The penguin pool was built at the London Zoo in 1934. The project was developed by the Russian émigré architect Berthold Lubetkin with his Tecton bureau and design engineer Ove Arup. The pavilion became a landmark building for the then emerging British modernism, and its engineering solution was also innovative: the authors managed to demonstrate the plasticity and constructive capabilities of reinforced concrete. However, the pool has been empty for the fifteenth year: the matter is in the infection, which infected the penguins living there. The architect's daughter Sasha Lyubetkin said that since the "penguinarium" is not used for its intended purpose, it must be "smashed into small pieces." But it seems that only she thinks so.
The reason for the conversation was the statement of the zoo management that they did not come up with new options for using the structure and are not going to settle other animals there. how
Sasha Lyubetkin explained to the Camden New Journal, she is "terribly sad" to see that her father's creation did not find application. “The complex was designed as a playground for penguins and an attraction for spectators, and I don't see that it would be suitable for anything else,” reasoned the architect's daughter. "It might be time to take it down."
On the territory of the aviary there is an egg-shaped swimming pool and nesting houses around, but the special pride of the "penguinarium" is two concrete bridges in the form of a double spiral, which seem to float above the pool bowl without additional supports. The idea would not have been realized without the participation of Arup, who suggested reinforcing concrete and pouring it into the formwork right on the spot to make complex load-bearing elements.
In his concept, Berthold Lubetkin relied on the ideas of behaviorism - a direction of psychology and philosophy, according to which the behavioral characteristics of people and animals are the result of the influence of their habitat. Thus, the design of the aviary simultaneously reproduced the natural living conditions of birds and formed a "stimulating" environment.
In 2004, penguins suffering from pododermatitis were taken out of the Lyubetkin basin: this disease is common among captive birds. From walking on the concrete floor, abrasions appeared on the penguins' paws, which became a hotbed for infection and began to bleed. In 2011, the animals were housed in a new spacious enclosure. For some time crocodiles lived in the vacated "penguinarium", but they did not stay long.
In a conversation with reporters, Sasha Lyubetkin especially emphasizes that her father consulted with biologist Julian Huxley to make sure that his facility was safe. “Of course, as in all spheres of human activity, knowledge about animals and their habits is constantly changing and developing. In all likelihood, what was the forefront of the 1930s [is not today],”she suggests.
This comment prompted John Allan - the architect by trade who wrote the biography of Berthold Lubetkin and who worked on the restoration of the pool in the 1980s - to write a public response to the Evening Standard newspaper. Allan blames the London Zoo management responsible for the problems with the pavilion. For example, according to the decision of the institution, the original rubberized track was replaced with a concrete one. “During the restoration, we applied a layer of quartz granules to the surface of the ramp: it was in the interest of the caretakers, but inconvenient for the penguins, who are used to walking on slippery surfaces,” continues John Allan. In addition, the aviary was originally designed for Antarctic species, which are accustomed to huddle together and hatch chicks together. The zoo settled the South American Humboldt penguins there: they arrange nests separately, in specially dug holes, so the houses were much worse for them. Allan hopes that the status of the monument of the first - the highest - category will save the creation of Berthold Lubetkin, and it will be used, for example, as a sculpture. “It is not always the fault of the building that it becomes unusable,” emphasizes the architect.
George Osborne, a prominent conservative politician and now editor-in-chief of the Evening Standard, agreed that the destruction of a listed building was "an act of cultural vandalism," and even called Sasha Lyubetkin's words "paricidal." He also suggested that "more creative uses" could be found for the penguin coop.
London Zoo itself has no answer to the question of what will become of the masterpiece of modernism. “We have no intentions to do anything with the construction yet,” a representative of the institution comments. - Penguins now live on Penguin Beach, Europe's largest aviary with a 1200m swimming pool2».
