July 9, 2010
Just completed is a children’s mammoth excavation in Helsinki Zoo, Finland. The 10 meter long skeleton is buried in sand and is designed to be a fun and safe way for young archeologists to practice their bone unearthing skills.
The mammoth dig (or mammuttimonttu if you prefer) is a temporary attraction and the skeleton, which is made in five seperate pieces, will be moved to a different part of the zoo at a later date. With a total weight of 2,200kg, the bones, which are made from steel reinforced concrete can be moved with heavy lifting equipment and assembled elsewhere when required. The present location will one day be turned back into a (living) creature enclosure.
The zoo made a short film showing the moving of the mammoth to its new home. We made the bones under cover a few hundred metres away from its current location.
Mammoth dig
October 1, 2008
Main contractor : Koda Creative
Helsinki Zoo is built on an island called Korkeasaari (high island) and is connected to the mainland by a bridge or you can catch a ferry from the city harbour. It is a very old zoo with some fantastic finnish architecture and also some more modern additions.
We have just completed a River Amazon display featuring an artificial muddy river bank complete with exposed rocks and roots. The section of river is 7 metres long and will house fish species indigenous to to South America.
The display is part of a large jungle style hot house that is home for many tropical bird and animal species including a Hoffman’s Sloth (our favourite) and some toucans (very noisy).
This is a view of the finished riverbank theming. Some of the roots hide spray bars and overflows and the tree stumps coming out of the water (when it is filled) help tie in the trees in the the background.
We also built a ‘fallen tree’ in the reptile pool for the caimans and turtles to climb on and bask under some heat lamps.
Here Tom applies the scratch coat to the fallen tree.
Here I am painting the finished theming with an acrylic based paint.
