0:00:05 > 0:00:09Architecture is the story of the buildings that surround us.
0:00:09 > 0:00:14It also tells us of an alternative world, the one that was never built.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19This is the story of that possible world
0:00:19 > 0:00:21and the Britain that could have been.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26The unbuilt can take many forms.
0:00:26 > 0:00:31If you take your typical architect, probably he'll realise - or she -
0:00:31 > 0:00:34one in ten buildings.
0:00:34 > 0:00:39In other words, for every ten buildings or projects
0:00:39 > 0:00:42that you design, one will get built.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49In this series, I'm going to explore the extraordinary possible worlds
0:00:49 > 0:00:51that would have been created
0:00:51 > 0:00:54by astonishing architectural and engineering projects
0:00:54 > 0:00:57that were proposed, but never built.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07Welcome to the amazing world of Unbuilt Britain.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24By profession, I'm an architectural historian and investigator,
0:01:24 > 0:01:28a job that puts me in contact with plans that have the potential
0:01:28 > 0:01:30to change the way we live.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Across this series, I want to examine
0:01:34 > 0:01:37why six of the most ambitious schemes in history
0:01:37 > 0:01:39never made it off the drawing board.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43My first case follows an inspirational trail
0:01:43 > 0:01:46that leads from the structure of a lily leaf,
0:01:46 > 0:01:50to what would have been the biggest glass building in the world.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53And I also find out how a landscape gardener
0:01:53 > 0:01:57designed the perfect city for cars.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01Both these projects were attempts at keeping the city connected
0:02:01 > 0:02:03and the traffic flowing.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11Ever since the rise of large cities,
0:02:11 > 0:02:14the problem of congestion and moving around town
0:02:14 > 0:02:17has been a challenge that both architects and engineers
0:02:17 > 0:02:19have tried to solve.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25In the overcrowded streets of 19th century London,
0:02:25 > 0:02:26this problem was acutely felt.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32The population had exploded from one million
0:02:32 > 0:02:36to nearly seven million in less than 100 years,
0:02:36 > 0:02:39making London the world's first global megacity.
0:02:42 > 0:02:43People coming here
0:02:43 > 0:02:47were overwhelmed by the experience of being among so many people,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50where the simple business of getting across town
0:02:50 > 0:02:53was an exhausting and nerve-racking ordeal.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56But architects and city planners realised
0:02:56 > 0:02:59that if London were to flourish,
0:02:59 > 0:03:02it needed proper transport communications
0:03:02 > 0:03:05to keep people and goods circulating.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08Victorian London becomes the modern city that we know,
0:03:08 > 0:03:09in part because the Victorians
0:03:09 > 0:03:12can develop things like underground railways,
0:03:12 > 0:03:14which they did in this city, in the City of London,
0:03:14 > 0:03:16the world's first underground system.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19And it provided a way to connect different people in different ways
0:03:19 > 0:03:21that had never been experienced before.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25The greatest thing about a city is that it's a meeting place
0:03:25 > 0:03:28of strangers and ideas
0:03:28 > 0:03:31and concepts that would never, ever,
0:03:31 > 0:03:33find the light of day anywhere else.
0:03:35 > 0:03:41When people and ideas flow freely, the city takes on a life of its own,
0:03:41 > 0:03:45pumping like blood in a living body, or power in a machine.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48It's no coincidence the tube map
0:03:48 > 0:03:50looks just like a giant wiring diagram.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57Keeping us all circulating is vital for the health of the city.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Intriguingly, many of the best solutions
0:04:00 > 0:04:02our architects and engineers came up with
0:04:02 > 0:04:04were never actually built.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10The archives are stuffed to bursting with some astonishing plans
0:04:10 > 0:04:13that would have transformed the city.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20Here's an early solution to the problem of traffic congestion,
0:04:20 > 0:04:24a 19th century proposal for tunnels beneath the streets.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26This isn't the tube as we know it,
0:04:26 > 0:04:28this is for the working classes only.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33They were segregated below ground
0:04:33 > 0:04:36to allow the rich the freedom of the street above,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39without being blocked by the Victorian equivalent
0:04:39 > 0:04:40of a white van man.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45When steam power arrived,
0:04:45 > 0:04:47one visionary designer
0:04:47 > 0:04:50planned to build a railway down the middle of the Thames.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55By the 1960s, architects thought
0:04:55 > 0:04:58that helicopters would become commonplace
0:04:58 > 0:05:00and saw the way ahead written in the skies.
0:05:02 > 0:05:0550 years before The Shard became a reality,
0:05:05 > 0:05:08this ground-breaking 1,000-foot tower of glass
0:05:08 > 0:05:12was planned for North London, complete with helicopter access.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16But two plans that really catch my attention
0:05:16 > 0:05:20are both striking and futuristic in different ways.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24Separated by a century, both developments used glass technology
0:05:24 > 0:05:28to solve the problem of our congested streets.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33Motopia, a city of glass designed for the car.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36Decades ahead of its time,
0:05:36 > 0:05:40Motopia was the brainchild of Geoffrey Jellicoe in the 1960s.
0:05:42 > 0:05:47But first, I want to explore plans for the Great Victorian Way.
0:05:47 > 0:05:48Dating from the 1850s,
0:05:48 > 0:05:52it would have been an 11-mile glass-covered thoroughfare
0:05:52 > 0:05:54around central London.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58Designed to solve traffic congestion in the streets,
0:05:58 > 0:06:01it would have connected the city's main railway stations.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06This amazing scheme was the brainchild of an extraordinary man.
0:06:09 > 0:06:14Joseph Paxton - Sir Joseph Paxton as he would later become -
0:06:14 > 0:06:15was an exceptional man,
0:06:15 > 0:06:19whose life and work embodied much of the can-do culture
0:06:19 > 0:06:20of the new industrial age.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27Joseph Paxton, he's hugely self-motivated, has enormous energy.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30And more to the point, he's self-taught
0:06:30 > 0:06:32and he uses the cards that are dealt to him
0:06:32 > 0:06:35with such acuity and grace and energy,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38that it's almost as if anything's possible.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40Dickens called him the busiest man in England.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44He was a horticulturist, he set up a brand-new newspaper,
0:06:44 > 0:06:46with Dickens as the editor, for a while.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50He was involved as an MP in a number of public schemes,
0:06:50 > 0:06:54but he also designed the first public parks in England.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Went on designing huge mansions for the rich, for the Rothschilds,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00as well as smaller ones for the Duke of Devonshire.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02It was almost as if wherever he saw a problem
0:07:02 > 0:07:05for which he thought he might have a design solution,
0:07:05 > 0:07:06he got involved.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11When Paxton proposed his Great Victorian Way
0:07:11 > 0:07:13to solve London's traffic congestion,
0:07:13 > 0:07:17he was already the most celebrated architect in Britain,
0:07:17 > 0:07:19having recently won the acclaim of the nation
0:07:19 > 0:07:24with his famous cast-iron and glass building, the Crystal Palace.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Sadly, this extraordinary and innovative building
0:07:30 > 0:07:31no longer exists.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38On the 30th of November 1936,
0:07:38 > 0:07:42the night sky was lit up by a huge fire,
0:07:42 > 0:07:43as the Crystal Palace,
0:07:43 > 0:07:47the architectural parent of the Great Victorian Way,
0:07:47 > 0:07:48burned to the ground.
