The Crystal Palace - The Crystal Palace

1. Construction time: 1850 - 1851
2. Location: Lodon - England

As a product of industrial production and assembly, Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace is one of the most innovative buildings in the 19th century. The palace is often seen as a symbol of modernity, the Great achievements of the palace today still have no rival . Designed and built for less than 8 months, this is the time to build the largest bulwark forming an artificial landscape with a scale of size enveloped in a thin, transparent, unspeakable shell. Considered a temporary building located only in a park for a year, then it must be dismantled as quickly as it was built - a spectacular achievement but only passing by.

Built in Hyde Park, central Lodon to celebrate the economic and cultural achievements of the British Empire.The Crystal Palace is considered to be an open system made from a set of industrial production parts assembled.

The idea of ​​viewing the scale Exhibition as a celebration of peace, personal prosperity and free trade - all looked through the prism of the British Empire - originated from the Royal Art Association, with security of Prince Albert, husband Queen Victoria. In early 1850, the Royal Commission was set up to oversee the project, propose the design and bidding for the construction of a 74,350m2 (800,000 square feet) building with a budget of £ 100,000 completed in just 15 months. The bidding document specifying "all methods of construction cost loss are considered" . Although hundreds of diagrams have been submitted, the unanimous committee members should choose which scheme and decide to design the building on their own. The result must be characterized by the efforts of a committee, designed to build about 17 million bricks, clearly unable to meet the budget and schedule required.

Glass construction.

The glass and wood cover of the Crystal Palace, developed as a system of glazing and live glass on the 1.2m module;Many inventions reduce structural weight and standardize the production of building components.

The project is supported by Joseph Paxton, a gardener with 20 years of experience in greenhouse construction. His most significant achievement until that time was the Great Fireplace, completed in 1840, in the luxurious building of Chatsworth, in Derbyshire, where he served as the gardener's boss. Much of his improvement in this project is directly applied to the construction of the grand Exhibition although on a much larger scale.

Collaborating with glass maker Robert Lucas Chance, glass panels in the big fireplace 1.2m long but only 2mm thick and extremely light . Because the glass panels have not been made in the past, the thick glass suitable for Paxton's 1.2m module concept, with light weight helps him reduce the majority of the sliding glass frames to be installed and the supporting structure. The structure also makes it lighter by the glazing system and the line reduces the rhythm of the sliding glass frames by sliding diagonally from the live part to the line or because of the long-term sliding.

To save time and money, and to increase accuracy - Paxton devised a steam-powered machine to standardize the production of sliding glass-lined slats designed to fit the nooks to practice Central condensation vapor inside and collect rainwater outside. Finally, he developed the "Paxton gutter" , a flat wooden gutter that was camouflaged by a scissor mounted on the bottom to drain rainwater.

Paxton's invention in the Great Fireplace project focuses on wood and glass, he uses iron very economically only where it is necessary in the structure. He saw glass and wood as a systematic, repetitive constant - a "cloth" covering an iron frame that could be changed to be able to adjust itself to the site's specific requirements and construction plan. The rigidity and horizontal stability of the table help " thin " fabric and light weight. In 1849, Paxton built another greenhouse in Chatsworth with the famous Victoria regia, he confirmed that the hard veins on the underside of the gun's leaf inspired him to think of a two-dimensional structure table.

Actual data:

1. Length: 554.4m
2. Width: 122.4m
3. Center height: 19.2m
4. Horizontal wing height: 32.4m
5. Floor area used in 3 floors: 92,000m2
6. Construction area: 7.7ha
7. Gang: 3800 tons
8. Wrought iron: 700 tons
9. Wood: 55,762m3
10. Glasses: 293,655 sheets, 250mmx1225mm, 83,610m3
11. Gutter trough: 38.6km.
12. Bid price: £ 79,800
13. When building (including fixed equipment & connector parts): £ 169,998.

In order to accelerate the construction progress, prefabricated components of the central dome are installed on the ground.In order to no longer see the inner width is slightly narrow of the aisle, the dome is completely pulled by a raised angle.

