MODERN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13802, 13 January 1909, Page 2

MODERN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.

C.F.C.A.'S NEW BUILDING,

These premises are now assuming comprehensive shape, so that the laymind can form an intelligent idea of the structure now being raised on the site of the oil ruins. However interesting building on stereotyped lines may be, curiosity is aroused by the introduction of such modern methods of construction as ferro-concrete or "Armoured Beton." The architects, Messrs William and Herbert Black, who possess the highest architectural qualifications, made their first acquaintance with reinforced work in 1899, when they spent much time in Germany investigating the methods in vogue in that country. In 1902 they toured ten of the most, important American and Canadian cities gaining knowledge in steel construction and reinforced work. Two years /later they studied the different' systems in France, Italy, and Switzerland, and contend that their investigations, combined with professional training and good practical experience, enabled them to undertake with success most important and difficult building problems. An inspection of the C.F.CA.'s new building proved very interesting. First one is struck by the very slender columns on the lower ground floor, at a level 15 feet below the Beswick Street footway. These columns are about 12 inches square only, and will be 36 feet high. In each column there are eight steel rods in the lower nortion and four rods in the upper height of 1 inch in diameter. These rods are interlaced with No. 4 gauge wire every 12 inches and this cage or network of spiderlike steel, is filled and surrounded with fine concrete composed of -1-inch screenings cement and sand. The girders aro 9 inches wide and 21 feet long, composed nf 1J inch diameter steel rods, the lower or tension members being carried to overlap the. columns and thus forming continuous girders 90 feet long. The compression Members are hooked over stirrups at the column heads and bent down towards the centre of the scans to augment the tension rods. The connecting compression rods have split ends, and all these rods are fitted with 3ineh stirrups to take up the shearing strain. The steelwork is encased in concrete, thus making solid girders, capable of carrying loads of enormous weight. The peculiarity of the crete mixture is that the aggregate ■ is'of fine bluestone, -J-inch screenings b?iug substituted for the usual shingle as the architects contend that shingle under stress or earthquake shock, is too treacherous a material for important work, on account of its almost polished and smooth surfaces not possessing interstices for the proper keying or gripping of cement. On top of the girders will be placed a network of rods spaced 5 inches apart, and carefully filled with concrete so as to form a floor impervious to fire. It is very interesting to learn how economical this armoured concrete construction is. It's cheapness and its simplicity are at once apparent. First the carpenter makes a wooden casing out of rough timber and places this in position whero a column is required; he then inserts a few rods and fills the box with cement concrete. When set, tho timber falls away and is ready for re-use, and the result is a permanent column costing only half the price of an iron column, and being impervious to fire, and proof against decay; indeed the material strengthens with age. Similar construction to this class of work is considered both fire and earthquake proof and modern San Francisco, U.S.A., is being largely rebuilt with tin's method of reinforcing. Then; is little doubt that > ferro-con-crete work, more particularly owing to the likelihood of earthquakes and the fact that our timber reserves are being rapidly devastated, will become the building material of the future.