If this were a Cathedral built from granite, adjacent buttresses either side would be required to prevent the apex from sinking as the sides splay outwards. The construction material in this case is not granite but cast iron which also has strength in compression. In short the glass houses of Kew are long lived examples of self supporting structures requiring no internal columns or supporting structures internally which prevent the throughput of light, the solar flux so vital to the propagation of all botanical life.
The hydrodynamic profile of the glass houses of Kew are testimony to the sleek aerodynamic properties of the buildings, which have enabled them to withstand 200 years of variable meteorology, despite their being constructed of brittle materials, i.e. glass and the brittle cast iron. Unlike the early war ships of World War II which sheared clear in half before the ductile brittle transition of steels were was understood the cast iron glass houses of Kew remain integral to this day. A superior design.
The superiority of Decimus' design was not lost on the civilised world. The use of inverted maritine structures on land had entered a golden era; cast iron architecture offered the possibility of large enclosed internal structures without the need for engineering supports. A new lightweight counterpart for cast iron bridges had been born in the architecture of grand, internal public spaces. It was shown to be possible that a cast iron structure could provide a broad, unsupported wingspan in an enclosed public space.
