Penguin Exhibit - 1982

September 1982

It's great to see older photos here on ZooChat, even if they aren't snapshots of immersion exhibits...haha.

I have a love and hate relationship towards this and other modernistic 1930s constuctions such as it. Architecturally they are such a treat, if you happen to be a fan of that era (as I am) - but from the animal welfare point of view: what a disaster!

why in the first place were those spirally things put in?

The pool was designed to look good as per the fashion of the day. I'm sure it met all the best advice of the time, but the curving walkways are something Lubetkin just liked the idea of, I suppose! And it does look alright, in a Tecton kind of way, but with the benefit of hindsight it's a rubbish penguin pool!

Hindsight is an exact science.

I'll quote the legendary Gerald Durrell (from 1976's "The Stationary Ark"): "Concrete is a wholesome and useful building material in the right hands, but with this humble substance more monstrosities have been built in the zoos of the world than any other building material. I feel it must have been Lubetkin who started the rot in the 1930's with a series of zoo designs that were frightening in their uselessness and ugliness."

Priceless!