Crystal Palace
Queen Victoria- Prince albert decided to host a new Worlds Fair exhibition to promot industrial revolution technology
celebration of modern british technology and design
wanted to be the leader in moder tech
The great exhibition of the work of all nations
took place in Hyde park in London
funded by public subscription
Extremely successful
formed a building committee, competition held. 245 plans submitted and only two designs were considered suitable-----iron and glass structures
-needed to be temporary though
- public wanted to permanent damage to hyde park
Eventually all plans were rejected
Joseph paxton hear about the competition etc
and in 9 days he designed and submitted his own plan
-it was late so committee was designing their own..brick building
-criticized for it too permanent
Paxton Published his design and people loved it.
Within 2 weeks he submitted it officially
faster to build and less expensive to build than any other
It was a giant greenhouse. Vast flat roof rectangular hall (modifies later)
-modular prefabricated parts, yet it was elegant, cast iron wood and glass,was an industrial revolution building
-july 1850 it was approved and opened in 10 months
based on the lilly house
added barrel vault so the trees werent touched- 100 ft high
roof long triangular prism, light and strong
triangular panels of glass
Major problem: rain--used ridge and furrow roof --rain ran off into cast iron channels (paxton gutter)
Hollow pillars made of cast iron but it did leak in over 1,000 places. temporarily sealed with putty but problem was never solved.
Temperature control- glass panes could be opened and closed to allow hot air to escape
designed external canvas shade cloths
people would spray water onto the cloths to create airconditioning
wood flooring with 9 inch boards and one inch gap between floorboard for dust and trash
designed sweeping machine for the building
Some parts were able to be fitted into place within 18hours of leaving the factory
new method of producing cast plate glass (larger sheets of glass).
Brunell also helped with the building
covered 19 acres, and 25x more ground space than the lilly house
only Cost 2 1/2x more to build.
one man could fit over 100 panes of glass per day
the palace was enormously successful
no interior lights necessary
relocated to a park in south london but then it burned down
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