The Crystal Palace

1. Description:

The crystal palace, a structure with an iron skeleton, and glass skin. Exposed iron can confuse the eye and give the impression construction is not yet done. The glass that allows you to see in can further this idea, giving a view as if the walls were not yet finished at any point. In shape, the building is basic, and a near cross like structure. A central area features a large arch, that is placed in the middle of a 2-tiered, concentric, rectangular structure, with similar dimensions as if it were to be the next tier in the series. Ultimately this forms a step type of appearance. Spanning on the perpendicular axis, crossing through the center of this first area is a hall that also features the same type of arched roof. The building would have been painted on the inside, so the same components of the structure are color coded, creating a pattern throughout the entire structure.

2. Summary:

Tested in prototype as, “The Lily House”, the final form of Joseph Paxton’s concept took form as, “The Crystal Palace”. Instantly, it became the century’s most ferro-vitreous structure. Built to house the 1851 Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, the Crystal Palace was one of the largest structures ever built. Standing as tall as a Gothic cathedral, and longer than the Palace of Versailles, the almost exclusive glass and iron, forged structure represented the utilitarianism of modern industry; it contained no masonry. During the inauguration, Prince Albert remarked on the secret to the new, forthcoming, industrial age; division of labor, or specialization.

The enormous frame was set into limestone footings. A 7.3m (24 ft.) squares were used, both for the structural bay, and 13,000 exhibitions spaces. No stranger to hot houses, Paxton embraced a grand elm tree at the Hyde Part site. As the tree was not to be removed or damaged, Paxton enveloped the perennial with a central, barrel-vaulted transept as part of the project. Ingenious, like the methods of Brunelleschi, Paxton used the iron skeleton as a scaffold during the remaining construction. Glass glazers, suspended by carriages, utilized the grooved gutters in the ceiling joists as their track. As each panel of glass was placed, they could easily be pulled across the ceiling. Not unlike the earlier hot houses, the glass structure drew in enormous thermal energy. Despite vents at both, the base, and top of the structure, as well as fountains distributed through the nave, canvas tarps were used to shield the glass roof during the summer months.

Over the course of an eighteen-month demonstration, more than 6 million people visited the Crystal Palace. Drawing all forms of criticism, it was considered a turning point in architecture. The use of new materials and methods birthed a new aesthetic. Despite most critics offering praise, Ruskin, blamed his condemnation of the structure to the brittle, unadorned facades. As the structure itself was ultimately an exposed frame, leading theorist Owen Jones, in efforts to make it easier on the eye, coordinated colors to each component of the great shed.

3. Research:

The Crystal Palace was ultimately commenced to demonstrate the power and pride of Great Britain. Paxton on the other hand, also used to demonstrate natural beauty of the materials, and saw it as an approach to what might now be considered sustainable architecture.

“The Hyde Park Crystal Palace was a pioneering attempt to adapt the tradition of horticultural glasshouses to human rather than plant habitation.”
-Schoenefeldt.

Just as the Lily House was a prototype for this palace, the Crystal Palace served as an example that could ultimately demonstrate a new purpose for architecture, and never-before created indoor spaces. To redefine a goal of architecture at the same time a material is redefining how architecture can be developed is a high level of thought.

Unlike most exhibitions, where structures remain in place after the event is over, the original Crystal Place of Hyde Park was relocated to Sydenham Hill in June of 1854, until it burned in November of 1936. Similar in both design, function, and death, the Crystal Place of New York also was lost to fire.

4. Contemporary Culture:

In many aspects the palace redefined architecture. Not only was it the first of it’s kind, and to such large scale, but it presented demonstrated unseen uses of buildings, and the potential of what would have been newer industrious materials. Modern architects, designers, and environmentalist, and certainly those studying fire technology, as well as physics could all take something away from this building. As of today, the Spanish version of this building is still standing, and has yet to succumb to fire.

Palacio de Cristal, Madrid, Spain

There is strong influence of many buildings both commercial and domestic where we see analogues in construction methods, and aesthetics. Buildings such as the Centre Pompidou, where we see not only the display of the skeleton, but an entirely inside out building. One that also coordinates colors to components to give flow to the aesthetics, and to allow viewers to better understand what they are looking at. Architects such as Santiago Caltrava do not shy from exposed, and in a few cases, faulty, skeleton structures. In the same manner, his structures might have been negatively critiqued, the same way Eiffel was, had they been in a different era. Even on a more basic level, we see expositions featuring similar designs and layouts of main exhibit halls. The Los Angeles County Fairgrounds for example, utilizes a similar arch over on rectangle over some of their decorative elements near the main entrances. The adjacent Sheraton hotel features some resemblance to the palace as well.

Centre Pompidou, Paris, France

Sheraton, Pomona, CA

Crystal Palace, New York, NY

Exposition Park, Los Angeles, CA

Balboa Botanical Gardens, San Diego, CA

Berlin HBF

Antwerp Centraal (Train Station), Antwerp, Belgium

Santiago Caltrava Valencia, Spain
Agora & City of Arts and Sciences

Works Cited

 

“Accueil.” Le Bâtiment – Centre Pompidou, Centre Pompidou, www.centrepompidou.fr/The-Centre-Pompidou/The-Building.

Admin, Matrix. “Joseph Paxton's Lily House: A Heterotopia at the Roots of the Myth of Transparency.” Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, 8 June 2019, www.acsa-arch.org/chapter/joseph-paxtons-lily-housea-heterotopia-at-the-rootsof-the-myth-of-transparency/.

“Berlin Hauptbahnhof.” Wikidata, www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1097.

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“Botanical Building and Lily Pond.” Botanical Building and Lily Pond | Balboa Park, Balboa Park, www.balboapark.org/gardens/botanical-building.

Byrne, Eugene. “The Crystal Palace Was Constructed of Iron and Glass – so How and Why Did It Burn down?” HistoryExtra, 30 Nov. 2019, www.historyextra.com/period/modern/the-crystal-palace-was-constructed-of-iron-and-glass-so-how-and-why-did-it-burn-down/.

Caltrava, Santiago. “Projects.” Home - Santiago Calatrava – Architects & Engineers, www.calatrava.com/projects.html.

Ciolli, Chris. “Europe's Most Magnificent Train Stations-and the Rails to Ride to Visit Them.” AFAR Media, AFAR, 25 Sept. 2020, www.afar.com/magazine/europes-most-magnificent-train-stations-and-the-rails-to-ride-to-visit-them.

“The Great Exhibition Virtual Tour.” The Royal Parks, The Royal Parks, www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/hyde-park/things-to-see-and-do/the-great-exhibition-virtual-tour.

“Home.” Fairplex, Los Angeles County Fairplex, fairplex.com/.

James, David. “10 Fascinating Facts About the Great Exhibition of 1851.” 5-Minute History, Five Minute History, 30 May 2017, fiveminutehistory.com/the-great-exhibition-and-the-19th-century-cult-of-progress/.

Lubar, Steven. “The New York Crystal Palace Catalogs.” Medium, Medium, 11 May 2017, medium.com/@lubar/the-new-york-crystal-palace-catalogs-b09d1f2bd20e.