In the years prior to the rollout of the Lake Texcoco Ecological Park project, many thesis projects arrived from different Mexican universities to the National Water Commission, in the shape of bound, numbered, typewritten manuscripts. These projects sought to rehabilitate thousands of hectares of dried-out lake lands, in the form of real estate developments, commercial complexes, or touristic infrastructure. On the cover of one of them, there’s the drawing of an elephant surrounded by the silhouettes of three flying birds. Under it, in thick letters without serifs, reads the word “ZOOPOLIS.” The following pages explain the plan for the creation of a zoo in Lake Texcoco’s land. It was followed by a list of buildings to be built and the corresponding arrangements, depending on the kind of animal it should shelter: meadows for hoofed animals to run, with gaps between species; rocky hillsides for goats and sheep; plateaus for ostriches and cassowaries; indoors aviaries for parrots, hummingbirds, doves, and weavers; ponds, boulders, and swamps for flamingos and pelicans; cages for vultures, condors, and eagles; a herpetarium for reptiles, with heating and air conditioning; a house for insects; exotarium, tropicarium, a facility for young animals, and a nursery. [...]
Zoo
in ENCYCLOPEDIA