Project 04 - Cornell Plantations Zoo Visitor Center

Core Studio I ARCH 5111 

Professors Caroline O'Donnell & Sasa Zivkovic

Fall 2016

Project 04 Initial Studies

Project 03 Iterations

Some Images from Project 03

Project 03 - Preliminary Pavilion Design

Project 03 - Preliminary Ideas

Playing on the burrowing behavior of the Meerkat, I want my building to be embedded into a hillside located within the Cornell Plantations (fig. 2). Most existing meerkat exhibits don't allow for eye-to-eye interaction with the animal unless you squat down to get on the meerkat's level. Some meerkat exhibits offer a tunnel leading to a bubble (fig. 3) within the actual habitat of the meerkat where usually only small children are able to fit. 

I was thinking of having the barrier or window that separates the experience of the human and the life of the meerkat act as a section cut through the underground burrows of the animal (fig. 1). 

Formal qualities of my building are still being worked out. We are being asked to continue the abstraction of our assigned animal but now translate its essence into architecture. 

    Fig. 1.   Concept of bringing the meerkats and their homes to human eye level.

     Fig. 2.   Concept of building being embedded into a subtle incline.

    Fig. 3.   Bubble within the meerkat exhibit.

Project 03

Core Studio I ARCH 5111 

Professors Caroline O'Donnell & Sasa Zivkovic

Fall 2016

Context Maps
Cornell Plantations, Ithaca, NY

Project 01 & 02

Core Studio I ARCH 5111 

Professors Caroline O'Donnell & Sasa Zivkovic

Fall 2016

Final Boards (22" x 34")

Shell Analysis

ARCH 5511 Constructed Drawing
Prof. Rychiee Espinosa
Fall 2016

Bubbles, Bones & Bodies

Core Studio I ARCH 5111

Professors: Caroline O'Donnell, Sasa Zivkovic

Fall 2016

analog model photos