Seven elephants including 46 year-old ‘Chieng Mai’ move in to their new home at Copenhagen Zoo
On 10 June His Royal Highness the Prince Consort of Denmark opened a new elephant house at Copenhagen Zoo – designed by a team including Buro Happold and Foster + Partners.
Buro Happold has provided structural engineering and building services for the house, which is designed to cater for the varying needs of the herd: the females who live in social groups and the bull elephants who tend to roam wild by keeping them in separate enclosures.
The enclosures are covered by steel-supported lightweight, glazed domes which provide natural light and ventilation and ‘float’ on bearings to prevent horizontal thrusts being applied to the pre-cast concrete superstructure. The enclosures are also set deep into the ground, ensuring excellent insulation on the perimeter walls and a natural fusion with the landscape.
Mike Sefton, Senior Engineer at Buro Happold said: ‘It is very rewarding to be involved in a project which was so focused on the welfare of elephants - from their overwhelmingly positive reaction and the delighted response of visiting children it is a real success.”
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Buro Happold is a multi-disciplinary international practice of consulting engineers established in 1976. We now employ over 1,800 staff in 21 offices worldwide, and our aim is to produce high quality engineering design in concept, in detail and in execution, on time, to programme and delivering excellent value for money. Our distinctive culture and ethos is still based on the same principles of care, value and elegance that were established when the practice was founded.
We offer structural, building services, civil, infrastructure and façade engineering, as well as a broad range of specialist consultancy services including sustainability, ground and environmental engineering, fire and security design, health and safety management, inclusive and urban design, project management, and specialist CAD and computer simulation provision.
