Lightweight prefabricated structures made of galvanized iron and semicircular arched ribs are called quonset huts. The quonset hut design is based on the Nissen hut that was developed by the Navy. Quionset huts were named after the place where they were first manufactured, Quonset Point. Quonset huts do not require skilled labor to be put together and can be shipped anywhere in the world. Quonset huts were made for the military but were sold to the public after the war ended to be used as commercial buildings.
The Nissen hut was developed by the Navy. The Nissen hut was changed to use corrugated iron and arched ribs to become the quonset hut. The two ends were covered with plywood which had doors and windows.Another improvement on the quonset huts was the addition of interior pressed wood lining, insulation, and a one inch tongue in groove plywood floor on a raised metal framework.
The first quonset hut measured sixteen feet by thirty feet and could be assembled by a team of eight men in one day. Quonset huts were modifed to a standard size of twenty feet by forty eight feet with a ten foot radius that created seven hundred twenty square feet of usable floor space. Four foot overhangs at each end to protect the entrances against the weather were sometimes added to quonset huts. Later, a warehouse size quonset hut of forty feet by one hundred feet was developed. The inside of a quonset hut is open and flexible.
Manufacturing of quonset huts stopped in 1959. But because the quonset huts are so portable and adaptable, they are still in use in some places today. Many quonset huts served as homes and businesses after production stopped. When the numbers of college students rose dramatically because of the GI bill, many universities and colleges erected quonset huts on their campuses. They are not used often today, but they are still around.
May 8, 2009