Giraffe House

Baxter Studio was pleased to be invited to design the new giraffe house and enclosure for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s Edinburgh Zoo. Designing for giraffes presents its own particular challenges but the team took full advantage of the steeply sloping site selected to create an accessible building with high-level walkways that bring visitors face-to-face with the giraffes. The new giraffe house sits in a hilltop location with spectacular views over Edinburgh and houses the newly formed herd of five giraffes. It brings giraffes back to the zoo for the first time in 15 years and was built with support from the Giraffe Conservation Foundation to raise awareness of conservation issues and support vital work to protect the species in the wild.