I Mentioned In The Previous Post,

that a photograph of penguins caught my attention,

 and this is why, one of the earliest memories of being taken to a zoo was the penguin pool, I was so young I could not see over the wall surrounding it, but I remember it well, the Penguin Pool is regarded as a landmark project, both in terms of architectural design and engineering, it saw Berthold Lubetkin, who emigrated from Soviet-era Georgia to London in 1931 and structural engineer Ove Arup pioneer the use of casting concrete slabs in situ in complex, load-bearing forms, 

and the reason for it being of interest is just a few days ago Berthold's daughter Sasha Lubetkin told local paper the Camden New Journal that the pool should be destroyed as it is now useless, "It was designed as a showcase and playground of captive penguins, and I can't see that it would be suited to anything else," she told local paper the Camden New Journal. "Perhaps it's time to blow it to smithereens."  Sasha Lubetkin's comments were picked up by the Evening Standard, prompting architect John Allan to write to the editor in response, Allan, who wrote Berthold Lubetkin's biography, worked on the restoration of the Penguin Pool in the 1980s, He claimed that the flaws of the enclosure the result of decisions made by London Zoo, rather than the designers, "The original poolside paving was largely rubber, for the penguins' comfort, but was replaced by the zoo with concrete," Allan wrote, 

"In the restoration project we were required to apply a layer of quartz granules to the ramp surfaces for the benefit of the keepers but to the discomfort of the penguins." He also noted that the enclosure had been originally designed for an Antarctic species of penguins who like to huddle together. The zoo switched to South American Humbolts, who prefer to burrow, rendering the original nesting boxes unsuitable, George Osborne, editor of the Evening Standard and former chancellor, wrote back to agree that destroying the Grade I-listed building would be an "an act of cultural vandalism", calling Sasha Lubetkin's comments "patricidal", London Zoos penguins now live in a new enclosure called Penguin Beach, which is the largest penguin pool in Europe, some alligators were kept in Lubetkin's structure for a brief time, but for now the Grade-I-listed structure is animal-less, a spokesperson for the zoo said they "have no current plans to do anything with the building", hopefully it will be kept as it is, a piece of iconic 1930's architecture, photography by Gillfoto, Chris Sampson, Rebecca Reid.