Lecture 2 The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
l Underway by the middle of the 18th century and emerging
first in England.
l Cited as the single most important development effecting

architecture in the modern world.
l Sweeping changes in society brought by:

l The harnessing of coal and steam energy .
l Establishment of industry on a mass scale.
l New mechanized technologies for mass production.
l Production of new and cheaper industrial materials, especially iron,
steel and glass.
l An economic phenomena that saw…..
l Increased production of iron,
l Mechanization of textile manufacture, and
l Development of steam engine in late eighteenth-century Britain
l Resulted in…..
l Creation of new spaces for manufacturing and
l Creation of new materials with which to construct the new building
types
l Generated by…..
l Rise of a middle class society
l expanding consumerism and
l new means of transportation.
The Iron Age
l Iron as new material of choice…
l New process of iron refining using coke fuel in blast furnace developed
at Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, England, by Abraham Darby I, 1709;
l Brought on by the rise of industry.
l the ultimate source of the availability of iron for building.
l leads to experimentation with their product as a building material in
Iron Bridge, 1779, a collaboration between Thomas Pritchard, a
local architect, and Abraham Darby, the manager of a foundry.
The Iron Age
l A need to increase industrial efficiency resulted in….
l Objective – to shrink distance and speed up time.
l A revolutionary transportation system of roads, canals and
railway lines.
RAIL TRANSPORT
l The first public railway line was opened in 1825, between

Stockton and Darlington in England.
l Unprecedented use of iron in infrastructural systems and the

construction industry.
The Iron Age
l A revolutionary transportation system of roads, canals and railway
lines.
Chirk Aqueduct and Railway Viaduct. Llangollen Canal

The Iron Age
l A revolutionary transportation system of roads, canals and railway lines.
Frankton Locks. Montgomery Canal.

Change in the Architectural Environment
l Architectural commissions from ecclesiastical, royal and noble patrons greatly

reduced in number.
l Projects by a new class of public authorities and private patrons, the leaders of the
modern industrialized state.
l
l A changed societal structure required new types of buildings unimagined in a
previous age:
l Public buildings - government offices, banks, hospitals, theaters, libraries,
educational institutions, museums, railroad stations, factories, warehouses,
l Commercial buildings - department stores
l Residential buildings - a whole range of new types of housing for every social
class from factory workers to industrial barons
l All solutions requiring innovative engineering and design solutions, mostly within
rapidly evolving urban settings.
Representative Buildings
The British Museum
1823 - 1847
Sir Robert Smirke
l A building in London to house the

King's Library and to provide a
proper home for the museum's
collections.
l The very idea to construct an

immense structure housing an
encyclopedic collection of cultural
artifacts reflects the growth of public
projects to benefit the growing
middle class.
Representative Buildings
The Altes Museum, Berlin
1823 - 1830
Karl Frederich Schinkel
l The same observations of the British

Museum could be applied to the Altes
Museum in Berlin
l All part of the expansion of major

European capitals during the period and
the emergence of modern culture and
social values
l Style – Neo-classical
Change in the Intellectual Environment
l Supporting these fundamental changes in society was the intellectual and
aesthetic developments of the Enlightenment.
l The Enlightenment - broad trend in 18th-century European philosophy

fostering rational thought in
l religion,
l politics
l economic matters
l A holistic idea of promoting progress for a broad swath of mankind.

