The Taronga Zoo Centenary Theatre building is an iconic elevated circular concrete and steel structure located adjacent to the Giraffe enclosure and the junction of public path ways. The building houses a 270 degree lecture theatre, allowing visitors to view animals in the natural world in existing new ways.
The ground floor is a suspended off form concrete slab supported on three pairs of tapered cylindrical concrete columns which tested the construction team.
The external blackbutt timber batten façade wraps around the stunning new centrepiece, and contrasts against the off-form concrete and curved structural steel elements and coloured external sheeting.
The curved steel roof structure is exposed from within the Theatre and is sheeted with an acoustic Kingspan seam roof on a perforated metal deck, and finished at the perimeter with a curved zinc awning.
The site location involved the protection of heritage stone seats and stairs and the site also presented many challenges for location of mobile cranes, concrete pumps, material deliveries handling and storage, hoardings, construction, noise and public safety to both the construction team and the Zoo Management,
The construction team has delivered a visually stunning and extremely unique shaped building of the highest quality which included many different materials and building services requiring extensive shop drawings and construction detailing to fit together as one element on an unusual site located within the heart of an operating Zoo.