Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Lubetkin's close scrutiny of animal character and behaviour was further exemplified
in the unexecuted designs for a Gibbon House for the Zoological Society's other site
at Whipsnade. It was a thin, curved concrete shell acoustically designed to amplify
the gibbons' characteristic cries and to provide an artificial environment where they
could be viewed both in the 'open' and 'indoors'. Another completed, though now
demolished, project was a Studio of Animal Art for Regent's Park. It was designed
to facilitate the close study and drawing of animals in a hygienically controlled and
calm environment. The main studio accommodated twenty-five art students on
three separate platforms—dispersing the observers so as to minimise the animals'
nervousness—and the room as a whole was parabolic in shape because
all animals prefer to have walls on three sides as this gives a sheltered feeling,
and they are less apt to move. The parabola was found to be the shape which
gave the maximum of protection to the animal, together with the best
possible visibility.
(
Architect & Building News
1937:155)
Several other commissions were obtained by Lubetkin and Tecton for the Zoological
Society's premises both in London and in Whipsnade. The semi-rural location of
Whipsnade allowed Lubetkin to indulge his interest in the contrast between his
modernist constructions (and, by extension, human rationality) and nature. Both
the Giraffe House and the Elephant House were set against dense foliage, the
former being constructed of wood and brick. There was also a separate, and in many
ways more comprehensive, commission at Dudley Zoo where a series of buildings
echoing the themes pioneered in London were set around a medieval castle (see
Allan 1992).
The science of life: Huxley, animals and evolution
The London commissions gained the fervent support of Julian Huxley, the new
Secretary to the Zoological Society appointed in 1935. Huxley was the grandson of
Thomas Henry Huxley and the brother of the novelist Aldous Huxley (author of
Brave New World
). At the time of his appointment to the Zoo, Julian Huxley was
Professor of Zoology at King's College London, where his scientific reputation was
built mainly on his influential writings on the theory of evolution (e.g. Huxley
1942). A paper on the courtship rituals of the great crested grebe published in 1914
was regarded as one of the pioneer academic studies in animal behaviour; his works
on the effects of genetic changes and on differential growth were turning-points in
the study of these subjects. But Huxley was also a progressive, socialist intellectual
committed to popularising science (e.g. Wells
et al.
1931) and making it relevant to
citizens' everyday lives. He brought this zeal to his new post at London Zoo,
establishing the popular new magazine Zoo, and setting up 'Pets Corner' (which
later became the Children's Zoo). The Studio of Animal Art was also one of
