As an urban fragment that exists in many European cities, the zoo can be used to read most social and ecological dilemma’s that our contemporary society is facing today.

The most popular day out in many countries, the zoo paints the portrait of a good, urban life: being able to escape the concrete jungle of the city for a day in an architectural landscape garden inhabited by exotic animals, safely locked away behind bars.

But while the zoo thrives on the staging of animal habitats, its architecture is borrowed from the city: the habitat of those who constructed the zoo. With our rapidly changing views and knowledge of our climate, environment, and what we have to change to sustain life on this planet, the zoo becomes even more relevant as an actor and the physical place where this debate can take place.

A Day at the Zoo proposes the inhabitation of the zoo, liberating the wild animals from the zoo, and the urban animals from the city.