Whipsnade Wild Animal Park: Rhino House
Berman Guedes Stretton was commissioned to design a new sustainable Rhino House at Whipsnade Wild Animal Park. The sustainable design features provide an energy efficient, environmentally responsible building, which meets both the zoological society’s environmental concerns and the welfare of the rhino´s.
The environmental strategy was to utilise as much of the natural resources as possible to heat the enclosure and rhino pool. A new composting facility was provided, which generates heat and energy through the natural breakdown of rhino dung by fungus and bacteria. A recovery system enables this heat to be used for heating of both the pool water and supply air.
Whipsnade Wild Animal Park: Rhino House
Providing the heat from the compost reduces the demands on the boiler and the subsequent gas requirements, reducing the buildings demand on fossil fuels. This has created a 75% saving compared with a conventional boiler. A large percentage of the animal waste is processed on site by a composter. This will further offset the transport related carbon emissions associated with the removal of the waste.
Natural lighting is utilised allowing natural light cycles within the rhino stalls. Non-critical lighting is powered by photovoltaic´s. High levels of insulation within the building fabric have been used to obtain low U-values, with double glazed windows to reduce any heat loss during the winter. To reduce the energy required to heat the pool, the contents are filtered and purified by biological treatment.
Whipsnade Wild Animal Park: Rhino House
Any drained water from the pool is filtered through a reed bed system to the required environmental standards before being discharged to the environment.