0:07:50 > 0:07:51These are the ruins
0:07:51 > 0:07:55of Paxton's revolutionary cast-iron and glass building.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58A sad memorial to a visionary architect
0:07:58 > 0:08:02whose design solutions continue to exert an influence
0:08:02 > 0:08:04on the built environment.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08But this original thinker came from a very humble background,
0:08:08 > 0:08:11and his ideas for the Great Victorian Way
0:08:11 > 0:08:15have their root in his origins as a gardener.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19Born in 1803, Paxton's beginnings were really humble.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23He is the son of a Bedfordshire farmer, he is a man of the land,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26and he's one of the first young men
0:08:26 > 0:08:29to ask for a place at the training gardens
0:08:29 > 0:08:32of the new Horticultural Society.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35And that was the cleverest thing he did, in effect,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38because it was from that that his future flowed.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46This magnificent pile is Chatsworth House,
0:08:46 > 0:08:50arguably, and even literally, the hothouse for Paxton's ideas
0:08:50 > 0:08:54which would ultimately inspire the Great Victorian Way.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01He came at the invitation of the Duke of Devonshire,
0:09:01 > 0:09:04who asked him to become head gardener.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06Paxton was just 23 years old.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10He was bursting with enthusiasm and ambitious plans,
0:09:10 > 0:09:15and it was here that he began experimenting with glass,
0:09:15 > 0:09:17building and designing greenhouses
0:09:17 > 0:09:21which were expanding the science of horticulture in novel ways.
0:09:25 > 0:09:26If you put something under glass,
0:09:26 > 0:09:29you can force it,
0:09:29 > 0:09:31you can change its temperature,
0:09:31 > 0:09:34you can change, if you like, the whole temporality.
0:09:34 > 0:09:39You can change time, to put it in a rather exaggerated way,
0:09:39 > 0:09:41you can change space.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44Because you can take plants from all over the world
0:09:44 > 0:09:46and put them in a temperate climate.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49So the idea of changing space and time
0:09:49 > 0:09:53and creating a new, wholly new artificial environment,
0:09:53 > 0:09:56I think that was a very great imaginative pull.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02The conservative wall at Chatsworth
0:10:02 > 0:10:05is a rare example of Paxton's early work with glass structures,
0:10:05 > 0:10:08which would eventually inspire his design
0:10:08 > 0:10:11for the unbuilt Great Victorian Way.
0:10:13 > 0:10:18At the time, glass was a difficult and costly material
0:10:18 > 0:10:22to manufacture on the scale required for construction,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25but this didn't deter the young gardener.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29This glasshouse, which in its current form dates from 1849,
0:10:29 > 0:10:31actually has a wooden frame.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34The combination of cast iron and glass came later.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38But it was here, at Chatsworth, that Paxton had the opportunity
0:10:38 > 0:10:41to experiment with materials and design,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44an apprenticeship that would lead him
0:10:44 > 0:10:47to bigger, much bigger buildings.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49But in the first instance, Paxton's interest in architecture
0:10:49 > 0:10:52merely serviced his passion for plants.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01Paxton shared this horticultural enthusiasm with his employer,
0:11:01 > 0:11:05The Duke of Devonshire, who faced the problem of accommodating
0:11:05 > 0:11:08his growing collection of exotic plants.
0:11:11 > 0:11:12Paxton obliged His Grace
0:11:12 > 0:11:16by designing and building a gigantic greenhouse.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20The cost was enormous.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22A tenth of the Duke's budget for Chatsworth
0:11:22 > 0:11:24was lavished on this vast structure.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28Known as the Great Stove,
0:11:28 > 0:11:30it was 277 feet long,
0:11:30 > 0:11:35123 feet wide and 67 feet high,
0:11:35 > 0:11:39and was the biggest glass building in England
0:11:39 > 0:11:41when it was completed in 1836.
0:11:41 > 0:11:47His great glasshouse, his great conservatory, was amazing.
0:11:47 > 0:11:53It was fired by eight boilers, it was huge.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57And not only did it require heat,
0:11:57 > 0:12:02but because Paxton grew temperate and tropical things
0:12:02 > 0:12:06and put them in a graduated relationship to one another,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09the heating had also to be graduated.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14So the technologies behind creating this vast spectacle
0:12:14 > 0:12:18were incredibly complex, very expensive.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22But, of course, they were a challenge and they delighted Paxton.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27When the young Queen Victoria came to visit Chatsworth,
0:12:27 > 0:12:31she was enchanted by a carriage ride through a glass palace
0:12:31 > 0:12:34lit by 5,000 candles.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38And they drove the Queen in her carriage,
0:12:38 > 0:12:42where everything was lit up beautifully in different colours,
0:12:42 > 0:12:45where tropical birds flew in the branches
0:12:45 > 0:12:47and silver fish were in the ponds.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49Where there were rock crystals
0:12:49 > 0:12:53and winding staircases to walk up and view what was laid out below you.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56It was horticultural theatre,
0:12:56 > 0:12:58nothing like this had ever been done before.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04Today, there is nothing left of Paxton's great conservatory,
0:13:04 > 0:13:06except the outline of its foundations,
0:13:06 > 0:13:10which now contain a maze garden.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13But the success of his design marked the first step on a quest
0:13:13 > 0:13:16to build ever-bigger glass structures
0:13:16 > 0:13:19and would ultimately lead to the Great Victorian Way.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27The next step came after the Duke enlisted Paxton's help
0:13:27 > 0:13:32in a race to be the first to bring a giant Amazonian water lily to bloom.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37At Kew Gardens, I've tracked down a woman
0:13:37 > 0:13:41who's a direct descendant of the man who coaxed the lily to flower.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47Theodora Waite is Paxton's great-great-granddaughter.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52I'm meeting her to find out how Paxton found inspiration in nature
0:13:52 > 0:13:54for all his great buildings.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57So, Theodora, it's very appropriate that we've met here
0:13:57 > 0:13:59in the Lily House at Kew Gardens,
0:13:59 > 0:14:01because lilies, and in particular this one here,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04have a special significance for your family, don't they?
0:14:04 > 0:14:05Yes, they do.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07Paxton was very involved with that lily
0:14:07 > 0:14:09when it was brought into England.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12They needed to have it blooming and he built a special house for it.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16He even considered using electricity to get the flower to rise.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18Because everybody was so disappointed,
0:14:18 > 0:14:19they had this beautiful thing,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22they'd seen it flowering in the Amazon, it was doing nothing.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26And Paxton built a house, the light came, and it flowered,
0:14:26 > 0:14:27which was fantastic.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30And Queen Victoria was one of the first recipients of the blooms?
0:14:30 > 0:14:31Yes, she was.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34She was very lucky, I mean, it's a beautiful, beautiful thing.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36And it was a huge achievement on Paxton's behalf
0:14:36 > 0:14:39and created a great excitement, didn't it?
0:14:39 > 0:14:42Hmm, absolutely. There was a mania, apparently,
0:14:42 > 0:14:44this lily mania, but he wanted to put the lily to more use
0:14:44 > 0:14:46than just being a pretty thing.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49Once he'd got it flowering, being Paxton, he wanted more from it,
0:14:49 > 0:14:54and he actually cribbed some strength ideas from beneath the leaves.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56And we can see the underside there of the lily.
0:14:56 > 0:14:57Mmm-hmm.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59- And those ribs radiating out. - Mmm-hmm.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02Paxton called that a natural feat of engineering
0:15:02 > 0:15:05and it was that principle that he used in other designs.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08He did, yes, the ridge-and-furrow principle.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10And I think he had great faith in nature.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13I think he stole nature's ideas along the line a lot of the time.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16Mimicking the veins of the giant lily leaf,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20Paxton's ridge-and-furrow building system
0:15:20 > 0:15:23enabled a structure to be both light and strong.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27He thought, this is going to work for one of my greenhouses,
0:15:27 > 0:15:31the ridge-and-furrow system. But I need to have a real boost,
0:15:31 > 0:15:32because he wanted to get his own way
0:15:32 > 0:15:35and build this construction in his mind.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38So he put his daughter on it, he had the Illustrated London News,
0:15:38 > 0:15:40who were there doing a little sketch, checking it out.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42And there was no problem.
