Tectons

Towers and Tectons at DZG by Jill Hitchman priced £15 is available by calling 01384 215313. It is also available at Waterstone's bookstores.

The Tecton Group

The architects chosen to design Dudley Zoo were renowned Modernists, calling themselves The Tecton Group, led by Russian-born Berthold Lubetkin.

They viewed the zoo as a microcosm of society, and aimed to protect the welfare of the animals while meeting visitors' demands for a clear view from a safe position.

Using reinforced concrete Lubetkin’s team created a revolutionary new design of building: Tectons.

Structures include:

Tropical Birdhouse, Bird Ravine, Polar Bear Complex, Kiosks 1 and 2, Sealion Pool, Moat Cafe, Safari Cafe, Reptiliary, Elephant House, Zoo Entrance and Queen Mary Restaurant.

The design for Dudley Zoo was structurally daring and made use of a new material, pre-stressed concrete. Reinforced with steel rods inserted under tensions, the concrete could be bent into curves and forms impossible to achieve with other materials.

Eye-catching curving lines and projecting floors could be constructed which did not resemble any previous architectural style. Lines were kept simple, and standardised free-curved forms were used in various combinations to give the buildings both uniformity and contrast.

Castle Hill site has long been of enormous historical importance, not solely in relation to the castle and Tectons, but for its honeycombed structure shaped by limestone workings of previous centuries.

In geological terms the hill is composed of a limestone anticline thrust up at an early stage in the earth's history to form an island in the surrounding plain.

The castle keep and moat, and the hilly terrain, scarred with ravines and caves, made the site unique and visually interesting for the architects, and the castle provided a natural hub around which the pedestrian routes and main animal enclosures could be planned, and created an atmosphere and an unmistakable reference point for visitors.

However, the severe gradients and the presence of huge underground caverns from seventeenth and eighteenth century limestone workings initially presented a formidable challenge to those deciding the zoo's layout, particularly as there was no map to show where the caverns were positioned.

The steep and rugged land made construction work difficult and reduced the number of possible areas available for building.

When viewed from the bottom of the hill, the Tectons show imaginative use of the land and provide a unique development that complements the natural contours and quarried areas of the site.

Seven decades on some of the animal housing has been adapted to modern day husbandry.

The Birdhouse is no longer home to tropical birds, but incorporates a sandpit and play zone for youngsters around which is wrapped a one-acre paddock for our pride of endangered Asiatic lions.

The layout complements the Tecton structure and affords a state-of-the-art enclosure for one of the world's rarest species.

Dudley Zoological Gardens has the world's largest single collection of Tecton buildings. The 12-strong group was granted World Monuments Fund status in 2009, ranked alongside such iconic landmarks as Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal.

Discover more about DZG's buildings - Towers and Tectons: A View From The Hill, by Jill Hitchman is now available to buy online at Waterstones Bookstores and AmazonUK.