Habitat

Both the word and the concept of ‘habitat’ are modern. To inhabit is neither natural nor artificial, but both at once. The research on the habitat made its way into the sciences before the word’s conventional widespread to refer to the natural dwelling-place. Simultaneously, zoological gardens quickly became privileged institutions to investi- gate both its scientific and popular sides. The construction of the Penguin’s Pond by the Tecton Company and Berthold Lubetkin in 1934 was indeed connected to the London’s Royal Zoological Society’s pioneering scientific leadership. The Pond’s original analysis uncovers Lubetkin’s unique research agenda to make architecture and nature coalesce. As it reveals his careful attention towards the shadows cast by the trees’ leaves upon the pond’s white walls. Lubetkin’s works remind us of the modern origin of the word habitat: the wild and the artificial supple- ment each other to create the ideal habitat for each animal, including humans.