Penguin Pool at London Zoo 1973

The Penguin Pool at London Zoo, completed in 1934, is widely regarded as a masterpiece of British Modernist architecture. Designed by Georgian-British architect Berthold Lubetkin of the Tecton Group with structural engineer Ove Arup, its design features two elegant, concrete spiral ramps that intertwine above an elliptical pool—an engineering marvel of its time.

Despite no longer housing penguins, the Pool remains intact as a water feature and an architectural landmark. Debate has long surrounded its future: Lubetkin’s daughter famously proposed “blowing it to smithereens,” while preservationists argued its demolition would be cultural vandalism