Looking Forward to Architectural- Engineering Practice
T
HE construction of buildings in 1918 was restricted to those having an occupancy devoted to war purposes. This limitation naturally confined the new work to certain industrial plants, army and navy base warehouses, ordnance depots, shipbuilding plants and industrial housing prospects. These undertakings are of a permanent character. New cantonments and additions to those constructed in 1917, loading plants and hospitals were very largely of temporary construction.
In all of this work there was nothing developed which is of especial interest from the purely archi
tectural or engineering viewpoint. The buildings were strictly utilitarian in character and the designs made to use available materials. The main feature of this work was the matter of constructing the buildings in as short a time as possible. This required the use of executive ability which resulted in the competent organization of all the elements employed. The outcome of these undertakings has, as a whole, been adequate to the needs.
One great benefit will accrue to the building industry from the bringing together, in intimate contact, the architect, engineer and contracting forces from all parts of the United States. Each came to the job with his local methods and ideas and the most meritorious generally got proper consideration. Local prejudices have been largely wiped out and architects and engineers are approaching a unity of thought, method and purpose that could not have been effected in any other way or in so short a period of time. To illustrate: A wellknown western engineer was assigned to oversee the planning of a large pier to accommodate oceangoing vessels and railroad connections. This engineer’s experience had never included a contact with such a problem. He found that the concrete floor slabs were designed, as customary in that port, as simple beams supported at both ends. To secure economy in materials he suggested that they be designed as continuous beams. Opposition to this proposal was based on the theory that the simple beam would best meet the condition resulting from a settlement of the supporting pile foundations and precedent. An investigation showed that no pier in that large port had any such settlement and that the expensive and wasteful design was made to care for a condition that never happened. The pier has been built on the continuous beam design
and the future will disclose the correctness of the new idea. Numberless other instances could be cited to show the great advantage of this commingling of professional men, all working against time to achieve a common end.
Construction methods will profit by this experience and those from every locality will have gained some valuable knowledge to apply in the work of normal times. The fixed procedure, guided by precedents, will be diluted with the short-cut and direct methods of the newer communities where problems are solved, as they arise, by using the best judgment available in lieu of a definite experience. Some practices of the older sections will be carried away to strengthen the usages of the younger communities.
It would appear then that a gain has been made in the ability to adjust building construction to the available materials and in the equalization of methods of design and building, obliterating some localisms and making some of these general in their application.
There is no doubt but that the revival of the building industry will be hastened by the knowledge gained during the abnormal period just terminated. This knowledge and experience will be applied to a better use of the materials that enter into the structural parts of the building, such better use being accomplished by giving the materials more work to do through the increase of fiber stresses, an added refinement in structural design and other means. As a nation, Americans have been wasteful in the use of many materials, due to their comparative cheapness. No material is cheap to-day and it is probable that their cost will never reach the prewar levels. This increase in cost will, in many instances, be overcome by a more intelligent use. Construction equipment will be improved to reduce human labor, and labor will undoubtedly become more valuable as the relations between the employer and the craftsman become more reasonable and satisfactory. The common interest of both will become more apparent during what appears to be a short, necessary and somewhat troublous period of readjustment.
The relations between architects, engineers and contractors can be modified in some ways, resulting in economies. Under present procedure there is a wasteful duplication of work. This obtains in the necessity of contractors maintaining drafting or
T
HE construction of buildings in 1918 was restricted to those having an occupancy devoted to war purposes. This limitation naturally confined the new work to certain industrial plants, army and navy base warehouses, ordnance depots, shipbuilding plants and industrial housing prospects. These undertakings are of a permanent character. New cantonments and additions to those constructed in 1917, loading plants and hospitals were very largely of temporary construction.
In all of this work there was nothing developed which is of especial interest from the purely archi
tectural or engineering viewpoint. The buildings were strictly utilitarian in character and the designs made to use available materials. The main feature of this work was the matter of constructing the buildings in as short a time as possible. This required the use of executive ability which resulted in the competent organization of all the elements employed. The outcome of these undertakings has, as a whole, been adequate to the needs.
One great benefit will accrue to the building industry from the bringing together, in intimate contact, the architect, engineer and contracting forces from all parts of the United States. Each came to the job with his local methods and ideas and the most meritorious generally got proper consideration. Local prejudices have been largely wiped out and architects and engineers are approaching a unity of thought, method and purpose that could not have been effected in any other way or in so short a period of time. To illustrate: A wellknown western engineer was assigned to oversee the planning of a large pier to accommodate oceangoing vessels and railroad connections. This engineer’s experience had never included a contact with such a problem. He found that the concrete floor slabs were designed, as customary in that port, as simple beams supported at both ends. To secure economy in materials he suggested that they be designed as continuous beams. Opposition to this proposal was based on the theory that the simple beam would best meet the condition resulting from a settlement of the supporting pile foundations and precedent. An investigation showed that no pier in that large port had any such settlement and that the expensive and wasteful design was made to care for a condition that never happened. The pier has been built on the continuous beam design
and the future will disclose the correctness of the new idea. Numberless other instances could be cited to show the great advantage of this commingling of professional men, all working against time to achieve a common end.
Construction methods will profit by this experience and those from every locality will have gained some valuable knowledge to apply in the work of normal times. The fixed procedure, guided by precedents, will be diluted with the short-cut and direct methods of the newer communities where problems are solved, as they arise, by using the best judgment available in lieu of a definite experience. Some practices of the older sections will be carried away to strengthen the usages of the younger communities.
It would appear then that a gain has been made in the ability to adjust building construction to the available materials and in the equalization of methods of design and building, obliterating some localisms and making some of these general in their application.
There is no doubt but that the revival of the building industry will be hastened by the knowledge gained during the abnormal period just terminated. This knowledge and experience will be applied to a better use of the materials that enter into the structural parts of the building, such better use being accomplished by giving the materials more work to do through the increase of fiber stresses, an added refinement in structural design and other means. As a nation, Americans have been wasteful in the use of many materials, due to their comparative cheapness. No material is cheap to-day and it is probable that their cost will never reach the prewar levels. This increase in cost will, in many instances, be overcome by a more intelligent use. Construction equipment will be improved to reduce human labor, and labor will undoubtedly become more valuable as the relations between the employer and the craftsman become more reasonable and satisfactory. The common interest of both will become more apparent during what appears to be a short, necessary and somewhat troublous period of readjustment.
The relations between architects, engineers and contractors can be modified in some ways, resulting in economies. Under present procedure there is a wasteful duplication of work. This obtains in the necessity of contractors maintaining drafting or