Age of Enlightenment
Change in the Architectural Environment
l The Enlightenment also led to the conception of ideas which would be the
main points to a new approach to architecture:
l To confront new social and technological development brought about by
industrialization.
l To reject superficial imitations of past styles and forms of architecture.
l To have a direct / honest portrayal of the contemporary world for a better
future.
l Rationalist approach taken up by Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, french architect

and theorist:
l Architectural forms must be true to the method of construction
l Sentiment which was later molded and adopted to suit modern architects.
Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-
le-Duc
1814 - 1879
Viollet-le-Duc
l French architect and theorist, famous for
his restorations of medieval buildings.
l Born in Paris, he was as central a figure

in the Gothic Revival in France as he
was in the public discourse on "honesty"
in architecture, which eventually
transcended all revival styles, to inform
the moving spirit of Modernism.
Design for a concert hall, dated 1864, expressing

Gothic principles in modern materials; brick, stone
and cast iron. Entretiens sur l'architecture
Viollet-le-Duc
l One of the most influential architectural
theorists of the 19th century.
l Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc

impacted not only French architecture, but
also work in England and especially in
America.
l His writing encouraged a great deal of

creative thought and debate regarding
honest structural expression and the
embracing of modern technology.
Detail of restoration for Cathedral of

Saint-Nazaire at Carcasonne
Viollet-le-Duc
Detail of restoration for Cathedral of

Saint-Nazaire at Carcasonne
Viollet-le-Duc
l He understood that Gothic architecture
derived its beauty from the artful
expression of its structure.
l That the engineering of a building was as
beautiful a visual exercise as its
decoration .
l When Louis Sullivan later insisted that
"form ever follows function," he may
have been recalling the principles of
Viollet-le-Duc.
l As he mastered the vocabulary of the
Gothic, he utilized new materials of the
industrial age in a manner that correlated
to Medieval construction.
New Technology:
Potentialities
Potential of New Technology
l Increased use of iron and glass revolutionized traditional construction
methods and affected the shaping of space.
l Glass and iron technology radicallized architecture as when Romans

invented concrete (plasticity and scale).
l Technology to meet new functional requirements of new building types:

l Urban
l Banks
l Government offices
l Shopping arcades
l Industrial
l Transportation - tollhouses/docks/railroad stations/ bridges/viaducts/engine
houses.
l Industrial complexes – breweries/maltings/mills/factories/ farmeries/ docks
Usage of Iron by Architects
l Iron was used as a primary structural skeleton (especially in public
buildings) concealed by a presentable skin material.
l Properties of iron:
l Cheaper than stone
l More resilient and stronger than stone
l Better fire resistance than wood.
l Casting process makes it ideal material for mass production and
prefabricated components.
l Because of its inherent qualities, iron became
l Natural structural supports for traditional masonry and timber architecture.
l Cladded iron members strengthened walls and floors.
l Flexibility of material in being able to be cast adds to decorative advantages.

l Brighton Pavillion (1815 – 1823)
l John Nash
l Novelty of materials fitted in with

follies of the time.
l Designed in the Maharajah idiom.
John Nash, Views of the Royal Pavilion

(1826)
Potential of Iron
l Greatest test in big enclosed spaces that
required bright lighting:
l Markets, arcades libraries,
conservatories and train sheds.
l Intricate iron filigrees with glass panes

spanning tall ample rooms.
l Resumption of the Gothic ideal of

‘dematerialization’. – glazed domes
and barrel vaults.
l Concerned with top lighting, glazed

domes, and barrel vaults.
Thomas Hopper, Carlton House
conservatory
Carlton House Conservatory
Thomas Hopper, Carlton House conservatory – Exterior View

Carlton House Conservatory
Thomas Hopper, Carlton House conservatory – Interior view

Industrial structural components in iron Cast iron street lamp detail

Cast iron filigree work
Sea-side covered walkway

Cast iron structure for train platform
Cast iron details of Preston Station, UK

New Technology:
France
Halle Aux Bles, Paris
1763 - 1766
l Le Camus de Mézières constructed a
circular stone hall of sixty-eight meters
to house the sale of wheat and flour.
l Legrand and Molinos added the
distinctive cupola that rested upon an
inner ring of columns forty meters in
diameter.
l First full iron and glass dome
l Francois Joseph Belanger –

l “new conception for the first time in
this genre which gives Europe the
idea.”
Bon Marche Department Store
Louis-Charles Boileau - 1876
l New technology in commercial
architecture – the department store.
l Parisian institution as a result of the

freeing of trade after the French
Revolution of 1789.
l Iron and glass made possible the

opening up of the entire ground floor
and the mezzanine to the outside with
windows of plate glass.
l Central court / atrium with glazed roof
Section through main atrium

