Cross-disciplinary ideas are the best. While reading Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief, I learned about this hot back-story. Joseph Paxton was a gardener and the first in England to grow the giant water lily, the biggest flowering plant in the world. His lily had leaves 6 feet long, and a photo of his daughter sitting on one of the floating lily pads became a big hit. Paxton didn’t stop there - he found he could load a leaf with a whopping five children. After taking a closer look, he discovered that the leaves’ ribs formed a cantilevered support system that made them so strong.
In 1850, Paxton designed the Crystal Palace, the ginormous iron and glass building that was the centerpiece for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Modeled on the ribbing system of the giant lily pad, it was considered an engineering marvel and the first major use of iron in architecture. Paxton was knighted and lived happily ever after. Isn’t that neat? Someday I hope to do the same and realize that the way I rubber-cement my collages could lead to a better way of crab-fishing in the Bering Sea… Wait for it, wait for it…
Photos above from moplants.com and francisfrith.com.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Candy,
Thanks for making this connection between two of the things I love most in the world. I saw these giant lily pads last summer at the Oxford Botanical Garden in the UK, and I have been obsessed with the Crystal Palace for about 8 years. These items swim around in my head pretty much every day and now they will pair up.