0:15:42 > 0:15:43She just stood there and it didn't sink.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47It was strong and, of course, he'd proved his point, engineering-wise,
0:15:47 > 0:15:49and he'd got the attention of the nation.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51There they all were, it worked!
0:15:51 > 0:15:54And have you inherited his green fingers?
0:15:54 > 0:15:56Well, I hope so, I did win a gardening prize once,
0:15:56 > 0:15:58I won a strimmer!
0:15:58 > 0:16:00THEY LAUGH
0:16:00 > 0:16:02With the ridge-and-furrow building system,
0:16:02 > 0:16:06Paxton was able to span larger areas than ever before.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11This technique facilitated the design of the Great Victorian Way,
0:16:11 > 0:16:12a glass megastructure
0:16:12 > 0:16:15that would have been the biggest building on Earth.
0:16:15 > 0:16:17To appreciate fully
0:16:17 > 0:16:20the significance of the lesson Paxton drew from nature,
0:16:20 > 0:16:22I'm heading to the Victoria and Albert Museum,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25where I want to track down the first sketch
0:16:25 > 0:16:28for the masterpiece he did build, the Crystal Palace.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32Now, this really is amazing.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34It may not look much,
0:16:34 > 0:16:38but this sketch represents a revolution in building design.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42It brought architecture and industry closer together than ever before.
0:16:46 > 0:16:51The Crystal Palace was built to house the Great Exhibition of 1851,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54the world's first celebration of free trade.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Using the ridge-and-furrow construction system
0:16:59 > 0:17:00he'd copied from the lily leaf,
0:17:00 > 0:17:05Paxton's design was essentially a gigantic greenhouse.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07But what a greenhouse!
0:17:09 > 0:17:11Spectators were dazzled,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15they'd never seen a building which confounded perspective
0:17:15 > 0:17:19in the way that this glass building did, because it cast no shadow.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22So, for us, it's incredibly hard
0:17:22 > 0:17:26to imagine how fairy-like that must have seemed.
0:17:26 > 0:17:32How much it confirmed to those mid-Victorians
0:17:32 > 0:17:34that they really were living in the age of progress,
0:17:34 > 0:17:36in the age where anything was possible.
0:17:38 > 0:17:43The Crystal Palace was 1,851 feet long
0:17:43 > 0:17:46and 128 feet high.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50Its cast-iron pillars supported an area of glass
0:17:50 > 0:17:53the equivalent of 20 football pitches.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57It was considered at the time to be a revolutionary building,
0:17:57 > 0:17:59I think it's still revolutionary.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03That was 1 million square feet in eight months with 2,000 people.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07And they had to invent the techniques and the components,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10they didn't exist at the time.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18Paxton's prefabricated modular design
0:18:18 > 0:18:21was a precursor to many of the building techniques
0:18:21 > 0:18:24now familiar to us in the modern world.
0:18:24 > 0:18:25Using cast iron and glass,
0:18:25 > 0:18:29parts were mass-produced, in volume, to standard sizes.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31Which meant, in theory,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34that multiple versions of the same building could be produced,
0:18:34 > 0:18:37or even assembled in completely different ways,
0:18:37 > 0:18:39like Meccano or Lego.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43The entire structure of the Crystal Palace was put together
0:18:43 > 0:18:46using just 48 different types of component.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57The design of the Crystal Palace may have pointed to the future,
0:18:57 > 0:19:01but surprisingly, the glass it used was still manufactured
0:19:01 > 0:19:03in the traditional way, by blowing.
0:19:05 > 0:19:10Well, glass-blowing itself has been around for about 2,000 years.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13It was... Most techniques that we still use today
0:19:13 > 0:19:15were originally developed by the Romans.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17There's a bit of debate
0:19:17 > 0:19:20as to whether or not the Romans invented glass-blowing,
0:19:20 > 0:19:22but they certainly developed most of the techniques
0:19:22 > 0:19:24that we still use today.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31'The way you actually make a glass object,
0:19:31 > 0:19:33'you have to make it with a human breath,
0:19:33 > 0:19:35'you have to blow the glass.'
0:19:35 > 0:19:40And thus, glass, I think, is always associated with air,
0:19:40 > 0:19:47with spirit, with something which is weightless and transcendental.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51It seems an extraordinary paradox
0:19:51 > 0:19:55that glass, this weightless, transparent material,
0:19:55 > 0:20:01should be made out of the basic matter of the universe - sand.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06'Breath and sand were the basis of glass manufacture
0:20:06 > 0:20:08'in Victorian times.'
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Now, the way in which the Crystal Palace windows were made,
0:20:13 > 0:20:17involved a man gathering a large amount of glass on a blowpipe,
0:20:17 > 0:20:20and he blew it and that created a football.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23He then swung that football,
0:20:23 > 0:20:27and gravity and centrifugal force extended it into a sausage.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30You take that sausage, you allow it to cool down,
0:20:30 > 0:20:34you chop the top and the bottom off it, and you're left with a cylinder.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38You then use a diamond to scratch along the inside of the cylinder
0:20:38 > 0:20:39to create a crack,
0:20:39 > 0:20:41put it into a furnace, unravel it,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44and you've ended up with a flat sheet of glass.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50When Paxton designed the Crystal Palace,
0:20:50 > 0:20:55every one of the 12 million panes of glass in the enormous roof
0:20:55 > 0:20:58was blown by human breath.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00Now, that's a lot of puff!
0:21:00 > 0:21:03And it's incredible to think that such a revolutionary building
0:21:03 > 0:21:07was so intimately connected to the stuff of life.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12Part of the attraction of Paxton's Crystal Palace was the novelty
0:21:12 > 0:21:16of being enclosed in an artificial environment made of glass.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19Nowadays, we may be used to such spaces,
0:21:19 > 0:21:21but we are always drawn to them,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24like here in the Great Court at the British Museum.
0:21:27 > 0:21:32The history of buildings is really the history of glass
0:21:32 > 0:21:34in its many different forms.
0:21:34 > 0:21:39I think that there are associations of release,
0:21:39 > 0:21:42of communing with nature,
0:21:42 > 0:21:44or bringing nature inside,
0:21:44 > 0:21:48because we all like the benefit of the view.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51If it's a sunny day, to know it.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54In a way, we've been released from the cave,
0:21:54 > 0:21:58and the story of architecture is the release from the cave.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03Paxton's brilliant use of glass
0:22:03 > 0:22:05pointed the way for others to follow.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08His use of prefabrication and modular design
0:22:08 > 0:22:11was quickly copied and adapted,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14and soon glass canopies were thrown up
0:22:14 > 0:22:16to cover all manner of civic spaces.
0:22:16 > 0:22:21But no-one else quite had Paxton's vision and ambition.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Paxton had proved with his revolutionary building techniques
0:22:24 > 0:22:29how it was possible to cover larger and larger expanses with glass.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32But why not think even bigger?
0:22:32 > 0:22:34Why not use the design principles
0:22:34 > 0:22:37that had been such a success with the Crystal Palace
0:22:37 > 0:22:39to transform the whole city?
0:22:43 > 0:22:47For years, London had been suffering from chronic overcrowding.
