Coexist: Rethinking Zoos

Future of zoos will be decided in the next few years. We are facing radical changes in the concept. Over the decades we have been proved that animal captivity, in most cases in terrible conditions, has affected badly their quality of life and their expected lifetime. The raison d’être and the welfare of the more than 3.5 million animals that they contain around the world are increasingly questioned.
These places, emerged between the eighteenth and nineteenth century, deeply linked to colonialism and the discovery of new worlds, must evolve adapting to the new needs. The question is how to do so.
Over time, zoos mission has evolved, from being just collections of animals, a symbol of power and greatness of many empires, almost exclusively for the enjoyment of the population, to fulfill other objectives. This evolution goes hand in hand with a growing scientific interest and greater possibilities for research and study.
This growing respect for the animals around us means that more and more people are working to look after and maximize animal welfare.

Archstorming is calling for proposals to create an infrastructure that rethinks the zoo concept and gives it a twist, this time thinking about animals and their conservation over the exhibition to humans.
The project is located in the current Zoo of Barcelona. The animal species that will be located in the zoo, as well as their distribution, will be at the discretion of the participant. In the same way, the reuse or elimination of the current infrastructures of the Barcelona Zoo will also be optional.
The Archstorming team encourages all contestants to demonstrate that there are other ways to build zoos nowadays. We should take into consideration that zoos must:
- EDUCATE: allowing animals to be observed in order to understand more about them as we can help their conservation.
- INVESTIGATE: study about the nutritional needs of animals, their reproductive cycles, their ethology, their possible diseases and cures ...
- CONTRIBUTE IN THE CONSERVATION OF DIFFERENT SPECIES: thanks to the study of animals we know better what their needs are and how to attack the problems that affect them.