Prefabrication experiments - 294 - Trade literature - 05 - Politics, materials and the war effort

Cooperative capitalism or nationalistic autarky are influential themes in architecture. Both stem from similar political perspectives for representing authority.  Combining political rhetoric with industrial clusters and trade guilds in the formalization of monuments has been the basis of architectural symbolism in all civilizations. Through industrialisation, trade associations and material lobby groups became vital actors in enacting policies. This type of commercial promotion or patriotism was intensely utilized to uphold and nourish military capabilities during the tumultuous decades before and after World War II. The aviation sector was a flagship area for this type of experimentation. Reinforced concrete, in Europe and in Italy in particular, became the emblematic material for the war effort. Pier Luigi Nervi's experiments with military devices including airplane hangars substantiate the use of a material to depict architectural potentials and political potency.

 

Even though concrete, steel and aluminum are often associated with the war effort and military buildings, North America’s bountiful forests begot milled timber as the symbol of nation building in the USA. The balloon frame became the primary system used to build horizontal cities from small repeatable pieces. The National Lumber Manufacturers Association endorsed wood as a modern material adapted to any use and even military use for certain types of buildings. Their periodic publication «Lumber and Its Utilizations» in 1941 showcased timber’s potential for prefabrication and airplane hangar structures. The publication described how timber could be used in all manner of truss systems to attain considerable spans for shed roofs of any scope or size. From bowstring, to flat and lamella trusses, the description compares timber span potentials to other materials citing significant savings of 25% compared to other materials. Along with cost savings, the authors describe timber structures as simple to assemble and disassemble, mobile and adaptable to future changes. 

 

Fire safety has always been a contested part of timber construction and its regulation as it is a combustible material. As is still the case today, the wood association argued that compared to steel which often becomes an entangled fused and melted mess after a fire, mass timber's auto-extinguishing capacity makes certain members salvageable by reinforcing them on-site after removing a charred thickness. The catalogue includes sample buildings with bills of materials and components suggesting the trade association acting as building promoters.

Beech Aircraft Airplane Hangar