Architecture

Buildings where the building is the reason to go: the inside-out, the Art Deco, the concrete, and the ones that make no sense at all until somebody explains them.

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Penguin Pool, London Zoo

Two concrete ramps crossing in mid-air over an empty pool: the most famous modern building in Britain with nothing to do.

OdditiesModern movement

Photo by kitmasterbloke, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Berthold Lubetkin and the Tecton Group designed it in 1934 with Ove Arup as engineer, and the whole thing is one idea: an elliptical pool with two interlocking spiral ramps crossing above it, cantilevered so that they appear to be held up by nothing. Historic England calls it a key symbol of British and international Modern Movement architecture. It worked better as architecture than as an enclosure - concrete is hard on penguins' feet and the pool was too shallow for them to dive - so the birds were moved to Penguin Beach in 2004 and it has stood empty since. It is protected at the highest grade, which means the zoo can neither use it nor remove it.

Where
London Zoo, Regent's Park, NW1 4RY
Nearest station
Camden Town · 12 min walk

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