel descriptions and accounts, animals, materials, plants and colour, and tales of the old zoo, always grounded in the memory and hearts of people older than twenty. In developing a “mimetic” herbarium, Atelier selected plants similar to those endemic to the animals’ regions. This didn’t mean creating one landscape based on another but instead imagining an in-between world specific to the Vincennes Zoo. To reconcile Atelier’s viewpoint with the animals’ needs, the staff, the existing plant-life and the new features had to be constantly adapted and adjusted.

A ribbon-like circuit

With a 40% increase in the planted area, the Paris Zoological Park now fully deserves its title as a zoological park. Incorporating visible and hidden spaces, this dense green mass is revealed along the 4-km circuit that offers visitors multiple points of view. The main, ribbon-like circuit enables people to move through all the biozones for an overall view of the gardens, while byways allow them to deepen their understanding of their experience and discoveries, all of which are there to surprise. Visitors sometimes find themselves deep in dense vegetation and sometimes overlooking plains. The topography makes it possible to accentuate the feeling of space through stressing its contrasts by hiding certain areas of the circuit. The circuit is like a movie panorama or tracking shot where viewpoints and landscape come to meet visitors.