In June 1851, Paxton was told by his friends that the troubled Royal Committee did not choose a pleasant design and persuaded them to allow him to participate. Collaborating with the Chance brothers and construction contractor Fox Henderson & Co., using the system he developed in his previous greenhouses, Paxton's design was the only design that met the budget requirements. books and timetables, at this time reduced to only 8 months .

Construction process

Two weeks after Paxton's bidding bid was approved, Fox Henderson started construction. Design, production and assembly of detailed buildings are promoted at a fast pace. The project was welcomed as Adam Smith's application of the division of labor for the first time into architecture. With the incredible contrast to the architectural features of the era, construction is not considered a form, but rather a process. Like railroads, focus is focused on inventions in the nineteenth century, in terms of being a vague, dynamic, open-ended system made up of a kit that has standardized parts.

Each design element complies with Paxton's 1.2m planning module. In order to reduce the number of components and lighten the construction stage, each element is designed to take care of two three tasks: a wooden bar with sliding glass frames to double as gutters, hollow cast iron columns as drainage pipes rain, the use on the site gathered to make floorboards. The composition is made in workshops across the UK by production lines, each described by Matthew Digby Wyatt, an architectural critic, "acting exactly like different parts of a machine. Perfect design, skilled in your own field, no need to know the work of others ". Construction materials are transferred to Lodon by rail, where the delivery at the construction site is assembled and used immediately for ground clearance of materials.

The number of damaged components is not more than one ton, the work is mainly assembled by manpower, sometimes using horse support. The rhythm of the arched path in the middle of the 22.8m wide made of iron and wood ribs is made of semicircles, assembled on the ground and raised by a winch at an angle so that the inner width of the Dome. Special equipment designed by Fox Henderson to speed up the assembly at the site. The hand-push turtle wheel is very cleverly mounted on the Paxton gutters used as rails to reduce the work of making scaffolding for glass installers.Using tortoise cars, a group of 80 workers per week can install 18,000 sheets of glass . In December 1850, up to 2260 workers worked on construction sites in a coordinated coordination sequence.

Working with Paxton, contractors designed a special tool to accelerate assembly.Hand pusher turtles with wheels used as gutters for transporting both people and materials, reducing scaffolding for glass installers.(Photo: intranet.arc)

This non-mortar construction - in which the components are manufactured in remote areas are completely assembled on site - is a fast, safe practice compared to conventional construction, making both workers and workers they are all excited. Construction works become a current event, attracting a lot of viewers, the press reports every day, assigning the name "Crystal Palace".

The construction process, arranging manpower, machinery and materials on a large scale, has become a living demonstration of the logic of efficiency, timing and movement and then inspiration. Help Ford think of the automobile production line. Because of the transparency and clarity of the system, the construction of the Crystal Palace becomes a celebration of industrial strength even more than the scale exhibition.

The biggest wall of that time has never been built.The Palace of Perennial Crystal is available in Hyde Park, with a thin, transparent shell creating a new ambiguity inside and outside.(Photo: canadianarchitect)

After 6 months of construction and 4 months after the first cast iron pillar. The Crystal Palace was completed and handed over to the Royal Committee for installation and exhibition. On May 1, 1851, the scale exhibition was unveiled by Queen Victoria, a successful event, attracting more than 6 million visitors in just 5 months. In addition to significant profits, the exhibition also gave birth to the idea of ​​turning this place into a large-scale national entertainment center, signaling an era of consumers and giving birth to a new kind of building for sale. chemical - modern department store.

Combined with many existing perennials in Hyde Park in the horizontal arches, the elegant glazed wall creates a new experience, eliminating the difference between inside and outside space, between art and nature. The Crystal Palace also created a controversy about the distinction between architecture and construction. Research illustrates typical between practicality and construction process, architecture profession does not recognize this work, although not the project is bad.

The scale exhibition ended as planned in October 1851.In 1852, the dismantling of the Crystal Palace took place quickly and noticeably as well as the erection , ending a short but very glorious life that attracted such public imagination. Constructed by Joseph Paxton's new company, after considerable design additions, he assembled in a location in South London, in an area known today as the Crystal Palace. It took 2 years to complete, used as miscellaneous exhibition venues and concert halls, though never economically successful and people mentioned it. After all, the work was completely destroyed in 1936.

Crystal Palace (Photo: intranet.arc)