"Sir Norman Foster's simple but at the same time complex elephant house in Copenhagen Zoo is architecture with built-in well-being for the flock of elephants living there. The materials used are simple but the execution has been nursed, from the in-situ cast concrete coloured to match the surroundings and the two gigantic dome lights to the hand-seamed wooden formworks and the horizontal shadow gaps in the walls aligning each other over the sloping ground.
The elephants? outdoor facilities opening towards the beautiful Frederiksberg Gardens are shaped as a dry riverbed with mud holes and withdrawn lakes. The architects Foster + Partners and E. Pihl & Søn A.S. were awarded the 2009 In Situ Prize and the 2009 Concrete Prize."
