Tecton
The Tecton Group was a radical architectural group co-founded by Berthold Lubetkin, Francis Skinner, Denys Lasdun, Michael Dugdale, Anthony Chitty, Val Harding, Godfrey Samuel, and Lindsay Drake in 1932 and disbanded in 1939. The group was one of the leaders in bringing continental modernism to Britain. Tecton is short for ''architecton'', from the Greek ἀρχιτέκτων 'master builder, architect'.Tom Wilkinson, ''Bricks & Mortals: Ten Great Buildings and the People They Made'', 2014, , p. 283; incorrectly translated as 'architecture' History The group's first commission was the 1932-1934 gorilla house in the London Zoo in Regent's Park. After the successful completion of the gorilla house, the group designed a penguin pool for the zoo, which contained a unique double helix-shaped walkway without intermediate supports for the penguins and a large swimming area. The group's successes at the London Zoo resulted in their designing two other zoos: Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Berthold Lubetkin
Berthold Romanovich Lubetkin (14 December 1901 – 23 October 1990) was a Georgian-British architecture, architect who pioneered International style (architecture), modernist design in Britain in the 1930s. His work includes the Highpoint I, Highpoint housing complex, the Penguin Pool, London Zoo, Penguin Pool at London Zoo, Finsbury Health Centre and Spa Green Estate. Early years Although certificates exist stating that his birth was in Warsaw in 1903, Lubetkin described these as false documents which he had used to conceal time spent in the Red Army. It is believed he was born in Tbilisi (now the capital of Georgia (country), Georgia), into a Jewish family. His father, Roman (Reuben) Aronovich Lubetkin (1885, Saint Petersburg – 1942, Auschwitz), was a civil engineer for the railroad. Lubetkin studied in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Leningrad where he witnessed the Russian Revolution of 1917 and absorbed elements of Constructivist architecture, Constructivism, both as a par ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dudley Zoo
Dudley Zoological Gardens is a zoo located within the grounds of Dudley Castle in the town of Dudley, in the Black Country region of the West Midlands, England. The Zoo opened to the public on 18 May 1937. It contains 12 modernist animal enclosures and other buildings designed by the architect Berthold Lubetkin and the Tecton Group. The zoo went into Justin receivership in 1977 and was purchased by Dudley Metropolitan Council. Dudley Zoo is now operated by Dudley and West Midlands Zoological Society, founded in 1978 and a registered charity. The gardens also hosts multiple events. History The owner of Dudley Castle, the Third Earl of Dudley, decided to create a zoo in the castle grounds in the 1930s. The initial Board of the Dudley Zoological Society was made up of the earl, Ernest Marsh (director of Marsh and Baxter) and Captain Frank Cooper, owner of Oxford Zoo, who wanted to sell his animals and it was Oxford Zoo, which closed in 1936, that supplied Dudley with the majority ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Penguin Pool, London Zoo
The Penguin Pool at London Zoo, Regent's Park is a penguin enclosure designed in the International Style (architecture), International Modernist style by Berthold Lubetkin and the Tecton Group. Constructed in 1934, Historic England describe it as "a key symbol of British (and International) Modern Movement architecture". The pool housed the zoo's collection of penguins for 70 years. Changing attitudes to keeping animals in captivity, and concerns regarding the suitability of the structure for penguin well-being, saw the pool's closure in 2004 and its subsequent replacement by London Zoo#Penguin Beach, Penguin Beach. After a period of non-use, during which Lubetkin's daughter called for the structure to be "blown to smithereens", the pool was converted into a water feature. It is a Listed building, Grade I listed building. History The Zoological Society of London was founded in 1826 and by 1828 had established a zoological garden in Regent's Park. From its beginnings, the Society emp ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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London Zoo
London Zoo, also known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for science, scientific study. In 1831 or 1832, the animals of the Tower of London#Royal Menagerie, Tower of London menagerie were transferred to the zoo's collection. It was opened to the public in 1847. Today, it houses a collection of 673 species of animals, with 19,289 individuals, making it one of the largest collections in the United Kingdom. The zoo is sometimes called Regent's Park Zoo. It is managed under the aegis of the Zoological Society of London (established in 1826), and is situated at the northern edge of Regent's Park, on the boundary line between the City of Westminster and the borough of London Borough of Camden, Camden (the Regent's Canal runs through it). The Society also has a more spacious site at Whipsnade Zoo, ZSL Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire to which t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Francis Skinner (architect)
Russell Thomas Francis Skinner (1908–1998) was a British architect and the longest-serving member of Tecton, the architectural practice founded by Berthold Lubetkin in 1932 that pioneered the Modern Movement in Britain. As the historian John Allan recalls, ‘Skinner was Lubetkin's closest colleague, who shared and supported his charismatic partner's belief in modern architecture as an instrument of social progress’.John AllenObituary of Francis Skinner ''The Independent'', 17 Jan. 1998. Politically and architecturally radical, Skinner trained at the Architectural Association from 1927 but reacted strongly against ‘traditionalist teaching’ in favour of the progressive European Modernism embodied by Lubetkin. ‘His first building, a prize-winning reinforced concrete house for the Modern Homes Exhibition at Gidea Park, was completed in 1934 when he was only 26’ (Allen). This house is still extant and in close to original condition. (64 Heath Drive Gidea Park) Restored e ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Whipsnade Zoo
