Biozones

Cool post (with good pictures) about the design of the new zoo in Vincennes, France on BLDGBLOG. I totally agree with Geoff Manaugh:

And I have to say that the renderings of this place look pretty cool. But why do we only build zoos like this? Why not suburbs or college campuses? You mold landforms out of reinforced concrete, and you install artificial waterfalls and fake rivers, and you grow rare orchids under the cover of geodesic domes. And then your grandkids can grow up in a savannah-themed suburb outside Orlando. The next town over, kids run around through giant fern trees, chasing parrots. Perhaps themed biozones are the future of suburban design?

Rereading BLDGBLOG, I realized how much I like the tone in which everything is written. It feels as if any moment now, at least within ten years, we could start reengineering the entire planet - both our built space and the natural terrain. It's tastes like sci-fi utopia, but with the illusion of being grounded less outlandish "facts" and a sense of design. I.E.: let's use this science I just found to make the world fun and pretty - fuck everything else, what could be more important?