February 15, 2010
Here is a great idea:
Build a fairly cheap but effective zoo building and then turn it into a huge pile of kopje rock.
These are some shots from a current Houthoff Zoo Design project. We are wrapping this green zoo building in fake rock so it will totally blend in with the rest of the African scene in which it stands. There are other kopje rock formations nearby and also a giant baobab tree which we completed last year.
The building we are transforming will be a totally functional house for servals and colobus monkeys.
Steelwork for kopje rock.
Bare side of building about to be transformed.
Ken bending steel
August 24, 2009
As rockwork artists, we often find ourselves searching the web for reference pictures. Matching a habitat to an animal is usually the first stage when developing a project. Matching a species to a geographical locale is a high consideration as is rock texture, form and colouring. Nobody wants to see animals kept in concrete cages anymore and thankfully, forward thinking zoo’s now invest more time and money into species specific habitats.
This early research also works for other artificial environment reproductions wether it be an aquarium, theme park attraction or whatever. Often the client doesn’t know exactly what he or she wants. Gather a collection of reference images and it will prevent a lot of grey areas as the project develops.
The following ten images were accumulated whilst researching a project which required heavily stratified rock formations.
