The Crystal Palace of Hyde Park

London, England
Joseph Paxton, architect

Location

History

The Crystal Palace was a building erected in 1851 in Hyde Park, London, England, for the Great Exhibition for the works of Industry of all nations. Joseph Paxton, a gardener with a special talent for structural design, was the designer of the Crystal Pal ace. This vast building which was constructed entirely of iron (both wrought and cast), wood and glass, is considered one of the most ambitious and innovative structures of the Victorian era.

One of the major advantages of Paxton's "ferro-vitreous" iron and glass design was the building's extreme simplicity. The arrangement of all the principle elements of the building in multiples and sub-multiples of 24 feet not only facilitated and economi zed all the building operations (it was erected in seventeen weeks), but also produces perfect symmetry in the building.

Physical Description

The dimensions of the Crystal Palace are 456 feet in a north-south direction and 1,848 feet in an east-west direction. The total height from the ground floor to the top of the barrel vaulted transept roof is 108 feet and 62.25 feet to the top of the nave , making up three stories. The transept was added to the design to help enclose some 90 foot tall elm trees whose fate was a great concern of some environmentally minded Londoners. The completed structure covered over 19 acres (almost 750,000 square fee t). Without any interior walls, the size of the Crystal Palace allowed for some very beautiful vistas which could be seen between the columns in every diagonal direction as well as in longitudinal and transverse views of the 100,000 exhibits in the Great Exhibition.

Columns:
Heights range from 16'-7.5" to 18'-8", with the taller versions on the ground floor. The external diameter of all the columns is 8 inches on their square face. Each column is formed of four flat and four cylindrical faces. They are constructed of cast iron because of its strength in compression, and are hollow for the moment of inertia with wall thicknesses varying from 3/8" to 1.25". The base of the columns were affixed to a flat plate two feet long by one foot wide which was fixed on a mass of concr ete 2' x 3' and varying in depth from one foot to four feet.

Girders and Trusses:
There are nine varieties of girders and trusses each three feet in depth. There are three different strengths of 24 foot cast iron girders (also used for its strength in compression). One strength of 24 foot wrought iron trusses (wrought iron is used fo r its tensile strength). One strength of 48 foot wrought iron trusses. Three strengths of 72 foot wrought iron trusses, and 24 foot wooden trusses (oak).

Building Process

Structural Descripton/Aspects

The vertical load-bearing system took up the dead loads of the building as well as the live loads of the many people who would tour the exhibition. Exhibits would probably tend to be quite heavy since the palace was to show off new industrial machinery. The building loads themselves were not as significant as another form of construction might have been, since the glass only weighed in at one pound per square foot.

A vertical load applied at the roof peak would be distributed through the roof frame members to one of the upper trusses made of either wroght iron or wood. The truss was designed to be stiff in bending, and would carry the load directly to the girders w hich would transfer the load to the outer columns. The trusses were also diagonally braced so that tension loads induced by the triangular roof could be resisted.

The most significant lateral load to be resisted by the structure would be wind. This would be a live load as would any horizontal forces generated by any machinery. These lateral loads would be taken up along the length of the facade by the regular spa cing at al floor s of the girders and trusses described above. All of these floor and roof members were diagonally braced to be strong under these axial loading conditions. Additionally, the trusses and girders were cambered to resist buckling when load ed at their ends. In section, the girders had extra mass at their neutral axis at the midpoint to resist torsion.

The horizontal members were also utilized to diminish the buckling length of the columns. Installation of tie-rods at certain intervals would also prevent the shearing of the walls much as drywall does in stick-frame construction. The horizontal girders and trusses were quite sizable to take the many loads that would be exerted against the walls and vertical support members. Wind loads would be distibuted onto the trusses by a frame system hung between the trusses.

Conclusions

Bibliography

Associated Buildings

Steven Branchflower and John Petit
ARCH 461/561 Spring 1995

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