Wilhelma's Amazon House
The Amazon House Wilhelma is a large greenhouse in Stuttgart zoological and botanical garden Wilhelma . It reproduces a landscape section of the Amazon rainforest with flora and fauna. The design for the facility, which was inaugurated in 2000, comes from the architecture office Auer Weber .
construction
Landscaping
The furnishing of the Amazon House, which visitors can walk on fixed paths, recreates the Brazilian rainforest. After the entrance begins a vestibule hung with blackboards. From here a door leads into the actual Amazon house. It is characterized by the installation of watercourses: shortly after the entrance, a small stream runs across the path. In the Amazon House of the Stuttgart Wilhelma there are two larger bodies of water with waterfalls, one of which acts as an enclosure. A special feature of the building is a pane of glass through which the water used as an enclosure can be seen. The exit is a vestibule similar to the entrance.
technology
In the Amazon house, temperatures of at least 24 to 28 ° C and a humidity of around 80% prevail all year round, which requires high-performance technical equipment. The building envelope made of translucent and effective special insulating glass supports temperature and incidence of light, with 48 additional lights providing light when there is little sunlight. An air conditioning system is installed to air-condition and humidify the approximately 30,000 cubic meters of air in the Amazon House . In summer, the cooling and humidification of the house is supported by spray mechanisms. In addition, there is a high pressure fog system at a waterfall at the entrance and exit to give visitors an impression of the rainforest. The desalination, cleaning and softening of the water in the house is done with a filter system that can completely drain and clean more than 100 cubic meters of water from the watercourse in the Amazon house once an hour. The technology is installed in such a way that it is difficult or impossible to see for visitors.
botany
The focus of the Amazon House is on botany . The Amazon House contains around 2000 plants of 350 species. The entire interior of the house is planted with epiphytes . At the entrance to the interior there are among other things a cow tree and a sea grape . Further away from the entrance is a cannonball tree ( Couroupita guianensis ), which is characterized by fruits weighing up to eight kilograms. The cannonball tree is followed by an ant tree and a group of Assai palms . Further back in the house grow pincushion trees ( Brownea sp.) And a rubber tree ( Hevea brasiliensis ). At a bend in the road after the latter trees there are banana trees ( Musa sp.), Papaya trees ( Carica papaya ), cassava ( Manihot esculenta ) and cocoa trees ( Theobroma cacao ), typical trees of plantation farming .
Animal population and enclosure
The first enclosures can be found shortly after the entrance; one contains white-headed sakis , golden-headed tamarins , sloths , forest turtles, and coal turtles . The endangered lion tamarins are part of a reintroduction project. There are black howler monkeys in the adjacent enclosure . A little further away is a path lined with terrariums. The largest contains anacondas , another garden boa, and a rainbow boa . Smaller terrariums contain different species of frogs. Passing a large aviary with browbirds ( Psarocolius viridis ), the visitor arrives at a staircase that leads to a pane of glass through which a small lake can also be seen underwater. There live u. a. various turtles , broad-snouted caiman , fork beards, black Pacus , peacock cichlids and Sunbittern . There is an enclosure for coatis at the exit of the house . A special feature of the Amazon House are the approximately 50 free-flying birds. In addition, green iguanas , glasses-blade noses and a gold agouti live freely in the house.
Emergence
The Amazon House was completed in 1999 and inaugurated in 2000. The construction cost 18 million German marks. The Association of Friends and Patrons of Wilhelma contributed 7.9 million German marks to the realization of the project , with which this association supported the largest project to date.
In 2009 the Amazon House was renovated. The old glazing did not let in sufficient solar radiation, a complete replacement of the facade and overhead glazing was necessary.
literature
- Amazon House . In: Dieter Jauch: Wilhelma . G. Ad. Stehn's, Stuttgart 2004/2005; Pp. 136-147, ISBN 3-87779-064-X .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Website of Auer Weber. Retrieved April 20, 2018 .
Coordinates: 48 ° 48 ′ 23 " N , 9 ° 12 ′ 29" E
