steel arch buildings

To put it in the simplest of words, Quonset huts are nothing but a building structure made up of lightweight metal arranged in the shape of a semicircular cross section extended over a considerable area to shade the ground. The cross section of the surface is semi circular, which is basically a sheet of iron or other popular alloys of iron and are further coated with a layer of Zinc or Tin, as the case may be to add to the resistance towards getting corroded. The first Quonset hut was first produced in a small village in the Rhode Island called Davisville at specific location called Quonset Point. This explains the name of Quonset huts.

Necessity is the mother of all inventions, and so was the case with Quonset huts. They were first made to cater to the need of such a multipurpose and durable structure was felt during the Second World War was by the USA naval forces. The advantages of these structures were many including mobility, light weight, multi purpose and easy construction. To add on to the quality of hassle free assembly of a Quonset Hut it could be put to any use since it absolutely resisted any austerity of weather including rains, hail, snowfall etc. Very soon this product became well admired with the traders, store housekeepers and farmers and was at once accepted and a wide variety of structures with an equally wide variety of uses.

The added advantage of Quonset huts is that it is cheaper in price and can be easily built in factory and reassembled with equal ease. This is one unique characteristic of Quonset huts and makes it stand apart from the conventional forms of immovable property. The metallic structures of Quonset huts are now a day being made to allow plantation of windows and partitions but not fully. This is only a temporary phase and we may see soon Quonset huts with specified designs at the very stage of placing orders. Manufacturers are genuinely trying to honor the needs of the clients who approach them with very specific problems, requiring equally specific solutions and thereby needing manufacturers to provide with varying design on a base framework of the Quonset huts.

People in the slowing down economies are looking for business ideas that have not been exploited by many. Quonset huts are one basic business field where one can do a lot of variation in terms of structure and ideas and earn good money. The best part with this business is that it is one where the demand is on a constant high. In agriculture oriented economies, these are widely acclaimed since they can be easily erected in farms and put to various uses from protection of crops to harboring of grains etc. A spectrum of ideas have already been implemented in Quonset huts like one can act as a trader, supplier, manufacturer, deal maker and agent for marketing of Quonset huts. It is emphasized that such splendid piece of engineering are always welcomed in the world of storehouses and people are willing to acquire them for they are simply the better form of storehouses with a wide range of uses to which they can be put.

Quonset huts are a unique architectural phenomena, a revolutionary concept in temporary housing. 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 concept of this kind of temporary accommodation increased in use during the 1941 when the US Navy required a dependable housing facility. 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 application as military shelters, many other contractors began developing their own versions of the Quonset hut 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. Versions of the Quonset hut model were manufactured to meet specific requirements, a prime example being the Pacific huts, which helped even conserve metal reserves. Some designs of Quonset huts were even constructed as air raid cover. 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.