The Zoological Heroes - Thesis Project

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PROBLEM:

The Karachi Zoo, previously known as Gandhi Gardens, is a forgotten historical space in the city of Karachi established by the British in 1878. Although a popular recreational zone back then, it has now become invisible to newer generations where around 30% of Karachiites do not even know where the zoo is located. Many old visitors have also forgotten the zoo

because of its poor animal conditions and high mortality rates.

SOLUTION:

The Zoological Hero campaign (fictional) under the ‘Save Our Zoo’ Foundation, is an educative call for action aiming at making people aware about the zoo’s history and it’s alarming animal death rates, giving them a chance to help the zoo by registering to become a ‘Zoo Hero’, in order to re-establish our lost bond with nature in the urbanized concrete city of Karachi. The exhibition consited of 3 parts under the categories learn, understand and help.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

Middle / upper Middle .

SEC B-A

NOTE:

Save Our Zoo is an existing organization working for the betterment of the Karachi Zoo and its animals. Find them on Facebook at Save Our Zoo.

Campaign Logo

PART 1: LEARN

Karachis Map introducing the location to the 30% of people who do not know where it is located. Pop up element shows a map of the zoo inside. Some well known monuments were placed to make it easier for the specific target audience to recognise it.

Zoo Map showing animals and other attractions

The Educative Timeline was used to make people aware of the historical presence of the Zoo in the city to help them understand its importance to karachi. Illustrations + photographs were used to maintain a level of interest while popups were used with illustrations in the actual display to generate interest.

TIMELINE 1800 -1970's ( These are only selected pieces from the timeline)

PART 2: UNDERSTAND

The Zoo faced most of its problems in the period 2006 -2015 starting with the Death of Anarkali . The infographic features all those problems while giving people a chance to read about the animal deaths according to year and learn the cause of its death for eg. Tranquilizer shots.

Infpgraphoc showing animal deaths/ causes and problems faced by the zoo - the yellow cards are flashcards which show an animal on front with its cause of death at the back according to year.

Some examples of the flashcards . . .

The purpose of a Memory wall was to generate empathy and show people the place the zoo has in our memories. consisting of a Series of 4 memories with before and after scenarios -

people could write their own memories on the wall.

The black bear die

Bactarian Camel hugs were popular at the zoo however, all camels have died over the last 5 years from diseases. There is only one camel left. No hugs are allowed.