Bon Marche Department Store
Louis-Charles Boileau - 1876
Section through main atrium

Providence Arcade, Rhode Island
1828
View through indoor gallery

New Technology:
Public Buildings
Library of St Genevieve, Paris
Henri Labrouste (1838 -1850)
l Building is of bearing masonry and
iron spans.
l In the style of the Renaissance revival.
l Across the street from Soufflot’s

church of St Genevieve.
l Monumental long vaulted reading

room. Iron arches and columns support
roof independently of masonry walls.
l One of the greatest cultural buildings of
the nineteenth century to use iron in a
prominent, visible way.
l The large (278 by 69 feet) two-storied
structure filling a wide, shallow site is
deceptively simple in scheme:
l The lower floor is occupied by stacks to
the left, rare-book storage and office
space to the right,
l A central vestibule and stairway leading
to the reading room which fills the Section through main reading hall
entire upper story.

l The library represents an attempt by a
"mainstream" architect to incorporate
the advances of the materials and
technology of the day and thus fuses the
technology of the industrial revolution,
as represented by the cast iron and glass
train shed, with traditional stone
construction.
l The roof structure is of cast iron but
encrusted with decoration to disguise
the connections. The contrast between
the delicacy of the cast iron roof ridges
and slender columns with the six foot
deep stone wall produces a compelling
architecture.
l Main reading room on the second floor is vision of things to come.
l Divided into 2 barrel vaulted naves by a central row of thin iron columns.
l Vaults carried delicately on scrolled arches of open iron work.
l Scale and pure geometry approaches the imaginary interiors of Boullee.
l One of the greatest cultural buildings of the nineteenth century to use
iron in a prominent, visible way.
l The ferrous structure of this reading room—a spine of slender, cast-

iron Ionic columns dividing the space into twin aisles and supporting
openwork iron arches that carry barrel vaults of plaster reinforced by
iron mesh—has always been revered by Modernists for its
introduction of high technology into a monumental building."
l — Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: from Prehistory to Post-
Modernism. p478.
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
l Splendid reading room covered by a series of terra-cotta domes
pierced by oculi.
l Resting on thin iron columns and arches.
l Epitome of metallic elegance and suppleness.
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
l Splendid reading room covered by a series of terra-cotta domes
New Technology:
Industrial Buildings
Buildings for Industry
l England’s most daring adventures with iron

were
l railroad stations and
l bridges.
Crown Street station, Liverpool. (1830)

John Foster II and George Stephenson
l Modest forerunner of this building type with
features such as:
l The vehicle court (anticipating the covered
driveways of later stations)
l Room for ticket selling and waiting
l Platform where carriages were boarded under
the cover of a train shed.
l The train shed became the testing structural type of wide span construction.
l By 1854, with the use of iron, a clear span of 65 meters (213 feet) was
reached New Street Station, Birmingham.
l A triple span with a combined width of almost 74 meters was achieved at the
Paddington Station, London (1852 – 54).
l The main roofing system of the Howe truss, based on wooden models, were
replaced with new truss configurations which better exploited the
characteristics of iron.
Period etching of Paddington Station Tracery at the 'town end' of

Paddington Station, London
The Train Stations
l Great arched spaces of the train sheds
were masked from the outside by the
palatial fronts of the stations.
l The terminal was usually combined

with a hotel rendered in a
contemporary idiom as compared
to……
l The smoke and steam filled sheds of

metal and glass arching over tracks and
trains.
l Signals the coming of the industrial

age.
New Technology:
Iron Bridges
The Iron Bridges
l Building of bridges started earlier as a necessity to support the rise of
industry.
l Thomas Telford (1757-1834), a rail engineer and highway expert,
dominated the early years of iron-bridge building.
l Ingenuity was endowing metal bridges with architectural grace.
Mythe bridge 1826

