It sounds like the plot of the movie Jurassic Park (minus the dinosaurs), but JDS Architects have created an incredible plan for a zoo located on the South Korean island of Dochodo. The island could, according to the architecture firm, be a “case study to define a tourist region based on sustainable development only, where natures and structures function in equilibrium, symbiotically feeding one another.”
According to JDS, the zoo’s landscape of natural peaks and valleys is ideal for zoo development. The flat valleys could host animals, while more mountainous areas could be protected and treated as nature reserves. All transportation, energy sources and building systems would be housed in a so-called “infrastructural green belt” located at a height of 20 meters. Everything above and below would remain untouched.
The proposed zoo would be as low-impact as possible, with zero-carbon transport systems, renewable energy sources, rainwater collection sites, and all waste would be reused as either composted fertilizer or biofuel. Dochodo sounds like an ideal location for a low-impact zoo, but we have to wonder about the potential impact of tourists constantly shuttling from other cities to the island. To the architects’ credit, they did notify us that the island will be accessible by bridge, which is much better than having a location that is only reachable by plane.
+ JDS Architects
All photos courtesy JDS/Julien De Smedt Architects
[...] Julien de Smedt Architects won the competition to design the hotel back in 2008 and it was recently finished this summer. The undulating hotel is uniquely built on a pre-existing parking garage — the form of the garage underneath helped determine the final shape of the hotel. Elevating the six floor hotel above the parking garage structure has the advantage of giving more privacy to hotel guests. The space under the hotel at the street level now consists of shops, a restaurant and cafe, and the hotel lobby. [...]