By : Sentinel Digital DeskPublished :   10 Oct 2022 10:37 AM GMT   | Updated :   2022-10-10T16:20:19+05:30

Published :   10 Oct 2022 10:37 AM GMT

  | Updated :   2022-10-10T16:20:19+05:30

Iron, steel and glass and new building materials, which could be mass produced at a much lower cost allowed architects and engineers to explore newer possibilities in their designs, to build bigger and lighter structures, to reach greater heights and allow more natural light inside. Taxes on the use of windows, glass and bricks were repealed. Factory buildings were made up of glass on metal frames. The steel skeletons used were encased in mortar or masonry and large glass skylights were popular. Complex designs of classical and Gothic buildings were reduced to iron grill-works with aesthetic elements on the external facade. Improvements in the iron-making process helped in the construction of bridges. Large indoor open spaces were now possible with the use of strong iron framed construction. Besides factories, train stations and museums could now be easily built using this system.

And yet, there was an ugly side to this too. New jobs needed new people. There was mass migration to cities or industrial towns putting a lot of stress on the existing infrastructure. There was an unabated increase in environmental pollution. The landscape was dotted with chimneys billowing dark smoke and soot into the air. Communities were dislocated, poor workers and their families were shoved into cramped accommodation while garbage found its way onto the streets. Toxic exposure to heavy metals, dust, soot and chemicals caused health hazards. Environmental damage was not accounted for. With the emphasis primarily on profit making, architecture took a little backseat. The urban built fabric of factories and the worker's accommodation were often hideous in nature, there being a lack of sensitivity and taste among the nouveau riche.

In the middle of the 19th century, Crystal Palace, a building four times the size of St. Peter's in Rome, came up in Hyde Park, London. This was part of the Great Exhibition of 1851, the first in a series of fairs exhibiting Culture and Industry. Designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, an English gardener, architect and Parliamentarian, the building had a revolutionary modular design with extensive use of prefabricated parts and glass panels. It was a demonstration of British technology in iron and glass. Interestingly, Paxton's inspiration for the structure was the Victoria amazonica or Queen Victoria's Water Lily, a lily with a ribbed undersurface and leaves with veins in the form of transverse girders and supports. The Eiffel Tower built later in Paris showcased the endless possibilities that could be achieved by the use of metal.

Concrete was yet another revolutionary material that heralded major change in construction technology. Combined with steel, it allowed man to build lighter and hence, higher than ever before. With rapid urbanisation and economic growth, there was now a paradigm shift in the kind of buildings coming up. Skyscrapers came into the picture. They were, are, and will always represent the financial prowess of the capitalists. Their designs often showcase the architectural styles that have influenced the concerned architects. While the external facade of LH Sullivan's Guaranty Building (1894-95) in New York was on the lines of the Modern or International style, Daniel Burnham's Flatiron (1902), also in New York, had a very Neo-Classical appearance. Mies van der Rohe's Seagram Building, built half a century later was another radical skyscraper. When viewed from the outside, this Modern building consisted only of the horizontals that marked the floor beams and the tinted glass curtain wall framework at ninety degrees to the beams. There was no added decoration or artwork and the natural colour of the materials was the colour of the building.

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