The Iron Bridges
l Oldest iron bridge in England was
designed by Abraham Derby and TF
Pritchard in Shropshire, England:
l The Coalbrookdale Bridge, 1779.
l Span of 30 meters (100 feet).

l Single semi-circular arch made up of 5
cast iron ribs, each composed of only 2
members.
l Parts assembled through interlocking
joints and wedges.
The Iron Bridges
l Menai Straits Suspension Bridge
(1819 – 1825)
l Thomas Telford
l Telford applied the principle of
suspension to an enormous span (177
meters).
l Roadbed was hung from wrought iron
chains slung from 2 towers and was
buried deep in rock on either end.
l Masonry arches anchored the road bed
from below.
l Eventually iron chains were replaced
by wire ropes; ingenuity of French
engineer Marc Seguin. The 'chains' to suspend the bridge
were flat iron bars with a circular
surface either end which were bolted
together.
Great Exhibition of 1851
l In 1851 Great Britain was arguably the leader of the industrial revolution.
l The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London was conceived to symbolize this

industrial, military and economic superiority of Great Britain.
l Event to highlight the feats of Britain with invitations being extended to

almost all of the colonized world.
l Queen Victoria was eager to reinforce the feeling of contentment with her
reign.
l It was during the mid-1850s that the word "Victorian" began to be

employed to express a new self-consciousness, both in relation to the nation
and to the period through which it was passing.
Great Exhibition of 1851
l Conceived by Queen Victoria’s consort, prince Albert, the Great Exhibition was
held in Hyde Park in London in the specially constructed Crystal Palace.
l The Crystal Palace was originally designed by Sir Joseph Paxton in only 10 days
and was a huge iron goliath with over a million feet of glass.
l It was important that the building used to showcase these achievements be

grandiose and innovative.
l Over 13,000 exhibits were displayed and viewed by over 6,200,000 visitors to the
exhibition.
l The millions of visitors that journeyed to the Great Exhibition of 1851 marveled at
the industrial revolution that was propelling Britain into the greatest power of the
time.
Crystal Palace
1851
Joseph Paxton
Crystal Palace, 1851
l Designed by Joseph Paxton, a head gardener at Chatsworth, in Derbyshire,
l Here he had experimented with glass and iron in the creation of large
greenhouses, and had seen something of their strength and durability.
l He applied this knowledge to the plans for the Great Exhibition building —
with astounding results.
l The Great Exhibition building —
l strength,
l durability,
l simplicity of construction
l Speedy erection
l The pinnacle of Iron Age architecture.
l 560 metres in length and 157 metres in

width.
l Masterpiece of standardization.
l Structure consists of iron columns, girders
and glass panels with no masonry used.
l Design coherence achieved by means of

repetition of same structural system
throughout.
l 1,000,000 square feet of glazing framed by

wood and held up by iron lattice.
l Fabrication of iron components - 3 months.
l Erection – 3 months.
Paris International Exhibition,
1889
Gallerie Des Machines
l By Victor Contamin and Ferdinand Dutert, architect and engineer from
Ecole de Beaux Arts and Ecole de Polytechnique.
l Built for the 1889 International Exhibition, Paris, the centenary celebration
of the French Revolution (as was the Eiffel Tower)
l Demolished in 1910.
l 427 m (1400 ft) long, 45 m (150 ft) high, with spans of 114 m (375 ft).
Completely glazed.
l Exposition displays the industrial and architectural possibilities of new

materials on the European continent – iron and glass
View of entrance hall / foyer

