The%20Crystal%20Palace:%20The%20Beginning%20of%20Iron%20

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The Crystal Palace The Beginning of Iron
Glass Architecture

• References
• Hix, John The Glass House
• McKean, John The Crystal Palace

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The Great ExhibitionLondon, 1851

• A Great Exhibit of the Works of Industry of All
  Nations
• The building was the epitome of Englands
  industry, vision, determination, wealth,
  technical knowledge, and powers of production.

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Charles Dickenssaid of the project,

• Two parties in London, relying on the accuracy
  and good faith of certain ironmasters,
  glass-workers in the provinces, and of one master
  carpenter in London, bound themselves for a
  certain sum of money, and in the course of four
  months, to cover eighteen acres of ground with a
  building upwards of a third of a mile long (1851
  feet- the exact date of the year) and some
  hundred and fifty feet broad. In order to do
  this, the glass maker promised to supply, in the
  required time, nine hundred thousand square feet
  of glass (gt 400 tons). The iron-master passed
  his word in like manner, to cast in due time 3300
  iron columns 34 miles of guttering tube, 2224
  girders. The carpenter undertook to get ready
  within the specific period 205 miles of sash-bar
  flooring for a building of thirty-three millions
  of cubic feet besides enormous quantities of
  wooden walling, louver work and partition.

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The Building Delivery Process

• 01/1850 The Royal Commission, Chaired by Prince
  Albert
• 03/13/50 Competition announced for temporary
  exhibition building
• 240 entries, none chosen, instead committee
  offered its own design
• A brick structure with an iron dome - dark,
  heavy, permanent

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Fears Abound

• protectionists feared foreign goods
• environmentalists feared destruction of elms
• the press feared foreign visitors - Papists,
  thieves, syphilitics

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Problems with the Committees Design

• 17 million bricks, 200ft dome, extensive
  foundations, a permanent structure
• By 06/50 things looked bleak

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Enter the White Knight Joseph Paxton

• founded newspaper, wrote books on horticulture,
  wrote articles on greenhouse design
• knew several people on Royal Commission
• they found loophole to allow design submission

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Architectural ConservatoryProf. Richard Bradley
, 1718

• School of Botany at Cambridge
• conformed to rules of arch., but considered
  welfare of plants.
• glass dome, thin Corinthian columns., white tile
  walls

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Das Grosses GewächshausKassel , 1822
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Great Conservatory Paxton, 1836

• Longest glass building in the world
• 277L x 123 W x 67 H.
• Laminated wood beams, cast iron columns along
  the nave, ridge furrow glazing system

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Great Wall at Chatsworth Paxton, 1848

• 330 long enclosure of an exist. masonry wall

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Victoria Regia HousePaxton, 1850

• cultivating a growing Victoria Regia Lilly from
  S. America
• leaves supported by thin cantilevers
• first flat roof installation of ridge furrow
  glazing system
• two tilted 49 glass panes sash equals 81,
  c/c.
• 24 girders deep gutters trussed Paxton gutter

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Victoria Regia HouseGutter Details

• external interior waterways
• change of depth
• trusses with pretensioning

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For the Crystal Palace, Paxton..

• promised a full set of drawings in 10 days based
  on a sketch during a RR board meeting,
• he estate staff produced drawings in seven days
  - almost exact to what was actually built

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After Paxtons First Sketches Were Accepted.

• Fox Henderson Co. undertook calculations and
  the prep of detailed drawings.
• bid of 150, 000 - if left standing
• bid of 79,800 if leased
• now the building committee needed to approve the
  plans

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Paxton Leaked Design to Illustrated London News

• cheaper, quicker, assemble/ disassemble, no
  brick, stone, mortar, light foundation, day
  lighting, no interior walls, 25 greater area
• committee was furious
• public overwhelmingly positive

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On 07/15.

• Royal Commission rejected Building Committees
  design accepted Paxtons lower bid
• added transcept to save the elms

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Construction Drawings

• Fox - 7weeks, 18hrs/ day to produce drawings
• as soon as drawings were finished, Henderson set
  up production schedule
• small crew installed drainpipes light
  foundations

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Exterior

• Overall Building 1848 x 456
• Nave 72W x 64 H
• Transcept 408 x 104 H

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Modular, Hierarchical
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Cast Iron in Buildings

• Crystal Palace
• 3,300 columns from 14 1/2 to 20 ft tall
• 34 miles of guttering tube below grade
• 2,224 girders
• Cast Iron Applications in Buildings
• 1796 - Shrewesbury Warehouse
• 1809 - cast iron dome in Paris
• 1849 - cast iron facades by J. Bogardus
• 1851 - Crystal Palace
• 1855 - Bessemer Process for steel making
• 1884 - Home Insurance Building, Chicago

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Cast Iron in the Crystal Palace

• Column ends were lathe turned
• Canvas gasket dipped in white lead at the joints
• 3 deep collar with connecting lip
• Girders secured with wrought iron wedges

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Column Schedule
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Strength Testing

• several iron bridges had failed in the 1840s
• for public assurance
• marching soldiers and rolling cannon balls
• for the engineers
• hydraulic press tested 214 girders with 24 span
• tested at 15T and 22T
• first private testing laboratories concept of
  factor of safety

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Wood

• 600,000 cu ft of wood milled into gt200 miles of
  gutters and sash bars
• milling operation input rough beams and output
  finished profiled gutters
• dipped in paint trough and run across fixed
  brushes to remove excess

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Glass

• Chance Bros. Co. won the contract
• from 08/50 - 02/51, they produced
• gt300,00 sheets
• gt900,000 sf
• gt400T
• largest sheet ever made, 10 x 49 from the
  cylinder process
• this contract equaled 1/3 of Englands total
  prior production

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Ridge Furrow Glazing
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Daylight

• suffered from excessive light and heat gain
• canvas was stretched from ridge to ridge with
  drain holes over the furrow
• sprayed with water for cooling
• also included a mechanical ventilation system

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Transcept

• laminated wood beams reinforced with iron rods
• sloping sash bars for the glazing system

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Time Budget

• 9/26/50
• First column on site
• Columns placed just 18 hrs after casting
• 01/51
• Structural frame completed
• Bid 79,800
• Change Orders 27,980 35,000
• Total Cost 142,780

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The Exhibition

• By 9/25/51 451,000 in receipts
• On 10/7/51 almost 100,000 guests
• On 10/11/51 closed to the public
• On 5/12/52 Sold for 70,000

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After the Crystal Palace

• Lyndhurst by Lord Burnham
• Hothouses for the millions

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Horeau Turner

• Prize Winners for Exhibition
• Paris London proposals, Paris executed
• Train stations, other exhibitions, NY etc.

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Hot Houses for the Millions

• Residential Greenhouses
• Winter Garden in the Anglo-Japanese Style

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Glass House by Bruno Taut

• Expressionist architecture
• Built at the Cologne Werkbund
• Concrete lamellar structure
• Glass ceilings, walls, floors, tiles

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Outcomes

• professional A/E jealousy and fear
• shift from A/E to design/ build
• concern that modular buildings could not be
  suited to individual sites/ needs
• search for an appropriate aesthetic

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Influences on Todays Building Practices

• structural frame
• standard rolled shapes
• standard details
• strength testing
• prefabrication
• assembly/ disassembly
• published w/ enough detail to allow others to
  build
• project management