Final Degree Project- The Snow Leopard's Interactive Habitat--A Spatial Experience
The main objectives of this project were to understand the psychological impact of seeing animals kept captive in zoological parks and to sensitise people of the threats faced by endangered animals and their natural habitats, with particular focus on the snow leopard, by creating an interactive environment in the Delhi zoo, where visitors can experience this in a simulated atmosphere. The different aspects researched for this project are zoological parks, their benefits and drawbacks; endangered animals; animal captivity; interactive environments; animatronics and diorama.
I also undertook qualitative research for this project by conducting surveys and collected information on people’s ideas about zoos and the treatment of animals there in order to gain comprehensive knowledge of how much they knew about the treatment and safety of captive animals, endangered ones in particular, as well as reasons behind their confinement. I also gained insight into why people visit zoos.
For creating an interactive environment, I learned about animatronics and dioramas as they are vital to my project. Through this interactive enclosure featuring the endangered snow leopard in its natural habitat, I would like to make people aware of its lifestyle, the threats it faces and the role it plays in maintaining a balance in the ecosystem of the area it inhabits. Not only will people be able to see how a snow leopard eats, preys, lives, but they would also be able to hear sounds from its natural habitat, effectively placing them in the snow leopard’s environment, albeit in a simulated enclosure in a zoo in the middle of a metropolis.
The broad message that I would like this project to carry is that of the need to protect endangered species, the snow leopard in particular. While such a project will help bring the elusive snow leopard to hordes of visitors in a zoo, it would also help educate people of the consequences the species faces if they are preyed upon or if their world is destroyed, and also the subsequent consequences the ecosystem faces if the species were wiped off the face of the planet.
The following pages are from the main document of the project.
Main floor plan of the interactive enclosure of the snow leopard.
Lighting plan of the enclosure.
Elevations of all the main sides in Auto CAD.
Graphic Panels for the exhibit area on the snow leopard and endangered animals respecively.
Entry tickets to the enclosure.
3Ds max renderings of the enclosure showing all the main details.