sealion
Well-Known Member
hmm i'll have a look, thanks. Is the aviary that the macaws are in now particularly old?
sorry that's all offtopic..!
ZSL London Zoo The Trouble with the Casson Pavillion...
- Thread starter Zambar
- Start date
hmm i'll have a look, thanks. Is the aviary that the macaws are in now particularly old?
sorry that's all offtopic..!
sealion
Well-Known Member
Oh right, thanks, it's design makes it look like it should be much older, but maybe that's just me.
I have a feeling that Sunbears would be lagely inactive for much of the day so not a very good display. They need species that are readily visible.
Anyone wanting to know about the enclosures and other buildings that were at the zoo in 1992 should try to get hold of a copy of 'The Buildings of London Zoo'. It has excellent text and photographs and has been available cheaply on Amazon recently. It has accurate information about the Raven's cage, Macaw avairy and also the African Avairy and its origins, which will be of interest to those who have commented here.
I think I heard that when the Casson Pavillion was originally completed they had to knock a wall down to get the animals into the exhibit; no one had thought of this, apparently.
European Fauna
Well-Known Member
Whenever I visit this area of the zoo nowadays, it just feels so, well, depressing. It's a perfect reminder of why you should put animals before architecture; back in the day, I remember this house and the outside areas bustling with people, all watching and talking about the amazing elephants and rhinos before them, elephant bathtime especially drawing quite possibly the largest crowds you could get in the zoo. And whilst I never saw them, I imagine the sea lions opposite drew just as estactic crowds.
Of course, the realisation soon came that these enclosures were no longer suitable, and the elephants Dilberta, Layang Layang and Mya left for Whipsnade, the black rhinos Jos and Rosie going soon after (I remember visiting about a week or two after the elephants left and Jos was still there). Nowadays, the area has become very desolate. Inside, it is quiet and never as busy as it was. This impressive building (yes, I think it is) doesn't seem quite right now without such impressive animals: The camels and bearded pigs just don't fit the atmosphere the building seeks to make with the atmosphere, lending it's name to what I use now to term a zoo exhibit that doesn't (in the aesthistic sense) fit the inhabitants, the 'Casson Effect'. Likewise, outside is quite bleak, with the camels and hippos quite a quiet display.
I've seen several ideas here as to how it could work better: Conversion of part of it into a great ape exhibit, a similar sized but more interesting display species to a camel, such as tapir, hippo, gaur or even black rhino, and even a museum of the zoo's history, with model elephants to fill the space of a large presence this house was designed for. But then again, we should all blame Hugh Casson for not thinking out the animal's needs first.
I could not have put this better myself.Often there is no obvious solution to these buildings which sometimes may be better fitted to serve as a cafeteria, shop or storeroom than for any animal husbandry purposes.
sealion
Well-Known Member
ha really!? I was looking at the doors when I went a couple of weeks ago and they didn't even look wide enough for elephants/rhinos to fit through!
johnstoni
Well-Known Member
I think people get rose-tinted spectacles with zoo buildings that have changed use in a significant way. There may have been crowds around the elephant and sealion areas and you may have memories of keepers feeding or tending to their stock with the whole area bustling with energy, but by late afternoon seeing the elephants swaying in their indoor stalls, no matter how majestic they may have looked juxtaposed against the backdrop of Casson's sky-lit grottoes, was also a fairly bleak sight. In reality the only thing (in the context of a contemporary urban zoo) that will change the mood of the Casson exteroir, is lots and lots of vegetation, a forest even. Tapirs, sun bears, rhino(!), great apes, or any similar suggestions made on here IMO will feel like an exciting renaissance until the exhibit begins to look a bit tired and the old Casson shows through, like the mappins did with Bear Mountain, unless they are suited to a lushly-planted exhibit which will not get ruined by their living in it. But the indoor areas are not well-lit enough to sustain living plants in any great number, plus the light only really shines into the areas occupied by animals, so unless they're hotwired or placed out of reach (both which can encroach on the space available to the animal), they will be eaten or damaged. I say keep the inside for those who want to see into the past (as I wish they had done with the cotton terraces, rather than the slightly clumsy theming of the tapir and okapi houses), and cover the outdoor paddocks with young trees and start a wood, which will eventually have the structure rising out of the tops of the trees surrounding it.
I rather mad idea but as the Silver Keys aquarium project is dead in the water the inside of the building - were the elephants etal where housed at night - could be made into very large aquaria.
Like so?
