A HOUSE ON STILTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15646, 27 June 1914, Page 3 (Supplement)

A HOUSE ON STILTS.

A remarkable example of modern engineering applied to architecture is to bo Been in a house which is now nearing completion at Passy, one of tho western quarters of Paris. It is a big six-storeyed block of flats standing in the Avenue Bugcaud, closo to tho P.aeo Victor Hugo. Just there tbo Metropolitan Railway, tho " Underground " of Paris, passes undor the roadway at a slight depth, and the tenants of houses facing on the street complain bitterly of uleepless nights and brukon crockery caused by the vibration of passing trains. In order to ensuro a new house against this the architect and builder decided to isolate it entirely from any 'substance by which vibration might bo carried, by supporting it, so to speak, on stilts. This has been done by boring shafts, 17 in number, down to a strat'im of solid rock, at a depth of about 60ft, 111 which vibration cannot be felt. Kach of these shafts contains a pillar of ferro-con-creto rising from bedrock to street level without 'touching tho sides of the shaft. These 17 pillars support a framework of hugo girders on which tho house is constructed, A small space is left on either side between the house and' the building on each side of it, and the facade is separated from the roadway by a sort of mattress of steel springs. Thus, practically speaking, the building stands clear of everything around it, the foundations touching nothing but the bedrock from, which they rise. The new experiment has proved entirely successful. The sinking of these special foundations was carried out at a cost of #2600, and took nearly six months.