London's 4 Modernist buildings trace the style's arrival and evolution in Britain. Berthold Lubetkin and Tecton's Penguin Pool at London Zoo — with its interlocking concrete ramps — brought Continental Modernism to England in 1934 as pure geometric play. Sir Denys Lasdun's Royal College of Physicians demonstrates the mature phase: a cantilevered lecture theatre floating above a recessed entrance, white mosaic tiles, and a free plan that negotiates between Regent's Park's classical terraces and the demands of a working medical institution.
R. Seifert & Partners' Centre Point and Patrick Hodgkinson's Brunswick Centre show Modernism's commercial and residential applications — a concrete office tower and a megastructural housing complex, respectively. Together, these buildings document how London absorbed, adapted, and ultimately made Modernism its own.
