Why do penguins struggle with modernist architecture?

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  • 24/07/2024

    Why do penguins struggle with modernist architecture?

    from The Economist

    Short answer: because the clients were not consulted.

    Set between the llamas and the Land of the Lions, the penguin pool in London Zoo is a mini-modernist masterpiece. Built in 1934 and designed by Berthold Lubetkin, it is sleek, swooshy and perfectly proportioned; its cantilevered concrete ramps, slender as apple peelings, were revolutionary… There was just one problem with this piece of modernist perfection. The penguins didn’t like it.

    The refurbished concrete hurt their feet. The elegantly shallow pool was too shallow. The minimalist white walls were too white, and hurt their eyes. London Zoo’s keepers do not like to talk about penguins being “happy” or “unhappy” (it is anthropomorphising). But, says Jessica Fryer, team leader of penguins and flying birds at the zoo, some of the penguins’ feet became “so sore”. They developed a foot disease that, in its severest form, can lead to penguins being put down. It may not be possible to say whether penguins are “happy” or “unhappy”. But “dead” is definitely worse than “alive”.

    Then the killer line

    The penguin pool has become a white elephant.