Henri Labrouste
and the Biblioteque St. Genevieve:
- In the Biblioteque St. Genevieve, trusses are created using iron vs. the traditional
wood.
- The building is completed in 1850. This is concurrent to the construction of the crystal
palace but the design had happened well before the crystal palace so Labrouste presumably
would have had no knowledge of it. He would, however, have been familiar with train shed
construction.
- The inside of the main reading room, the space is comparable to the interior of train
sheds.
- Exterior walls are some 6’ deep piers. Within the piers are the bookshelves which
are made of cast iron.
- A set of columns divide the reading room into two long narrow spaces, similar to the
strategy used in the Paestum temple.
- The central columns are composed of a thin iron upper portion resting on a masonry base.
- Preliminary sketches start with Labrouste drawing rather conventional forms, as in
stone, though presumably done in cast iron. The sketches show the evolution of the design
into a dual layer roof system which contains an elaborated ribbed arch visible on the
interior and a much lighter structural iron truss system above.
- Iron trusses are tied through the masonry wall and are secured by the iron rondel on the
exterior.
- Where Paxton articulates the connection, Labrouste disguises the joints.
- See
additional material on the Biblioteque St. Genevieve.
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