Tennouji Park, Tennouji Zoo, The Gate of Tennouji Park Exhibition Center, Central Ticket Gate of Tennouji Zoo, The Gate of Tennouji Art Museum

Concept

Tennoji Park and the zoo are located in the city with convenient access to transportation, and have served as important places for citizens to interact with nature and for education. Not only valuable as open spaces in an overcrowded and increasingly sophisticated city, they are also important places for the promotion of urban greening, and irreplaceable cultural spaces centering on museums. In response to the increase and diversification of leisure activities in recent years, “nature” was selected as a common theme for the entire park, and the park was planned to be a bright and safe facility that meets the needs of the times, taking advantage of its high name recognition and familiarity. The Tennoji Zoo Gate is located on the axis connecting the Municipal Museum of Art and the Shinsekai Shopping Arcade, and was intended to serve as a point of contact between the two areas to revitalize both and create a friendly town. The gate also gives centrality to the zoo, which had been divided into north and south sections, and unifies the zoo, while eliminating the unbalanced flow of traffic. The plaza space symbolically represents the universe, and as the entrance to the zoo, it is intended to serve as a guide for visitors, a beacon for lost children, and a meeting place. In front of the gate, an elevated section of the Hanshin Expressway crosses horizontally. Rather than designing the gate as a linear and vertical passage point, we envisioned it as a planar and horizontal antechamber. To achieve this, we selected materials that convey a sense of texture, durability, and warmth.