The Anonymous Widower

The Snowdon Aviary

The Snowdon aviary is one of the Zoo’s historic buildings.

The Snowdon Aviary, London Zoo

When we used to live in St. John’s Wood and would walk up to the top of Primrose Hill, it dominated the view, just like some of the tall modern buildings do now.

The Snowdon Aviary is in my view, still one of London’s most impressive modern buildings. Interestingly, the structural engineer, who did the detailed design, Frank Newby, was a proposer of temporary buildings that could adapt with time. This web site says this about his work.

In the 1960s, Cedric Price had advocated buildings that could adapt and change according to circumstance; buildings that need not be permanent. It’s ironic, then, that one of the small number of his schemes that was realised should form part of the proud heritage of design and engineering dating back nearly two centuries that belongs to the Royal Zoological Society.

So the aviary was probably designed for a limited life. but then the Millennium Dome was to. The Dome has of course changed according to circumstance from a crap NuLabor vanity project into a world-class entertainment venue.

Both structures show that if you want to make something last, you take good design, add quality materials, build it well and then make sure it is looked after by an organisation that values it, like in the aviary’s case the Zoological Society of London does.

July 30, 2011 - Posted by AnonW | World | Architecture, Birds, London, NuLabor