“Every aspect of humanity’s relationship with nature can be perceived through the bars of the zoological garden: repulsion and fascination; the impulse to appropriate, master and understand; the progressive recognition of the complexity and specificity of the diverse forms of life; and so on. The story of this microcosm is thus linked to vast parallel histories of colonization, ethnocentrism and the discovery of the Other; violence in human relationships and the moderating effect of the civilizing process on morals and behavior; the creation of places of collective memory such as museums; the complication of social practices; the development of leisure activities. TO TOUR THE CAGES OF A ZOO IS TO UNDERSTAND THE SOCIETY THAT ERECTED THEM.” -Eric Baratay and Elisabeth Hardouin-Fugier, Zoo: A History of Zoological Gardens in the West, (London: Reaktion Books Ltd. 2002).
At the time of its creation in 1886, Stanley Park was envisaged as a space of recreation and leisure for the burgeoning city of Vancouver. In the 120 years of its existence, Stanley Park has become a thriving site of activity for all manner of creature: blue heron, coyote, rollerbladers, sunbathers, bird-watchers, swan, skunk, beluga whale, and plumose anemone to name a few. In these 120 years, one significant shift in the accommodation of these creatures has been the 1994 replacement of the Stanley Park Zoological Society with the Stanley Park Ecology Society. [Vancouverites voted against keeping the zoo in a referendum] Interestingly, the zoo is one of the world’s most popular leisure pursuits. In 1998, twice as many Canadians visited a zoo than a museum and triple that of a library. Despite the general popularity of zoos across Canada and the world, Vancouverites felt that their zoo was a drain on public funding and demonstrated questionable ethics regarding the quality of life it offered its residents.
The Stanley Park Ecology Society seeks to promote awareness of and respect for the natural world by playing a leadership role in the stewardship of Stanley Park through collaborative initiatives in education, research and conservation. It multitude of programs reach a broad audience and cover a broad range of topics from urban coyote to cob architecture. The work of the Stanley Park Ecology Society has been instrumental in creating important awareness and monitoring programs for the wildlife of the park.
A small remnant of the Stanley Park Zoo, however, does exist in the form of the Children’s Farmyard [or Petting Zoo]. A visit to this charming site is to come face to snout with a llama from Peru, a cow from Ireland, a cage of turtles with their own blue plastic Little Tikes wading pool, and about 200 more resident animals. The handmade wooden fence that contains the farmyard within the park delineates a clear distinction of attitudes towards the space we create in our city for animals to inhabit, and the orchestration of human interaction with these very animals.
ZOODIO seeks to examine and rethink how we participate in the formation of urban ecologies in Stanley Park. Clearly, the space of Children’s Farmyard is a vestige of one school of thought while the programming of the Stanley Park Ecology Society embodies another school of thought. We understand that our [human] relationship to all forms of terrestrial and avian life within the Park is a constructed one, and as such, has boundaries and rules of engagement. Intellectually, the question is: what are the forms of this constructed relationship? Through the design of an Observation Centre that will replace the Children’s Farmyard [but retain its residents], students will be able to test their forming theses. Practically, the question is: how best to ambitiously build such a Centre given issues of energy and environmental impact? Seminars, field trips and guided research into specific technologies will assist in bringing knowledge to this aspect of the design exercise. And perhaps most interestingly, the studio seeks to understand how these intellectual and practical questions overlap and inform each other.
METHODOLOGY
The studio will unfold through two projects followed by the major work, which is the Observation Centre. In all three projects, students will be pushed to make a strong base of knowledge through ardent research. To counterpose the research, students will be led through ‘loops’ of fearless speculation. Through the tasting and testing of ideas, students will hone in on the project that fits and develop it. Students will work in pairs throughout the course of the semester. Partnerships will rotate from project to project. >PROJECT 01_DESIGN A SPACE OF OBSERVATION: Design Charrette; 3 weeks >PROJECT 02_GETTING INTIMATE WITH A CREATURE : Animal Architecture Research and Speculation; 2 weeks >PROJECT 03_THE CENTRE: Full Program + Method to be assigned; 8 weeks.