Zoos aren't what they used to be, and that's a good thing. The philosophy behind keeping animals in captivity was once simply that of education and entertainment for people. The educational part is still there, but zoos now justify their existence with serious conservation efforts and scientific research. That involves keeping animals in the healthiest, most natural, and least restrictive environments possible. How can we do that and still allow visitors too see them? Archstorming held a competition for zoo design to be used at the Zoo of Barcelona. First place went to a team from Bangkok for a design called Re-Habitat. See all the finalists of the Coexist: Rethinking Zoos architecture competition at Archstorming, and see some enlargeable pictures of the top three entries at Web Urbanist. -via Nag on the Lake