Оранжерея Московского зоопарка

In 2012, Moscow Zoo added a contemporary orangery in the northeastern part of its historic grounds, between Bolshaya Gruzinskaya Street and the zoological passage. The building, constructed on two levels with a basement, is arranged around a central glazed rotunda meant to house tall plants, surrounded by walkways and observation platforms. With a footprint of 1,170 square meters and a total built area of 2,668 square meters, including 819 square meters below ground, it ranks among the largest glass structures recently built for a European zoo. Conceived as a hybrid space between botanical greenhouse and zoo attraction, it lets visitors move around the tropical vegetation on several levels. Less well known than the historic Aptekarski Ogorod at Moscow's botanical garden, this zoo orangery illustrates the ongoing vitality of greenhouse architecture in Russia.