Quonset huts: Emerging Housing Solutions
04/16/09
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 original design of Quonset huts was similar to the Nissen hut building, and gained acceptance post World War I when the English used these structures. Since the original design of the Nissen prototype was an intricate array of corrugated iron panels both inside and the thermal protection came from the space between the panel arrangements, the Government came up with a variation to avoid setbacks during shipping and reassembly. Quonset huts were named after the first manufacturing site, Quonset Point, Danisville, which was part of Rhode Island. The first approved design had a surface area 5 x 11 m and was constructed from hemispherical iron rods with a 2.4 m radius, and these were then covered with ribbed iron panes. The doors and windows were designed off the side of the main structure with regular ply, and the insulated interior contained a wood floor.
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 solution was simple, and the Navy used the lightweight structures which could not only be effortlessly transported but also needed no skilled labor to set up the Quonset huts. 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. These buildings provided the US military with enhanced facilities and were a far cry from the inconvenient tenting on wooden bases that were usually used at that time.
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 designs of Quonset huts were even constructed as air raid cover. Other bulky Quonset hut structures and multi arched variants have also been built to meet specific Government orders as well as civil demands.
Although Quonset huts began as a product of a military necessity, it has rapidly diversified into an iconic symbol of sorts. 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 certainly an exclusive phenomena, where the novel and the extraordinary merge seamlessly.
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