NEW WONDER HALL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 173, 23 July 1936, Page 27

NEW WONDER HALL.

LONDON DISPLAYS.

TO COST £1,250,000.

SUMMER SKIES TO ORDER.

(Special.—By Air Mail.)

LONDOX, June 27.

Construction of the new £1,250,000 exhibition hall at Earl's Court will be completed by Christinas, and the vast structure will then be ready to house its first big display, the British Industries l'air, early in 1937. Marvels of the exhibition, covering 12 acres of floor space, include a swimming pool 200 ft by lOOt't in the main hall, and an elaborate internal lighting installation which enables the colour scheme of the building to be changed at the turn of a switch. The main hall has accommodation for 2.3,000 spectators when the swimming pool is covered over.

Facilities for the rapid packing of thousands of seats are such that the main hall can be used for a circus, a spectacle or a prize light, and within 24 hours can be cleared for an exhibition. There will be no daylight in this marvellous building, which will be internally floodlit throughout. Any of the five halls can be completely redecorated by the lighting effects to suit any particular type of exhibition or display.

Scenic projection machines will provide summer skiei> with moving clouds; or stars or landscape scenes to enhance the particular exhibit—or transform tlie "atmosphere" of the entire hall. On the second floor will be conference rooms and a banqueting hall, but on all floors there will be .numerous restaurants, all spaced between floor levels. Traffia arrangements by road and rail are the most perfect in London. During the reconstruction of Earl's Court station there will be included escalators leading directly to the ground floor and the first floor of the exhibition. For those who delight in statistics, here are some figures to conjure with: The structure will have a capacity of 42,7<">0,000 cubic feet and weigh 180,000 tons; IS,OOO tons of cement are being used to make .">O.OOO tons of concrete. There are 7.i00 tons of reinforced steel and 3000 tons of structural steel. Sixty giant girders have been built over the four lines of the underground railway. One girder is 100 feet long, 15 feet wide, 10 feet deep, weighs 1200 tons and cqst £8000. Private sidings into the exhibition will enable displays to be sent direct by main line railway from any part of Britain.