This is what the new Barcelona Zoo will look like: three new spaces to transform the park
The facility will feature three new areas, with the new Bioscope as the "crown jewel."
BarcelonaThe Zoo of the future is already in place. Barcelona City Council presented this Monday the new spaces that will forever redefine the facilities of Parc de la Ciutadella. Three new areas—the Bioscope, the Isolated Areas, and the Discovering the Mediterranean—will help complete the Zoo's transition, which has long since transitioned from its role as a reserve for exotic animals to become a center for the conservation and recovery of biodiversity. A transformation that the city has been debating for years and which now, in the words of Mayor Jaume Collboni, is facing the "final stretch."
The three new areas will transform the northern part of the park, the area that runs parallel to Wellington Street, which will completely change its appearance. The main transformation will be the new Bioscope. This facility, which Collboni has described as "the crowning glory" of the future park, will be a hybrid that will combine the presence of some species with the latest technology in immersive experiences. All of this will offer "an interactive journey to the origin and evolution of species."
Barcelona Municipal Services (BSM) – the municipal company that manages the park and will fund the Bioscope with €18 million – will launch an international architecture competition in the coming days for this building, which is expected to have "unique architecture and design" that reinforce its message. It will have approximately 3,000 m2 and is scheduled to open in 2030. It will be built at the intersection of Wellington and Pujades streets, where the cages for the jaguar and the Sri Lankan leopard are currently located.
Further down, beneath the new Bioscope, the Discovering the Mediterranean area will be built. It will be a large new area that, similar to what is currently happening with the Sahel Savannah area—home to elephants, lions, and giraffes, among others—will bring together all the most native Mediterranean species. Thus, it is hoped that this new space will help raise awareness among visitors about the environmental problems and biodiversity loss of the Mediterranean deltas, and will also allow visitors to see endangered species.
The third new area at Barcelona Zoo will be Aislats, an "immersive and interactive" experience where visitors can delve into the world of islands, considered "authentic natural laboratories of evolution." Visitors will be able to observe, for example, Galapagos tortoises. There will also be endangered species that the Zoo is helping to conserve and reintroduce, such as the ferreret and the Pitiusas lizard.
Temporary transfer of animals
The "final stretch" of the Zoo's transformation will mean that the park will undergo an intense phase of construction over the next four years. This will include the three new facilities and the creation of a walk within Ciutadella Park, which will cross the Zoo and allow a direct online connection between the Olympic Village and Ribera neighborhoods and all the facilities of the Ciutadella del Conocimiento. This process also includes the opening of new access points to the park to make it more porous and better integrate it into its surroundings. In the future, the wall that currently surrounds the park at the corner of Wellington Street will have to be diluted.
Since the Zoo will not close during the construction, in the meantime, the affected animals will be relocated to the park's southern reserve, which is being built in the area where Aquarama used to be. Some will gradually disappear from the facility. The plan approved in 2019 called for reducing the number of species in the park and focusing efforts on improving facilities and promoting native and endangered fauna. This should, therefore, mean that in the long run, there will be no more animals such as elephants or guanacos, among others.