19.025 | Enclosure for orangutans

The National Museum of Natural History commissioned Ney & Partners, in collaboration with MARBORIS – to design a new enclosure for orangutans at the ‘Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes’, a historic zoo founded in 1794 and located in the heart of Paris. The new enclosure covers an area of 570 m² and is 15 m high, designed for the five orangutans residing at the Ménagerie. The supporting structure is a three-dimensional stainless steel reticulated structure that serves both as a support for the tensioned net and as an intricate climbing framework for the orangutans. An elevated walkway connects this enclosure to the historic ‘La Singerie’ building, allowing the great apes to move freely between the two, passing over the public.