This was probably one of the ugliest zoo buildings ever built, next to the Snowdon Aviary. I remember reading an interview with the architect and he was trying to "alibi" by saying the "large grey structures all clumped together was to give you the feeling of a group of elephants standing together. The "rough" grey surface on the outside of the building's were to also give you the thought of the rough grey skin of an elephant. 
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Elephant House--London Zoo
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
5 comments:
Wade,
who is the architect? it looks very I.M Peiish????
Rebecca
Rebecca,
The architect was Sir Hugh Casson. I.M. Pei's creation's are ugly alright, but ugly in a "whimsical" kind of way. Not a great big "let me take a dump in my creative knickers" kind of way like LZS's Elephant House.
Wade
Wade,
I like trowled textured cement.
I guess Sir Hugh's work is perhaps a little clumpy, very much a large mass of manure....
Good job sharing all these zoo houses!! Amazing places
Rebecca
Wade I must agree this is one of the ugliest buildings ever seen in a zoo. It didn't even have the redeeming feature of being good for the animals, or particularly good for the visitors, and was an awful building for staff to work in. thank God they sent the the elephants up to Whipsnade. Hugh Casson certainly did a crap job on this one, but I bet he still got paid big bucks for it!
Don,
I always heard there was a troop of Pygmy Marmosets living free in the building that had gotten loose at some point. Is that true? You are right, with the money you can bet he was paid, you would have thought he could have come up with a better "patch" then a herd of elephants. I bet he thought, "if you think Berthold Lubetkin designed some shit with that bloody Penguin Pool, wait until you see what I come up with."
How about Lord Snowdon, what was his "alibi" for the aviary? I suggest he pissed on both Berthold, and Hugh in one shot. You Brit's have to be more careful with who you hand out those Lord and Sir deals to. LOL
Wade
Post a Comment