Technology and Control in the Crystal Palace and Larkin Administration Building
The Crystal Palace interior, public domain The Great Exhibition of 1851 lasted five months and left behind a completely transformed society. Heralding several monumental shifts in design and architectural theory, The Crystal Palace [Paxton, Hyde Park, London, 1850-1851] was a new sort of exhibition space- one defined by massive scale and innovative materiality. Around half a century later, Frank Lloyd Wright would employ many of the same technologies and ideas when designing the Larkin Administration building [Wright, Larkin Administration Building, Buffalo, NY, 1904-06] Both buildings exemplify the use of architecture as a tool to standardize human behavior and productivity within the constraints of the machine. This is achieved through the introduction of mass produced building elements, as well as the development of new systems of organization and the introduction of new structural technologies that allow for open-plan, easily surveilled interiors. These concepts are still co