0:22:47 > 0:22:53The population had increased by 700% in under three generations.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56The streets were choked and there just wasn't the infrastructure
0:22:56 > 0:22:58to cope with so many people.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01Thinking on a vast scale,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04Paxton came up with a scheme to solve this problem
0:23:04 > 0:23:07and to make London the greatest city on earth.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11He wanted to connect the main railway stations,
0:23:11 > 0:23:12free up the streets,
0:23:12 > 0:23:16and make it possible to cross the city in just 15 minutes.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20Difficult today, even on a congestion-busting Boris Bike,
0:23:20 > 0:23:22and unthinkable in the 1850s.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28At the V&A are some remarkable drawings
0:23:28 > 0:23:31that show how Paxton's vision had evolved
0:23:31 > 0:23:34from his early experiments with glass at Chatsworth.
0:23:34 > 0:23:35What Paxton came up with
0:23:35 > 0:23:40was essentially a giant, elongated Crystal Palace.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42And this is the only surviving drawing
0:23:42 > 0:23:45that shows his projected scheme.
0:23:45 > 0:23:46Like the Crystal Palace,
0:23:46 > 0:23:49it was going to be much more than just a greenhouse.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01Under a vast roof of glass,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04100 feet tall and 70 feet wide,
0:24:04 > 0:24:06stretching for almost 11 miles,
0:24:06 > 0:24:11Paxton proposed an integrated transport and communication system
0:24:11 > 0:24:14around the heart of the city.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16Had it been built, the Great Victorian Way
0:24:16 > 0:24:20would have been by far the biggest building in the world.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27It was immensely ambitious,
0:24:27 > 0:24:32and it was seen as a connecting web of transport
0:24:32 > 0:24:37that would transform the way people moved in the city.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42The Great Victorian Way would have crossed the Thames in three places,
0:24:42 > 0:24:46linking up the big railway stations around the edges of the City.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50'It followed the course broadly taken now
0:24:50 > 0:24:52'by the Circle line on the Underground,
0:24:52 > 0:24:54'which was also a sort of communication circle
0:24:54 > 0:24:58that had been conceived by many architects and designers before,
0:24:58 > 0:24:59'including Wren.'
0:24:59 > 0:25:03But what Paxton came up with was this revolutionary idea
0:25:03 > 0:25:06of making something that was multi-functioning,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09so it would provide not just access to pedestrians,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12and to buses, and hackney cabs and so on,
0:25:12 > 0:25:15but it would also have several different railway lines,
0:25:15 > 0:25:16it would have some hotels,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20it would have some housing, it would have some shops.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24It would be, actually, like the multi-functional kind of complexes
0:25:24 > 0:25:30that were built in the early or mid-part of the 20th century.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34Plans for the Great Victorian Way impressed everyone that mattered.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36Paxton argued that his design
0:25:36 > 0:25:39was not only feasible but also affordable.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41He said it would pay for itself through rental incomes
0:25:41 > 0:25:42in a matter of years.
0:25:45 > 0:25:50Won over by Paxton's sales pitch, Prince Albert, the Queen's Consort,
0:25:50 > 0:25:51personally approved of the scheme
0:25:51 > 0:25:55and an Act of Parliament was passed giving the go ahead.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00So why, then, was it never built?
0:26:00 > 0:26:05Was the Great Victorian Way just a fantasy vision of a possible future?
0:26:05 > 0:26:07Were Paxton's plans unrealistic?
0:26:08 > 0:26:10These are some of the questions
0:26:10 > 0:26:15I want to put to architect and Paxton-admirer Eric Kuhne.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18I think the thing that stands out from this drawing
0:26:18 > 0:26:22is that Paxton knew that the right of way of the Great Victorian Way
0:26:22 > 0:26:24had to be able to stand all the changes of the buildings.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27So I believe these things would actually have been brought
0:26:27 > 0:26:30all the way down to the ground, so it was an independent structure
0:26:30 > 0:26:32holding up the glass roof above the street.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35If you think of it kind of like charms on a bracelet,
0:26:35 > 0:26:39with the Great Victorian Way being this necklace or bracelet,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42the buildings should be able to plug in and plug out
0:26:42 > 0:26:45as they change their use, get expanded, grow.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47And how do you think, if this structure had been built,
0:26:47 > 0:26:50it would have changed the way that people lived?
0:26:50 > 0:26:52Paxton had this uncanny ability
0:26:52 > 0:26:56to balance wealth and health in all of his planning.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00This idea of creating an environment that would be safe year-round,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03secure from the elements year-round,
0:27:03 > 0:27:05but also creating an environment
0:27:05 > 0:27:08where entrepreneurs could connect their businesses
0:27:08 > 0:27:10and their innovation and ideas,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13to basically fuel this burgeoning economy
0:27:13 > 0:27:15of the middle of the 19th century.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19And do you think that Paxton's design is now consigned to history?
0:27:19 > 0:27:24These ideas are as fresh and current today as they were 160 years ago.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26And so much so, that 10 years ago
0:27:26 > 0:27:29we proposed for the new West End of London
0:27:29 > 0:27:31that we cover all of Regent Street,
0:27:31 > 0:27:33from Piccadilly Circus to Oxford Circus,
0:27:33 > 0:27:38with glass canopies, and change the greatest street in London
0:27:38 > 0:27:40into the greatest street in Europe
0:27:40 > 0:27:42by making it a year-round place.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44And it's fair to say that it was inspired
0:27:44 > 0:27:47exactly by Paxton's Great Victorian Way.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51So if we look at this cross section through the street,
0:27:51 > 0:27:53we can show you how this works out,
0:27:53 > 0:27:56because it comes together very similar to what he had proposed.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59There's a structure that sits in the pavement
0:27:59 > 0:28:04in line with the existing lampposts, along the street like this, goes up.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08And what that does is support a glass handkerchief dome,
0:28:08 > 0:28:1238 of these things actually, that hover above the street.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14And the great thing about Regent Street
0:28:14 > 0:28:17is that the dimension from building to building
0:28:17 > 0:28:22is almost identical to the dimension of Paxton's Great Victorian Way.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26And the height of our glass, at 106 feet,
0:28:26 > 0:28:29is almost identical to the height that he was proposing.
0:28:29 > 0:28:34So there's a huge transformation of Paxton's original ideals
0:28:34 > 0:28:37now reinterpreted for the 21st century.
0:28:37 > 0:28:38So Paxton's vision lives on?
0:28:38 > 0:28:40Paxton's vision lives on.
0:28:42 > 0:28:44Eric wants to show me a computer model
0:28:44 > 0:28:47of his Paxton-inspired project for Regent Street
0:28:47 > 0:28:51that showcases the transforming power of his glass canopy.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55Eric, this is the most incredible vision of what might be,
0:28:55 > 0:28:58a yet-to-be-built Britain.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01I think Paxton's dream finally has found its home
0:29:01 > 0:29:04here on Nash's Regent Street.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06The idea of the Great Victorian Way
0:29:06 > 0:29:09to provide the hospitality and generosity of a great city,
0:29:09 > 0:29:12is recreated here in the 21st century,
0:29:12 > 0:29:16to turn Regent Street into the pageantry of civic life
0:29:16 > 0:29:20and one of the finest retail destinations in all the world.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22- Let's go shopping!- OK.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28The illusion of a glass canopy over Regent Street
0:29:28 > 0:29:32suggests how Paxton's vision might have looked in the modern capital.
0:29:32 > 0:29:37It's an impressive sight, but, of course, it never happened.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45While Paxton was planning his Great Victorian Way,
0:29:45 > 0:29:48conditions in the capital were rapidly deteriorating,
0:29:48 > 0:29:53signalled by the arrival of an event christened the Great Stink
0:29:53 > 0:29:55by London's long-suffering citizens.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01By 1858, 90 million gallons of untreated, raw sewage
0:30:01 > 0:30:03are flowing into the Thames.
0:30:03 > 0:30:08And that summer, temperatures rise, very high,
0:30:08 > 0:30:11and consequently, the smell coming out of the river
0:30:11 > 0:30:13is enough to make people, simply,
0:30:13 > 0:30:16find it impossible to live and impossible to work.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19So, in fact, even the Government, even Westminster,
0:30:19 > 0:30:21decamps further down the river,
0:30:21 > 0:30:24and the country comes to a sort of a standstill.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32This was a major crisis for both the city
0:30:32 > 0:30:35and for Paxton's glass-covered Great Victorian Way,
0:30:35 > 0:30:39which was now in direct competition with another scheme,
0:30:39 > 0:30:44a proper sewerage system proposed by engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49There simply wasn't the money for both,
0:30:49 > 0:30:51and so Paxton's scheme was shelved,
0:30:51 > 0:30:55as funds were diverted to stem the tide of human effluent.
0:30:56 > 0:31:02The sewer system is a curious, sort of, in a way, terrestrial double
0:31:02 > 0:31:05of this aerial corridor that Paxton envisaged,
0:31:05 > 0:31:09because it does exactly the same thing, it just circulates matter,
0:31:09 > 0:31:11as the Great Victorian Way
0:31:11 > 0:31:14was supposed to circulate people and goods.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16But I think what's interesting about it,
0:31:16 > 0:31:19and that is what's interesting about Paxton's plan
0:31:19 > 0:31:21for the Great Victorian Way too,
0:31:21 > 0:31:26is that you had to see civic society as joined up.
0:31:26 > 0:31:31I know that it's a strange thing to associate civic values with sewerage,
0:31:31 > 0:31:34but I really think you have to.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37And I think that also the Great Victorian Way
0:31:37 > 0:31:40had the same civic values behind it.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44And in that sense, the civic ambition of the Victorians
0:31:44 > 0:31:46has never been equalled.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51There's no doubt that Paxton was disappointed
0:31:51 > 0:31:56not to realise his dream of the Great Victorian Way.
0:31:56 > 0:31:58This design for the Great Victorian Way
0:31:58 > 0:32:01was his last great flight of fancy.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03It was a moment,
0:32:03 > 0:32:05his last moment, really,
0:32:05 > 0:32:09where he allowed his imagination to take flight
0:32:09 > 0:32:12in the way that it had done since he was a young man.
0:32:12 > 0:32:15And there were no more moments like that.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18So whether or not he felt a sense of disappointment
0:32:18 > 0:32:19that it didn't happen,
0:32:19 > 0:32:22I'm almost sure that he would have done,
0:32:22 > 0:32:25but he was always so busy, he was busy until the moment he died.
0:32:25 > 0:32:26He was a terrier of a man.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32The trail of Paxton and the Great Victorian Way
0:32:32 > 0:32:36leads finally back to Chatsworth, where his astonishing career began.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43It's fitting that Paxton was buried at Chatsworth
0:32:43 > 0:32:46in the soil he shaped as a landscape gardener.
0:32:46 > 0:32:51I've come to his grave to pay homage to a man of phenomenal achievement.
0:32:51 > 0:32:56He lived in an era characterised by men of faith and daring,
0:32:56 > 0:33:00who not only imagined a better world, but tried to build it.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24Paxton wasn't the first architect, nor will he be the last,
0:33:24 > 0:33:26to try to build a brighter future.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31But the business of shaping whole cities is a difficult one.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33They have their own dynamic.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35You push one way, the city pulls the other,
0:33:35 > 0:33:39especially when it comes to the problem of keeping us connected.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44The streets of London today
0:33:44 > 0:33:47are in many ways even worse than they were in Victorian times.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49And the reason?
0:33:49 > 0:33:51The internal combustion engine
0:33:51 > 0:33:53that powers millions of motorised vehicles
0:33:53 > 0:33:55through the streets every day.
0:34:01 > 0:34:03The invention of the mass-produced automobile
0:34:03 > 0:34:06was a truly revolutionary moment,
0:34:06 > 0:34:11and perhaps the single greatest development of the 20th century.
0:34:11 > 0:34:12Within a few decades,
0:34:12 > 0:34:16the car was making exceptional demands on the traditional city,
0:34:16 > 0:34:18where streets very quickly became congested.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24The car has really knocked hell out of a lot of cities,
0:34:24 > 0:34:27and it's a testimony
0:34:27 > 0:34:29to the enduring tradition of the city
0:34:29 > 0:34:31that it's survived that.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36But planners and architects initially struggled to cope
0:34:36 > 0:34:39with the onslaught of the motorcar.
0:34:39 > 0:34:41Some became so desperate that they began
0:34:41 > 0:34:44to put their faith in the latest technology.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49Perhaps the aeroplane would take cars off the streets?
0:34:52 > 0:34:56In 1931, architect Charles Glover
0:34:56 > 0:34:59proposed a new London airport at King's Cross.
0:34:59 > 0:35:02Planes would approach down a new aerial way,
0:35:02 > 0:35:04landing on one of several runways,
0:35:04 > 0:35:07which looked like spokes on a giant cartwheel.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12Unsurprisingly, this idea never took off.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15LOCKING SYSTEM BEEPS
0:35:15 > 0:35:17While architects like Glover
0:35:17 > 0:35:20were trying to accommodate the new phenomenon of air transport,
0:35:20 > 0:35:23others were grappling with the problems at ground level.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28ENGINE STARTS UP
0:35:32 > 0:35:35From the early decades of the 20th century,
0:35:35 > 0:35:41there were proposals for elevated roadways, motor highways,
0:35:41 > 0:35:43city underpasses,
0:35:43 > 0:35:45and cloverleaf junctions,
0:35:45 > 0:35:47all catering for the needs of the car.
0:35:50 > 0:35:54In 1937 a highly controversial report, the Bressey Report,
0:35:54 > 0:35:58was published on the state of London's relationship with cars.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01It suggested methods to ease traffic congestion
0:36:01 > 0:36:03that were both practical and prescient.
0:36:06 > 0:36:10Bressey's thought to remould London's cityscape
0:36:10 > 0:36:13with plans that turned Regent Street into a motorway,
0:36:13 > 0:36:16confining pedestrians to elevated walkways.
0:36:17 > 0:36:19There was also a scheme
0:36:19 > 0:36:22to turn Trafalgar Square into a multistorey car park.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27Bressey even imagined a super-elevated highway
0:36:27 > 0:36:30spanning the entire city.
0:36:31 > 0:36:32Astonishing!
0:36:34 > 0:36:37With cherished landmarks under threat,
0:36:37 > 0:36:39it slowly dawned on some people
0:36:39 > 0:36:42that the car was endangering the fabric of the city.
0:36:42 > 0:36:44In the early years of the car's arrival
0:36:44 > 0:36:46and the motorway in the city,
0:36:46 > 0:36:48it was usually a condition of great concern.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50Architects, urbanists, politicians,
0:36:50 > 0:36:53were all worried that the motorcar would destroy cities,
0:36:53 > 0:36:55as we know them. And while it changed them a great deal,
0:36:55 > 0:36:58the bottom line was it provided forms of connectivity
0:36:58 > 0:37:01between those cities and their surrounding areas,
0:37:01 > 0:37:03which had never been experienced before,
0:37:03 > 0:37:06and soon became the basis for ideas to connect cities,
0:37:06 > 0:37:08in new and interesting ways.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20When Britain's first motorway opened in the late 1950s,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23ribbons of concrete and tarmac posed a new question -
0:37:23 > 0:37:27how to stay connected, accommodate the motorcar,
0:37:27 > 0:37:31AND keep a sense of England's green and pleasant land.
0:37:32 > 0:37:36Geoffrey Jellicoe was one of the most visionary designers
0:37:36 > 0:37:38to try and solve this problem.
0:37:38 > 0:37:39Born in 1900,
0:37:39 > 0:37:43he became one of Britain's leading modernist architects.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47His solution to the problem of keeping the city connected
0:37:47 > 0:37:48was to embrace the car
0:37:48 > 0:37:51and place it in a sensitively designed urban landscape.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58Jellicoe called this city of the future Motopia.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01Like Paxton's Great Victorian Way it never happened.
0:38:01 > 0:38:06But to understand why, I need to investigate the thinking behind it.
0:38:07 > 0:38:10As far as Jellicoe was concerned,
0:38:10 > 0:38:15technology was something that had a great deal to offer people.
0:38:15 > 0:38:20He actually used the argument that, for example,
0:38:20 > 0:38:24the car is in many respects a "Bad Thing" - capital letters -
0:38:24 > 0:38:26but, at the same time,
0:38:26 > 0:38:31he felt that the car was a product of the human imagination,
0:38:31 > 0:38:33the human intellect,
0:38:33 > 0:38:37and that it actually gave humans a certain dignity.
0:38:39 > 0:38:41What Jellicoe came up with
0:38:41 > 0:38:44was a new way of thinking about the city.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46A bold vision of the future
0:38:46 > 0:38:48which harmonised technology and people
0:38:48 > 0:38:50around the fact of the car.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53ARCHIVE FOOTAGE: 'The name of this revolutionary project is Motopia,
0:38:53 > 0:38:55'and its location?
0:38:55 > 0:38:57'1,000 acres of land at Staines, Middlesex.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00'Designer Geoffrey Jellicoe, in glasses,
0:39:00 > 0:39:02'claims that although this £60 million plan -
0:39:02 > 0:39:05'cost of a conventional town of the same size -
0:39:05 > 0:39:09'was originally designed for the future, it can be done today
0:39:09 > 0:39:11'as an economic proposition.
0:39:11 > 0:39:12'Well, what are we waiting for?'
0:39:16 > 0:39:2150 years on, Jellicoe's vision still looks futuristic,
0:39:21 > 0:39:24with its rigid grid system of roads and buildings
0:39:24 > 0:39:26separating people and cars.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32Motopia was designed to solve the problem of traffic congestion
0:39:32 > 0:39:36and allow people to enjoy open spaces at ground level.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38Amazingly, cars in Motopia
0:39:38 > 0:39:42were going to run along roads at roof level.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46From these rooftop motorways, drivers would be directed down ramps
0:39:46 > 0:39:49leading to car parks on the level below,
0:39:49 > 0:39:51that gave access to flats and apartments.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59Imagine London's elevated Westway with houses underneath
0:39:59 > 0:40:03and you get an idea of how Jellicoe wanted to connect the city,
0:40:03 > 0:40:06though with none of his elegance or finesse,
0:40:06 > 0:40:10which he demonstrated with his building material of choice - glass.
0:40:14 > 0:40:16Just like Paxton,
0:40:16 > 0:40:20who devised innovative ways of using glass in his designs,
0:40:20 > 0:40:23Jellicoe's city exploited new glass technologies
0:40:23 > 0:40:27which, in the mid-20th century, were transforming architecture.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36The technology that made Motopia possible
0:40:36 > 0:40:39was developed by Pilkington Glass of St Helens.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45In the 1950s, the company led the world with the float glass process,
0:40:45 > 0:40:48a unique method of manufacture.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54'David Martlew is a glass scientist
0:40:54 > 0:40:57'who worked for Pilkington's for 40 years,
0:40:57 > 0:41:02'where float glass is produced at the gigantic kilometre-long plant.'
0:41:04 > 0:41:06I would argue that
0:41:06 > 0:41:10the most significant invention of the 20th century was float glass,
0:41:10 > 0:41:13because it transformed the way that we all live,
0:41:13 > 0:41:15and I think that's important.
0:41:16 > 0:41:20And here we've got the machine that starts the process off.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22So this is the sand, essentially,
0:41:22 > 0:41:25being fed into the furnace?
0:41:25 > 0:41:26The mixture contains sand,
0:41:26 > 0:41:31it contains limestone, dolomite,
0:41:31 > 0:41:32sodium carbonate.
0:41:32 > 0:41:34It also contains broken glass,
0:41:34 > 0:41:38and glass is one of the essentially recyclable materials,
0:41:38 > 0:41:41because broken glass is an essential component
0:41:41 > 0:41:43of what we feed into the furnaces.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45If you take that away, it doesn't melt properly.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47What's the temperature in there?
0:41:47 > 0:41:50The maximum temperature inside the furnace space
0:41:50 > 0:41:53is around about 1,800 degrees Celsius,
0:41:53 > 0:41:57and the chemical reactions that occur are really quite magical,
0:41:57 > 0:42:02because they create a very viscous, gloopy sort of liquid.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06So, having got the liquid, we've then got to make it flat.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10Making it flat is all to do with the float process.
0:42:10 > 0:42:11And that float process
0:42:11 > 0:42:13is what completely revolutionised glass manufacture?
0:42:13 > 0:42:16It revolutionised world glassmaking.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18It was announced in 1959.
0:42:18 > 0:42:2320 years later, virtually all the flat window glass in the world
0:42:23 > 0:42:25was being made by the float process.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27It is THAT important.
0:42:30 > 0:42:33And so, what it is that's happening to the glass at this point?
0:42:33 > 0:42:36At this point, the molten glass is coming out of the end of the furnace.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39So, by here, we've got glass at 1,050 degrees Celsius,
0:42:39 > 0:42:42that's relatively cool. You can feel the heat.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44I can feel the heat here.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48The crucial thing about the float glass process is
0:42:48 > 0:42:51it is a chamber full of molten tin.
0:42:51 > 0:42:57The glass pours gently over a spout into the float glass chamber,
0:42:57 > 0:43:00onto the molten tin, and it spreads out.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03Because the glass is so much lighter than the tin,
0:43:03 > 0:43:05it floats on the surface.
0:43:05 > 0:43:10And by an intriguing combination of the laws of nature,
0:43:10 > 0:43:12that glass settles out
0:43:12 > 0:43:17at roughly a quarter-of-an-inch thick, 6.4 mm thick.
0:43:17 > 0:43:18And that's inevitable.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21That's what happens because of the surface tension balance
0:43:21 > 0:43:23and all the other technical features,
0:43:23 > 0:43:25and that's just the right thickness for windows.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31'It's clear that Pilkington's had started a revolution in glass,
0:43:31 > 0:43:35'and I'm keen to see what the St Helen's plant continues to produce.'
0:43:38 > 0:43:41This is like a solid river, it's really incredibly beautiful.
0:43:41 > 0:43:42Well what we have here
0:43:42 > 0:43:46is what glassmakers have dreamed of for two millennia.
0:43:47 > 0:43:49We've got a continuous ribbon of perfect glass
0:43:49 > 0:43:52emerging in a well-behaved fashion along this roller bed.
0:43:52 > 0:43:57But what we're seeing here, David, is a moment of transformation
0:43:57 > 0:43:59in the possibilities of architecture.
0:43:59 > 0:44:04We are indeed. Never before have we had glass in such a continuous form,
0:44:04 > 0:44:06wide as it is, any length you want,
0:44:06 > 0:44:10perfectly brilliant, perfectly flat.
0:44:11 > 0:44:12And this was the key
0:44:12 > 0:44:17to transforming the architecture of the 1970s and '80s.
0:44:17 > 0:44:19Because now you've got affordable glass
0:44:19 > 0:44:23in sizes that previously architects could only have dreamed of.
0:44:23 > 0:44:28So now you can clad your skyscraper with glass from floor to roof.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31This must have been very liberating for architects.
0:44:31 > 0:44:32I think it was liberating,
0:44:32 > 0:44:36but it needed something to spark the inspiration off,
0:44:36 > 0:44:38and the Glass Age Development Committee
0:44:38 > 0:44:42was Pilkington's very far-sighted move in that direction.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44The Motopia concept showed
0:44:44 > 0:44:48how buildings could be made with big windows.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56Pilkington's float glass process
0:44:56 > 0:45:00made the future of architecture look clear and bright.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02To promote this world-beating product,
0:45:02 > 0:45:06the company formed the Glass Age Development Committee,
0:45:06 > 0:45:10essentially it was the company's propaganda department.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13Its mission? To get architects building in glass.
0:45:15 > 0:45:19'Working with Jellicoe on these inspirational projects
0:45:19 > 0:45:21'was architect Hal Moggridge.'
0:45:21 > 0:45:24I don't know who had the wonderful idea of calling it Glass Age,
0:45:24 > 0:45:26but I think that's what was inspiring everybody, really.
0:45:26 > 0:45:28That here's this wonderful material
0:45:28 > 0:45:31that can really be used in a futuristic sort of way.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33And did you feel excited by that, Hal?
0:45:33 > 0:45:36Oh, yes, I think all young architects did at that time, yes.
0:45:37 > 0:45:41Hal worked with Jellicoe on Crystal 61,
0:45:41 > 0:45:43another unbuilt masterpiece
0:45:43 > 0:45:45showcasing Pilkington's glass technology -
0:45:45 > 0:45:49a 1,000-foot tower in North London.
0:45:51 > 0:45:56The actual project was for an exhibition hall in a tower.
0:45:56 > 0:45:58So from a structural design point of view,
0:45:58 > 0:46:02this strikes me as being rather like the core of a tree,
0:46:02 > 0:46:03it's like a trunk.
0:46:03 > 0:46:07All the movement, vertically, is in the centre of the building,
0:46:07 > 0:46:11so that's both lifts and everything
0:46:11 > 0:46:12and the main structure.
0:46:12 > 0:46:17And this outer web is created by a net of glass
0:46:17 > 0:46:19thrown around the outside.
0:46:19 > 0:46:25Yes, rather like honeycomb. And each is rigid in itself
0:46:25 > 0:46:27and then they're all fixed together in a circle round,
0:46:27 > 0:46:28so they're rigid round,
0:46:28 > 0:46:31and they don't need great structure to hold them up.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35So, it was at that time a new way of handling glass
0:46:35 > 0:46:37over a very tall structure.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40So, much like Paxton was coming up with new solutions
0:46:40 > 0:46:41for having ridge and furrow,
0:46:41 > 0:46:45- and accommodating particular panes of glass in specific sizes?- Yes.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52'Jellicoe's ambitions didn't stop here.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55'Motopia, his city of glass,
0:46:55 > 0:46:58'was inspired not only by thoughts of a glass age,
0:46:58 > 0:47:02'but by his own philosophical approach to architecture.'
0:47:02 > 0:47:05Well, I think the really interesting thing about this for me is
0:47:05 > 0:47:06the traffic is on the roof,
0:47:06 > 0:47:11which, I suspect, is structurally very difficult.
0:47:11 > 0:47:13But what it means is that the whole of the ground
0:47:13 > 0:47:16is landscaped for people who live there to use.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19A great deal of his work was to do with the relationship
0:47:19 > 0:47:22between landscape and inhabited spaces.
0:47:22 > 0:47:24So he was always thinking about
0:47:24 > 0:47:29how you can get the landscape and the people to work together.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31It was a major influence for him.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34And when you were working in Jellicoe's office,
0:47:34 > 0:47:37did you get a sense of his philosophical interests
0:47:37 > 0:47:40that underpin some of his ideas?
0:47:40 > 0:47:43Yes, because he was... They were always to the fore,
0:47:43 > 0:47:46so some of them seemed rather strange,
0:47:46 > 0:47:51but they always had an influence on what he was doing.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01I'm intrigued to learn from Hal that Jellicoe's Motopia,
0:48:01 > 0:48:04along with his other radical and modernist designs,
0:48:04 > 0:48:07were inspired by esoteric philosophy
0:48:07 > 0:48:10and the work of the psychiatrist Carl Jung.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14Shute House in Wiltshire might seem an odd place to explore these ideas,
0:48:14 > 0:48:17but then Jellicoe, like Paxton,
0:48:17 > 0:48:19wasn't just an architect.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22At heart, he was also a gardener...
0:48:24 > 0:48:27and these grounds were shaped by his philosophy.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31Jellicoe was inspired by the natural world
0:48:31 > 0:48:34and humanity's place within it.
0:48:34 > 0:48:38For him, man-made landscapes embodied that relationship.
0:48:38 > 0:48:40As a child he loved the family garden,
0:48:40 > 0:48:43it was a place of delight and wonder.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52The magic of being in a garden left a deep and abiding impression
0:48:52 > 0:48:54on the mind of the young Jellicoe.
0:48:58 > 0:49:03For him, there was something almost spiritual about the experience.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06In later life, he wanted to communicate this feeling
0:49:06 > 0:49:08through his landscape designs.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18The gardens at Shute House are an eloquent expression of his ideas.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26Shute is really the most interesting garden I've ever done.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29It's divided into compartments.
0:49:30 > 0:49:34A series of experiences which are held together by water.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46Jellicoe designed these gardens when he was in his 80s.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51Exploring the atmospheric grounds of Shute House today,
0:49:51 > 0:49:55I get a strong sense of the man who created them.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00But I want to know more about Jellicoe's inspiration,
0:50:00 > 0:50:04and the thinking that influenced his gardens, and his plans for Motopia.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08'Kathryn Moore is a landscape architect
0:50:08 > 0:50:10'and one of Jellicoe's former students.'
0:50:13 > 0:50:17What was the relationship between Jellicoe's ideas about philosophy
0:50:17 > 0:50:18and his design practice?
0:50:18 > 0:50:23He used philosophical ideas to underpin his design work,
0:50:23 > 0:50:28so he would, to create a design narrative, to create...
0:50:28 > 0:50:31A rhetoric that could explain the design.
0:50:31 > 0:50:33He believed very much in the subconscious -
0:50:33 > 0:50:35but in his practice
0:50:35 > 0:50:39he was absolutely informed by historical precedents,
0:50:39 > 0:50:42although he's captivated by the ideas of Jung
0:50:42 > 0:50:44and the ideas of the archetype,
0:50:44 > 0:50:48he knows, he says, nothing can come from nothing.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51One of Jellicoe's aims, as he described it,
0:50:51 > 0:50:57was to reconcile mechanical man and biological man, what did that mean?
0:50:57 > 0:51:00Well, he was concerned about the great problems of the day,
0:51:00 > 0:51:04to do with industrialisation and the ever-increasing use of cars,
0:51:04 > 0:51:07and the growth of cities.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10And I think that, because he thought that landscape architecture
0:51:10 > 0:51:12was the mother of the arts,
0:51:12 > 0:51:14he thought that landscape architecture
0:51:14 > 0:51:16could solve these big problems,
0:51:16 > 0:51:20and he was really concerned about the overwhelming nature of urbanisation
0:51:20 > 0:51:22and the effect that it has on communities.
0:51:22 > 0:51:24As you can see, the Motopia project,
0:51:24 > 0:51:26and what he did there
0:51:26 > 0:51:30to equate the biological side of man with the landscape
0:51:30 > 0:51:36and the mechanistic side with this grid, and he overlaid the two,
0:51:36 > 0:51:40to create this incredibly diverse and differentiated landscape.
