Historic England's
"Pastscape" website says of Casson's
Pavilion that, "...The style of the
building has been described as
'zoomorphic New Brutalism,
marvellously expressive of its
inhabitants' and its conical copper
roofs gave the impression from above
of elephants gathering around a
water-hole. Casson's design won him
the 1965 RIBA award for the Best
Building in London. .... It is built
of reinforced concrete with ribbed
walls and an inner brick structure
with conical copper roofs. .....
..... The concrete ribbed walls were
designed to imitate an elephant's hide
and also prevented the animals from
damaging the building. The pens are
arranged round a central hall so that
the public move through the building
at a lower level on an "S-shaped"
route. The paddock pool was added in
1971 and in 1988 the Rhino moat was
altered. The elephants and rhinos have
been moved to more spacious
accomodation at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo and
the pavilion now houses bearded pigs,
camels and pygmy hippos."
