The Penguin Pool is Arup's global creative events series designed to inform, inspire and entertain.
The series takes its name from Arup's first project - the Penguin Pool at London Zoo. It was a brave solution that introduced us to the design world back in 1935.
With these events, held all over the world, Arup aims to encourage new connections and seed future collaborations across the design community.
Next events:
Planning is underway for Penguin Pool nights in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, as well Manchester, UK, and we have further events happening in Sydney (30 May) and London (9 July). Follow @ThePenguinPool on Twitter for more details in due course.
Past events:
Milan
During the week of the Salone del Mobile we held two Penguin Pool parties in our Milan office. On Tuesday 17 April, John Henry Harris (concept designer at LEGO) joined us and on Friday 20 April, our speaker was Roger Van der Heide (lighting designer, Philips). Throughout the week our Milan office featured an installation by artist Tommaso Letteriello.
Singapore
On 12 April, our delicious first Penguin Pool night in Singapore featured edible chocolate, meringue and marshmallow walls and Yuzu balls from Chef Janice Wong, owner of 2am:dessert bar and 2am:lab who talked passionately about what shapes her innovative dessert creations.
Hong Kong
29 March 2012, we held a Penguin Pool based around discussion between Douglas Young (Goods Of Desire), Millicent Lai (formerly chief designer of home, Shanghai Tang) and Lorenzo Scazziga (Scazziga Ltd), on culture and product design.
Beijing
29 September 2011, Arup’s Penguin Pool debuted in China alongside Beijing’s inaugural Design Week. The programme included Tamara Mellon OBE, CEO of Jimmy Choo, in conversation with Arup Group Chair Philip Dilley, and fashion designer Masha Ma on how architecture inspires her.
London
2 February 2012, we ran a packed Penguin Pool night exploring ideas around Data and Design. Matt Webb, CEO and founder of BERG, talked about using data imaginatively and products such as Little Printer. Michael Johnson, introduced the johnson banks and Ravensbourne Arkitypo exhibit of 3D-printed font elements in our Phase 2 gallery. There was also an audio-visual installation from Jamie Child and Jack Fletcher.
20 September 2011, the Penguin Pool was held during London Design Festival. Designer Simon Waterfall, creative director of Fray talked about the future of digital, followed by a performance from Mercury Music Prize-nominated band Sweet Billy Pilgrim and cartoonists Modern Toss were on hand for hand drawn portraits.
Sydney
20 August 2011, we held our first ever Penguin Pool as part of Sydney Design. The night featured polar explorer and environmentalist Tim Jarvis; a ‘Social Fireflies’ lighting installation; and ‘Now and When: Australian Urbanism,’ a 3D film made for the Venice Architecture Biennale, shown in an Arup-designed viewing pod.
Keep posted
Follow us on Twitter: @thepenguinpool | hashtag #ArupPP