Quonset huts: Emerging Housing Solutions
An unusual concept in temporary housing designs, Quonset huts are indeed an innovative conception. Quonset huts are essentially lightweight buildings designed from galvanized iron structured with in a hemispherical cross section. The design of Quonset huts was inspired from the Nissen hut model and was made popular by the British during World War I. The Nissen hut itself had several disadvantages such as the complicated unit of corrugated steel and the insulation which was derived from the way the panels were put together, so the Government suggested improvements to make shipping and assembly easier. The name Quonset was derived from the initial site of manufacture, Quonset Point in Davisville, which is a village in Rhode Island. The original design was 5 m by 11 m and was framed with semicircular steel pipes 2.4 m in radius, which were covered on the sides with corrugated steel sheets. The sides of the main unit was cut out to include the doors and windows in wooden ply, and the thermal protected central area had wooden flooring.
The very idea of this type of provisional housing facilities increased in use post 1941 when the US Navy needed reliable shelters for its military bases. The answer lay in constructing a lightweight shelter that could be readily shipped anywhere and did not require expert hands during assembly. The structures needed no special flooring to assemble on and could be placed as easily on the ground as on steel pilings or hard concrete floors. The interiors could be used as needed and the open area could be concerted into residential units, military offices, storage structures or even be used as barracks. Quonsets instantly provided the US troops with better comfort than did other temporary shelters such as tents with wooden platforms, which were the common structures used then.
From its original usage as military structures, Quonset huts have seen many enhancements and other companies began to make variations to the model for other uses. The basic structure has undergone several redesigns and the major one occurred in 1943 when the manufacturing unit at Quonset Point was reestablished as part of the Stran Steel Division of the Great Lakes Steel Corporation. This modified Quonset hut was more stretched out and had a structure that used the original full arch rib. Some variations of the Quonset hut structures were created to serve special needs, such as the wooden Pacific hut, and many of these did save valuable metal resources. Some had heavy steel piping and these were specifically built to serve as air raid shelters. Several larger units and multi arched Quonset huts have also been built as a response to special requests, government or civil.
Originally Quonset huts did come up to solve military requirements, but have since risen to an architectural icon. Quonset huts have with time become a more accepted mode of housing and are a reflection of the American spirit of invention. Quonset huts are truly a one of a kind blend of practicality, and a unique mixture of the unusual and the innovative.
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by: fredthompson
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