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| This was not lost on one gardener at Kew, Joseph Paxton who later became the designer of the first Expo (Exposition) glass house which later became the Crystal Palace. Pictured above is the blotting paper design similar to the glass houses at Kew, with the same inverted submariner design characteristics. So in 1851 Crystal Palace was erected in Hyde Park for the worlds first Great Expo. In 1897 a later expo saw the construction of one of London Eye's predecessors in the environs of Vienna referred to as Das Riesen Rad (61mØ), a huge wheel imitated by the London eye (2000, 135mØ) . The 1851 expo instigated by Prince Albert took place within the Crystal Palace housing the elm trees of Hyde Park with the inauguration pictured below. |
| The success of the Crystal Palace structure remains a legend to this day, the profit generated by that event in 1851 paid for the land upon which the Victoria and Albert museum resides, home to the drawings and story of Crystal Palace. Such was the uncertainty as the integrity of the structure that the unsupported internal levels of Crystal Palace were tested using groups of soldiers performing set formations. If the unsupported floor held up then the building was declared safe. Controversially the building suffered a blaze in 1937 and was never replaced but gave rise to a new era of Victorian engineering, serving as a template for many famous British railway stations; originally Birmingham New Street and Neath as well as the newly restored St Pancras, the new home of the Eurostar pictured alongside Anika, SAE-UK PR Manager. |
| Today, the lost art of building sub-maritine structures on land has been lost, we have lost from architecture the concept of self-supporting structures, their beauty and their large unsupported internal spaces. As the London Eye is testimony, we still as a nation look back to Expo architecture for inspiration. It seems impressive now if a new building development has an established tree on the plot, Crystal Palace had mature trees encased within it, and as for the London eye… 150 years out of date. |
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