Dome

Detail, Ionic capital designed by Sir Robert Smirke (1823-1848); When the British Library, previously housed in the central courtyard (with the Round Reading Room in the center) moved into a new building in 1997, the central court was redeveloped to become the Great Court. Colin St. John Wilson, the architect of the new library, developed the first plan for the new museum court in the 1970s which Foster took as his starting point. The court has a tessellated glass roof designed by Buro Happold and executed by Waagner-Biro, covering the entire court and surrounding the original Reading Room in the center, now the museum library. (A new outer wall was constructed for the Reading Room, this supports the glass roof). It is the largest covered square in Europe. The glass and steel roof is made up of 4,878 unique steel members connected at 1,566 unique nodes and 1,656 pairs of glass windowpanes making up 6,100 m2 of glazing; each of a unique shape because of the undulating nature of the roof. It was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 7/16/2012)