The world’s first augmented reality zoo is being proposed to be built in Bristol within the existing  Bristol Zoo’s 12-acre gardens in Clifton.

The plans have been unveiled by LDA Design, an independent design and planning consultancy agency.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Bristol Zoo has been forced to sell its historic city site and relocate from Clifton to its Wild Place Project site in South Gloucestershire.

The Bristol Zoological Society had planned to sell the land to property developers, but an alternative has been proposed by #OurWorldBristol for the future of Bristol Zoo Gardens.

The augmented reality zoo project includes collaboration between #ourWorldBristol and the Eden Project, the University of Bristol, the University of Bath and UWE Bristol.

The technology behind the project is being supported by Bristol’s MyWorld creative hub, which is led by Dave Bill, a professor at the University of Bristol.

Attractions at the AR zoo will include a virtual tour of the home of Alfred the gorilla in the 1930s and 1940s. AR experiences will be at the core of the zoo, and visitors will be able to travel through space and time, experiencing animals in their natural habits. Guests will even be taken back to a prehistoric world of dinosaurs.