BIG Unveils Plans for a Yin & Yang–Shaped Home for Pandas

Denmark is perennially considered one of the happiest countries in the world. Today, the Danes have another reason to celebrate, as one of the world's most exciting young architects has announced plans to design a home for one of the world's rarest animals. Indeed, Danish architect Bjarke Ingels ' firm, BIG, has unveiled plans for a new yin and yang–shaped home at the Copenhagen Zoo for pandas that will closely resemble their natural habitat.

Of late, the population of pandas has declined due, in large part, to the destruction of their spaces in the wild. In certain regions of the world, such as China, the growth of human populations have pushed the animals into smaller, less livable areas. That's one of the reasons BIG decided to design a new $22 million home for the rare mammals. Construction for Copenhagen's Panda House is expected to begin later this year, and it is currently slated to be finished by 2018—just in time for the arrival of two giant pandas from Chengdu, China.

The landscape was designed to closely mimic the pandas natural environment.

The design of Panda House will feature a nearly 13,500-square-foot interior space and a 13,000-square-foot exterior space that mimics a yin and yang–shaped home. The setting is meant to allow visitors to feel as if they are witnessing the panda's natural environment, rather than the mammals being viewed as a foreign objects in a new land. According to a statement by BIG, "the habitat forms the freest and most naturalistic possible environment for the pandas, providing the freedom to roam about and the ideal conditions to mate—one of the major challenges facing pandas from becoming endangered." What's more, the circular space will be situated right next to the award-winning Elephant House, designed by famed architect Norman Foster .

The ground floor of the space will include a restaurant where visitors can dine while observing the pandas (and nearby elephants) at the same time.

“Architecture is like portraiture," said Ingels, founding partner at BIG, in a statement. "To design a home for someone is like capturing their essence, their character and personality in built form. In the case of the two giant pandas, their unique solitary nature requires two similar but separate habitats—one for her and one for him."