TIMES OF INDIA (New Delhi) 26 December 09 Designer homes for snakes at zoo open for visitors (Kumar Manish)

Ahmedabad: The snakes may not be able to tell if they like their new designer homes much but section has definitely turned from an eyesore to a visual treat for visitors at Kamla Nehru Zoo in Kankaria. Innovative information panels designed by graduates of National Institute of Design (NID) are also a good replacement to the rectangular panels that were illegible and displayed poor information about the snakes housed here.

The new panels have basic information about snakes like, their food habits, habitats, and scientific taxonomy. The other set of panels contain general information on snakes including how they sense the world around them, how they move, and how they feed. These panels are displayed in front of the 17 separate enclosures which will house different species of snake.

Designed by Naman Thakar and Preet Thakkar, the enclosure were made accessible for public on Friday.

On the new panels, zoo superintendent, RK Sahu, says, "This time the information displayed about different species of snakes in several languages. We have visitors from across the country and abroad too, we have put the information in different languages like Hindi, English and Gujarati."

The enclosures are spruced up with better graphic, information and navigation systems. Naman says, "In India, one hardly sees the principles of graphic and information design applied anywhere in the public places. Zoos have lakhs of visitors coming annually and it's purpose is not only to sensitise the public about wildlife but also imparting a range of information on these captivated animals." The duo researched on the graphics currently displayed at the Melbourne Zoo, Australia and the famous London Zoo. Preet says, "We are trying to break free from the standard rectangular panel format and applying modular approach."

"The challenge here is to make the information relevant and easy to understand keeping in mind the profile of people coming to such places," he adds.

The newly designed snake enclosures got rave views from the representatives of central zoo authority. Architect of the designer home and snake lover, Ri[bleep] Shroff, says, "Disseminating right information in a visitor friendly way is an integral part of the whole project. The information about the snakes will be balanced using text and relevant visual."
Designer homes for snakes at zoo open for visitors

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• IND Press: Designer homes for snakes - W von Papineäu, Sun Jan 3 09:24:55 2010