View of exhibition hall

The Eiffel Tower
l Design obtained through a competition.
l 700 proposals submitted in a design competition,
Gustave Eiffel's was unanimously chosen.
l At 300 metres (320.75m including antenna), and 7000
tons, it was the world's tallest building until 1930. Other
statistics include:
l 2.5 million rivets.
l 300 steel workers, and 2 years (1887-1889) to construct it.
l Sway of at most 12 cm in high winds.
l Height varies up to 15 cm depending on temperature.
l 15,000 iron pieces (excluding rivets).
l 40 tons of paint.
l 1652 steps to the top.
The Eiffel Tower
Iron & Steel in Tall Buildings
l In the 1880’s the earliest tall iron framed buildings were constructed in
Chicago.
l Early prefabricated Iron construction in the early and mid 1850s proved
particularly dangerous in fires as the iron rapidly lost its strength in the
heat.
Early iron framed building on Stewart Street, New York, mid

1850’s
l William Le Baron Jenney (1832 – 1907)
l First architect to propose the framing of the early skyscrapers to be in a

new-found alloy – steel.
Jenney's method of Steel frame construction

l Second Leiter Building, Chicago (1888-
89)
l William Le Baron Jenney
l First instance of true skyscraper

construction.
l Fireproofed metal frame that supports its
own weight as well as the weight of all
the walls and floors that regulate the
functional organisation of the interior.
l No load bearing masonry structure.
l Second Leiter Building, Chicago
(1888-89)
l In all purpose and sense, the walls are
only curtains composed of vertical
and horizontal bands of masonry.
l Function of walls only as weather-
proofing membranes and as a
fireproofing material for the
outermost columns and beams.
l Note that the metal framing of the

building in question is not iron but
steel.
Why Steel in Tall Buildings?
l Steel is iron hardened by carbon and superior to iron in matters of:
l Compression
l Tension
l Resistance to heat
l Steel’s weight is 1/3 of bearing masonry, system does not require

formwork during construction and does not need curing time – speed of
erection.
l Basic masonry construction principle is for the base to start with a

300mm thickness and for additional 100mm to the base with each
additional storey.
QUALITIES & ECONOMY OF STEEL AS MAIN ATTRACTION OF

THE SKYSCRAPER BUILDING INDUSTRY
l The Monadnock Building, Chicago
l Daniel Burnham (1846-1912) and John Wellborn Root (1850-91)
l Design employed load-bearing masonry construction.

l In the 1880’s the earliest tall iron
framed buildings were constructed in
Chicago.

(1888-89)
construction.
l Fireproofed metal frame that supports
its own weight as well as the weight
of all the walls and floors that
regulate the functional organisation of
the interior.
l In the 1880’s the earliest tall iron
framed buildings were constructed in
Chicago.

(1888-89)
construction.
l Fireproofed metal frame that supports
its own weight as well as the weight
of all the walls and floors that
regulate the functional organisation of
the interior.
Steel in Tall Buildings
l The Reliance Building (1890-5)
l Daniel Burnham (1846-1912) and John
Wellborn Root (1850-91)
l Internationally recognized as the direct
ancestor of today's glass-and-steel skyscrapers.
l Extremely narrow piers, mullions, and

spandrels, all covered with cream-colored terra
cotta
l decorated with Gothic-style tracery,
l divide wide expanses of glass and
l clearly delineate the interior steel framework
that supports the building.
Steel in Tall Buildings
l Daniel Burnham (1846-1912) and John
Wellborn Root (1850-91)
l The light and airy facade is almost entirely

windows--both flat and projecting bays.
l Projecting bay windows are of the type known

as a "Chicago window:" a wide fixed pane with
narrow movable sash windows flanking it.
l A flat cornice tops the 14-story structure.
Detail of curtain wall

l Daniel Burnham (1846-1912) and John Wellborn Root (1850-91)
Floor plan Constructional section of outer wall