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, formerly known as Whipsnade Wild Animal Park, is a zoo and safari park located at Whipsnade, near Dunstable in Bedfordshire, England. It is one of two zoos (the other being ZSL London Zoo in Regent's Park, London) that are owned by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. Description The park covers , and can be located from miles to the north and from the air because of the Whipsnade White Lion, a large hill figure carved into the side of the Dunstable Downs (part of the Chiltern Hills) below the white rhino enclosure. Due to its size, inside the park, visitors may walk, use the zoo's bus service, or drive their own cars between the various animal enclosures, or through an 'Asian' area where some animals are allowed to roam free around the cars. There is also a train service, the Narrow gauge railway, narrow gauge Great Whipsnade Railway, also known as the "Jumbo Express." ZSL W ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Denys Lasdun
Sir Denys Louis Lasdun, CH, CBE, RA (8 September 1914, Kensington, London – 11 January 2001, Fulham, London) was an eminent English architect, the son of Nathan Lasdun (1879–1920) and Julie ('' née'' Abrahams; 1884–1963). Probably his best known work is the Royal National Theatre, on London's South Bank of the Thames, which is a Grade II* listed building and one of the most notable examples of Brutalist design in the United Kingdom. Lasdun studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, and was a junior in the practice of Wells Coates. Like other Modernist architects, including Sir Basil Spence and Peter and Alison Smithson, Lasdun was much influenced by Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, but there was a gentler, more classical influence, too, from the likes of Nicholas Hawksmoor. Lasdun was elected a Royal Academician on 29 May 1991. Family Lasdun's grandfather, the Australia-based tobacconist Louis Abrahams (1852–1903), was ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sivill House
Sivill House is a Grade II listed 76-flat council housing block on Columbia Road in Shoreditch, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The building has 19-storeys, at a total height of . Sivill House was designed in the Constructivist style by Douglas Bailey, Francis Skinner and Berthold Lubetkin, the successors to the Tecton Group, and was completed in 1962. The nearby Dorset Estate The Dorset Estate is a post-war Modernist housing estate in Bethnal Green, London. Design The estate was designed by Skinner, Bailey & Lubetkin and completed in 1957. The same architects designed the nearby Sivill House, completed in 1962. Th ... was also designed by the same team. References {{Commons category, Sivill House Skyscrapers in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Berthold Lubetkin buildings Residential skyscrapers in London Shoreditch ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Finsbury Health Centre
The Finsbury Health Centre is in Clerkenwell, on the edge of the City of London. It was built in 1935–38, designed by Berthold Lubetkin and the Tecton architecture practice. The design shares some of its materials and detailing with similar Lubetkin projects of the period, including the Priory Green, Spa Green and Hallfield Estates. Partly restored in the mid-1990s, the building is Grade I listed. Services housed at the centre include the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering and Clerkenwell Medical Practice. See also * Healthcare in London * Finsbury, this district, not to be confused with Finsbury Park References * Allan, John. ''Lubetkin: Architecture and the Tradition of Progress'' (RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ..., 1992) * Allan, John, & von Ster ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Modernist Architecture
Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form should follow function ( functionalism); an embrace of minimalism; and a rejection of ornament. It emerged in the first half of the 20th century and became dominant after World War II until the 1980s, when it was gradually replaced as the principal style for institutional and corporate buildings by postmodern architecture. Origins File:Crystal Palace.PNG, The Crystal Palace (1851) was one of the first buildings to have cast plate glass windows supported by a cast-iron frame File:Maison François Coignet 2.jpg, The first house built of reinforced concrete, designed by François Coignet (1853) in Saint-Denis near Paris File:Home Insurance Building.JPG, The Home Insurance Building in Chicago, by William Le Baron Jenney (1884) File:Constr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mural
A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanish adjective that is used to refer to what is attached to a wall. The term ''mural'' later became a noun. In art, the word mural began to be used at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1906, Dr. Atl issued a manifesto calling for the development of a monumental public art movement in Mexico; he named it in Spanish ''pintura mural'' (English: ''wall painting''). In ancient Roman times, a mural crown was given to the fighter who was first to scale the wall of a besieged town. "Mural" comes from the Latin ''muralis'', meaning "wall painting". History Antique art Murals of sorts date to Upper Paleolithic times such as the cave paintings in the Lubang Jeriji Saléh cave in Borneo (40,000-52,000 BP), Chauvet Cave in Ardèche departmen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1932 Establishments In England
Year 193 ( CXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sosius and Ericius (or, less frequently, year 946 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 193 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * January 1 – Year of the Five Emperors: The Roman Senate chooses Publius Helvius Pertinax, against his will, to succeed the late Commodus as Emperor. Pertinax is forced to reorganize the handling of finances, which were wrecked under Commodus, to reestablish discipline in the Roman army, and to suspend the food programs established by Trajan, provoking the ire of the Praetorian Guard. * March 28 – Pertinax is assassinated by members of the Praetorian Guard, who storm the imperial palace. The Empire is auctioned off ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |