Abraham Darby III and Thomas F Pritchard, Iron bridge at Coalbrookdale, England (first cast-iron bridge over the Severn River)

This piece of architecture I love because I learned something from it. I never knew that this was the first of exposing metal in construction and it being made into art.

            The first example we have of that is Henri Labrouste’s Reading Room, Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve. Exposed metal construction was also a solution to problems, there were high ceilings and for more light it was smarter to have smaller poles that didn’t block the light as much.

            This also led to the Eifel Tower, and at the time everyone thought it was ugly. This is foreign to me because it is one of my favorite landmarks in the world and I think it is just beautiful. And the fact that it all came from using exposed metal in construction boggles my mind.