0:51:40 > 0:51:44It is a very holistic and integral approach to design and development,
0:51:44 > 0:51:46the processes of development,
0:51:46 > 0:51:47and that's what he was doing,
0:51:47 > 0:51:49he was working on major infrastructure projects.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51The design of towns,
0:51:51 > 0:51:55the location of motorways and new roads, power stations.
0:51:55 > 0:51:58You know, he... That's the sort of projects that engaged him.
0:52:02 > 0:52:06Kathryn explains that Jellicoe saw himself
0:52:06 > 0:52:09as an architect of the whole environment.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13In Motopia, he aimed to create a modern urban landscape
0:52:13 > 0:52:16to enhance the psychological wellbeing of its citizens.
0:52:17 > 0:52:20This might sound rather idealistic,
0:52:20 > 0:52:23but his "glass city" was planned for a real location
0:52:23 > 0:52:25and I'm intrigued to see for myself
0:52:25 > 0:52:28how it would have looked in the landscape.
0:52:33 > 0:52:34To find out,
0:52:34 > 0:52:38I'm heading to a little-known corner of Middlesex near Heathrow,
0:52:38 > 0:52:41which Jellicoe had earmarked for his car city.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48This is the ancient village of Wraysbury,
0:52:48 > 0:52:50mentioned in the Doomsday Book.
0:52:50 > 0:52:52It would have gone to make way for Motopia.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58Lying between the M25 and the busy A30
0:52:58 > 0:53:02is an area of land pockmarked by flooded gravel pits,
0:53:02 > 0:53:04while overhead is the constant noise
0:53:04 > 0:53:07of aircraft taking off from Heathrow.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13It's an unlikely location for a car utopia,
0:53:13 > 0:53:18but it was here that Jellicoe imagined his city of the future,
0:53:18 > 0:53:22all neatly laid out and set in a landscaped environment.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33This was his vision of harmony.
0:53:33 > 0:53:35The mechanical and the biological,
0:53:35 > 0:53:39bound together by the highest aesthetic values.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42But why did Motopia remain on the drawing board,
0:53:42 > 0:53:45a tantalising glimpse of what might have been?
0:53:47 > 0:53:53In Motopia, Jellicoe envisaged that there would be a lot of people
0:53:53 > 0:53:54living very close to each other.
0:53:54 > 0:53:59It's a... It's a very high-density arrangement,
0:53:59 > 0:54:01and he envisaged that there would be
0:54:01 > 0:54:04a certain number of rules and regulations.
0:54:04 > 0:54:07For example, not playing your radio too loudly,
0:54:07 > 0:54:11keeping your windows shut when you did.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14There were all sorts of regulations there,
0:54:14 > 0:54:19which suggests that, perhaps like a number of other modernists,
0:54:19 > 0:54:20he had a very rigid idea
0:54:20 > 0:54:24as to the sort of lives that people should live.
0:54:24 > 0:54:26I think, in practical terms,
0:54:26 > 0:54:31Motopia, with the technology that was available in 1961,
0:54:31 > 0:54:33would have been difficult to achieve.
0:54:33 > 0:54:38In financial terms, it would have been even more awkward.
0:54:38 > 0:54:41It would have required substantial public money
0:54:41 > 0:54:44and I'm not sure that people would have been ready
0:54:44 > 0:54:46for anything quite so radical.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51Jellicoe's Motopia didn't happen,
0:54:51 > 0:54:54but the idea of a city created for the motor age
0:54:54 > 0:54:58was eventually realised by post-war new towns like Milton Keynes,
0:54:58 > 0:55:02where the infrastructure of roads is used in a more conventional way.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05Of course, decent connections are vital,
0:55:05 > 0:55:08but roads are just part of the mix.
0:55:08 > 0:55:12The most important thing about a city,
0:55:12 > 0:55:16the most important thing about the way that people come together,
0:55:16 > 0:55:17is infrastructure.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19The infrastructure of a city
0:55:19 > 0:55:23is infinitely more important than the individual buildings.
0:55:23 > 0:55:27Think of it as the urban glue which binds the buildings together.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30It's the quality of the infrastructure -
0:55:30 > 0:55:33the public spaces, the boulevards, the bridges,
0:55:33 > 0:55:35the public transport, the squares -
0:55:35 > 0:55:39that, that's the experience that we,
0:55:39 > 0:55:43whether we live in a city or whether we visit it, THAT we carry with us.
0:55:43 > 0:55:45That determines the quality of life.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52Paxton's Great Victorian Way and Jellicoe's Motopia
0:55:52 > 0:55:56were attempts to enhance the quality of life
0:55:56 > 0:55:58by improving the infrastructure of the city.
0:56:00 > 0:56:01Today, even more than ever,
0:56:01 > 0:56:04we need versatile and progressive ways
0:56:04 > 0:56:06of connecting to an ever-widening world.
0:56:09 > 0:56:10It's a way of thinking
0:56:10 > 0:56:14that informs Norman Foster's ambitious plans for the future.
0:56:17 > 0:56:20Something like 70% of the energy
0:56:20 > 0:56:23that an industrialised society consumes,
0:56:23 > 0:56:26half is in the building
0:56:26 > 0:56:28and half is in the movement of people and goods
0:56:28 > 0:56:30between the buildings,
0:56:30 > 0:56:32between the cities, between the places.
0:56:32 > 0:56:36So our project addressed that in a holistic manner.
0:56:39 > 0:56:44Foster's scheme is centred around a hub airport in the Thames estuary.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47This would be connected to a high-speed rail network
0:56:47 > 0:56:50that would circle London.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52Britain's great northern cities,
0:56:52 > 0:56:55which for decades have suffered from poor communications,
0:56:55 > 0:57:00would then be directly linked to export markets on the continent,
0:57:00 > 0:57:03giving them a much-needed economic boost.
0:57:03 > 0:57:09It was about taking haulage traffic off the roads
0:57:09 > 0:57:11and most significantly of all,
0:57:11 > 0:57:15to incorporate that with a movement of information -
0:57:15 > 0:57:20with broadband, with power, with waste-to-power management -
0:57:20 > 0:57:25and to somehow tackle this North-South divide.
0:57:25 > 0:57:30So, really, infrastructure and longer-term planning
0:57:30 > 0:57:34are at the heart of addressing those major social issues.
0:57:36 > 0:57:38The Thames Hub is just one of several
0:57:38 > 0:57:41monumental infrastructure schemes
0:57:41 > 0:57:43that have been proposed in recent years
0:57:43 > 0:57:47to keep us all connected, just as Paxton's Great Victorian Way
0:57:47 > 0:57:50and Jellicoe's Motopia tried to do in their time.
0:57:51 > 0:57:53But for any of them to happen
0:57:53 > 0:57:57will require not only money, but also political will.
0:58:00 > 0:58:04Paxton's great projects never made it off the drawing board,
0:58:04 > 0:58:07neither did Jellicoe's utopian city of glass.
0:58:07 > 0:58:12Both projects could easily have been realised, but their moment passed.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15Only time will tell if current visionary projects -
0:58:15 > 0:58:17the yet-to-be-built, like the Thames Hub -
0:58:17 > 0:58:19will be part of our future,
0:58:19 > 0:58:23or join the Great Victorian Way in unbuilt Britain.
0:58:27 > 0:58:31Join me in the next programme, when I'll be looking at a plan
0:58:31 > 0:58:34to turn most of Scotland into an offshore island
0:58:34 > 0:58:37and how the Channel Tunnel could have been a bridge too far.
0:58:56 > 0:58:58Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd