Abstract
Zoos are complex social representations of the natural world. They are not just about animals but equally about cultural attitudes towards animals. This nature–culture duality poses formidable challenges when it comes to appreciating historical zoo architecture today. Many old animal enclosures are artistic highpoints, but modern standards of animal welfare as well as contemporary visitors’ expectations often make them ill‐suited, or at least ill‐reputed, as buildings for housing animals. Taking the recent removal of penguins from Lubetkin’s Penguin Pool (1934) in London Zoo as a point of departure, this article highlights the complexities of reconciling natural and cultural heritage in the zoo today.
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