Reinforced Concrete as a New
Structural Material
Reinforced Concrete
l Serious emergence in the 1860’s.
l Introduction of steel reinforcement changed concrete from heavy, inert and
stone-like material to a tough resilient one fit for very thin articulation.
l Francois Hennebique (1842 – 1921)

l Father of modern reinforced concrete and techniques
Reinforced Concrete
l Father of modern reinforced concrete and techniques.
l Idea of monolithic joints:
l Use of bars of cylindrical sections, bent round, hooked together and
‘coated’ in concrete.
l Integral to this system is the increase of reinforcements and the binding of
joints with stirrup hoops to resist local and shear stresses.
Reinforced Concrete
Hennebique’s monolithic reinforced concrete joint, patented in 1892

Reinforced Concrete
l Augustte Perret (1874 – 1954)
l French architect who brought concrete into

the mainstream.
l Made the system an acceptable alternative
for the standard repertory of the architect.
l 25 Bis Rue Franklin (1903)

l Structural concrete frame as quintessential
expression of built form.
l Ferroconcrete frame was tiled in such a way
as to suggest the post and lintel construction
of wood.
Reinforced Concrete
l 25 Bis Rue Franklin (1903)
l Ferroconcrete frame was tiled in such a way as to suggest the post and
lintel construction of wood.
Reinforced Concrete
l Notre Dame Le Raincy (1922 – 1924)
l Perfected system where reinforced column / piers replace load bearing

partition walls.
l Visually and structurally, concrete is made to behave in the ways of
classical trabeated architecture.
Reinforced Concrete
l Materials will be the main element that architects in the ‘modern’ era utilize
in producing an architecture for the new age.
STEEL REINFORCED CONCRETE GLASS
Le Corbusier. Structural skeleton of Maison

Domino, 1914-15

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The Industrial Revolution

l Cited as the single most important development effecting

l Sweeping changes in society brought by:

l The first public railway line was opened in 1825, between

l Unprecedented use of iron in infrastructural systems and the

Chirk Aqueduct and Railway Viaduct. Llangollen Canal

Frankton Locks. Montgomery Canal.

l Architectural commissions from ecclesiastical, royal and noble patrons greatly

l A building in London to house the

l The very idea to construct an

l The same observations of the British

l All part of the expansion of major

l The Enlightenment - broad trend in 18th-century European philosophy

l A holistic idea of promoting progress for a broad swath of mankind.

l Rationalist approach taken up by Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, french architect

l Born in Paris, he was as central a figure

Design for a concert hall, dated 1864, expressing

l Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc

l His writing encouraged a great deal of

Detail of restoration for Cathedral of

Detail of restoration for Cathedral of

l Glass and iron technology radicallized architecture as when Romans

l Technology to meet new functional requirements of new building types:

l Natural structural supports for traditional masonry and timber architecture.

l Cladded iron members strengthened walls and floors.

l Flexibility of material in being able to be cast adds to decorative advantages.

l Novelty of materials fitted in with

John Nash, Views of the Royal Pavilion

l Intricate iron filigrees with glass panes

l Resumption of the Gothic ideal of

l Concerned with top lighting, glazed

Thomas Hopper, Carlton House conservatory – Exterior View

Thomas Hopper, Carlton House conservatory – Interior view

Industrial structural components in iron Cast iron street lamp detail

Cast iron filigree work

Sea-side covered walkway

Cast iron structure for train platform

Cast iron details of Preston Station, UK

l First full iron and glass dome

l Francois Joseph Belanger –

l Parisian institution as a result of the

l Iron and glass made possible the

l Central court / atrium with glazed roof

Section through main atrium

Section through main atrium

View through indoor gallery

l In the style of the Renaissance revival.

l Across the street from Soufflot’s

l Monumental long vaulted reading

entire upper story.

l The ferrous structure of this reading room—a spine of slender, cast-

l England’s most daring adventures with iron

Crown Street station, Liverpool. (1830)

Period etching of Paddington Station Tracery at the 'town end' of

l The terminal was usually combined

l The smoke and steam filled sheds of

l Signals the coming of the industrial

Mythe bridge 1826

l Span of 30 meters (100 feet).

l The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London was conceived to symbolize this