Visual design elements

A fundamental aspect of the Dja Reserve pavilion is the illusion of a journey through Cameroon’s countryside and rainforests. This atmosphere has been created not only with thousands of living plants, but also through carefully designed visual elements.

A fundamental aspect of the Dja Reserve pavilion is the illusion of a journey through Cameroon’s countryside and rainforests. This atmosphere has been created not only with thousands of living plants, but also through carefully designed visual elements.

The murals were created by the pavilion’s artists, Roman Hudziec and Kryštof Krejča, based on photographs taken in the Dja Biosphere Reserve. The animals depicted on the information panels were illustrated by painter Pavel Procházka, who has collaborated with Prague Zoo for many years.

For the artists, it all began in February 2017, during an inspirational trip to Cameroon attended by Roman Hudziec. After his return, he and his colleague Kryštof Krejča began developing design concepts for the pavilion’s visual features, working closely with architects, zoo management, zoologists, and keepers. After numerous discussions, a core concept for the pavilion was established: guiding visitors on a journey from an African village with a school classroom, through secondary and primary forest, to a “clearing” with gorillas.

One of the preliminary sketches of the Prague’s Dja Reserve interior.

Large wall murals depict the first part of this path. A multitude of artificial trees, vegetation, green walls, earthen banks and a waterfall at the centre of the pavilion help evoke the feeling of primary forest. The dense central part of the building also prevents visitors from seeing directly from one end of the space to the other, breaking the pavilion into individual sections that rhythmically structure the experience, visually scale it down, and perhaps even make it a little disorienting. This, together with the soundscape, humidity, misting and irrigation, contributes to the tropical atmosphere.

Kryštof Krejča (on the left) and Roman Hudziec working on the murals. Photo: Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

The gorilla enclosures themselves posed a very different set of challenges. The restrictions that come with keeping intelligent and powerful primates required a much greater degree of stylisation. The need to prevent the gorillas from climbing the walls limited the artists’ freedom to model the surfaces, and the expected damage to vegetation relegated plant life to higher levels. The need to keep the gorillas engaged meant creating sculptural elements and climbing structures that feel more like “playgrounds” than part of a natural forest. “Still,” says Roman Hudziec, “our collaboration with the zoologists was very constructive, and I believe we can be satisfied with the compromise we reached.”

The indoor gorilla exhibit is complete with a giant artificial tree, “earthen banks” and murals. Photo: Prague Zoo archive

One of the most technically demanding achievements in the pavilion is the enormous tree trunk in the outdoor enclosure for the gorilla group—tonnes of steel welded into the basic structure and tonnes of concrete modelled into the final shape of a fallen rainforest giant. It is complemented by climbing structures and live plants, providing the scale that such a spacious exhibit required.

The enormous fallen tree, the centrepiece of the outdoor gorilla exhibit, was one of the most technically demanding elements to create. Photo: Prague Zoo archive