of an egalitarian era in British architecture. All of which stemmed from a playful anecdote of a penguin’s waddle. Before their disbandment in 1948, the Tecton Group was regarded as the most significant practitioners of the International Style in pre-war Britain. It was an ensemble of London-based architects founded in 1932 and principally led by Russian-émigré Berthold Lubetkin, together with Anthony Chitty, Lindsay Drake, Michael Dugdale, Valentine Harding, Godfrey Samuel, Frances Skinner, and Denys Lasdun who joined two years prior to their closure. They’d later become renowned for their commitment to socially driven schemes, but made early inroads with their zoo projects. Recollecting on the Russian Constructivist sculptures of Naum Gabo and his brother Antoine Pevsner, the group brought a level of dynamism that had eluded British architecture up until that point. Further advances in technology from the continent such as reinforced concrete, suited the ethos of modernism and opened up new opportunities
“The beginning of an egalitarian era in British architecture... Stemmed from a playful anecdote of a penguin’s waddle”