A specialist rigging team has been working to ‘re-mesh’ London Zoo’s Snowdon Aviary before it reopens this summer.
The aviary, designed by architect Cedric Price, structural engineer Frank Newby and Lord Snowdon in 1962, originally allowed visitors to walk among the birds housed in the aviary.
It was Britain’s first walk-through aviary when it opened in 1965 and was pioneering in its use of a tubular aluminium tetrahedra framework and high-tensile steel cables for support. The structure also paid a secret tribute to Lord Snowdon’s wife, Princess Margaret, in the design: when viewed from above, the walkway formed the shape of an ‘M’ for Margaret.
The structure was built with a 30-year lifespan, which it has now far exceeded. Following the re-meshing, the aviary will reopen in summer 2022 as Monkey Valley, a home for London Zoo’s troop of Eastern black-and-white colobus monkeys.
The mesh has been replaced by a new, more flexible stainless steel rather than the original panels.
The project has been supported by a £4m grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, alongside funds from supporters of the Zoological Society of London.
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Just accessed bird’s-eye view via Google-Earth – Doesn’t seem to bear out purported “M” for Princess Margaret, at least not in an obvious manner!