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68-573: Brand asserts that the best buildings are made from low-cost, standard designs that people are familiar with, and easy to modify. In this way people can gradually change their buildings to meet their needs. One of his examples is Building 20 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Brand states that a supply of simple, low-cost, easily modified buildings is key to innovation and economic growth. He implies that an expanding property-value market may actually slow innovation and produce

136-640: A "shabby" nondescript-looking "miserable hole" of an office in Building 20 for several decades. MIT professor Jerome Y. Lettvin once quipped, "You might regard it as the womb of the Institute. It is kind of messy, but by God it is procreative!" Because of its various inconveniences, Building 20 was never considered to be prime space, in spite of its location in the central campus. As a result, Building 20 served as an "incubator" for all sorts of start-up or experimental research, teaching, or student groups on

204-399: A blaze of light, or a dark gloomy space, depending on the occupancy of the room. In warm weather, the constant drone of large fans and air conditioners dominated all other sounds. The outdoors spaces between the wings accommodated an assortment of rusty equipment and storage tanks, picnic tables, unidentified junk, and drill spaces used by ROTC students. At various times, chain link fence

272-451: A building. Since this building method has been used for thousands of years in many parts of the world, many styles of historic framing have developed. These styles are often categorized by the type of foundation, walls, how and where the beams intersect, the use of curved timbers, and the roof framing details. A simple timber frame made of straight vertical and horizontal pieces with a common rafter roof without purlins . The term box frame

340-742: A crowded campus where space was (and remains) at a premium. The experimental Concourse teaching group, the Integrated Studies Program (ISP), and the High School Studies Program (HSSP) all found initial homes here. Some of the early work of the Educational Research Center (ERC) and the Physical Science Study Committee (PSSC), which reformed teaching of high school physics in the post- Sputnik years,

408-566: A frame of load-bearing timber, creating spaces between the timbers called panels (in German Gefach or Fächer = partitions), which are then filled-in with some kind of nonstructural material known as infill . The frame is often left exposed on the exterior of the building. Gallery of infill types: The earliest known type of infill, called opus craticum by the Romans, was a wattle and daub type construction. Opus craticum

476-859: A full-sized elevator shaft enclosure was "found" amidst the rubble of the just-demolished Building 20, with a floor indicator panel including levels "G" and "B1" through "B5", implying that the elevator traveled to previously-concealed secret lab space below the ground floor of Building 20. In the years since, there has been a persistent joke on campus that the old Building 20 is still standing, but concealed by an invisibility cloaking field . 42°21′43″N 71°05′26″W  /  42.3619°N 71.0905°W  / 42.3619; -71.0905 Timber framing Timber framing ( German : Fachwerkbauweise ) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers , creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs. If

544-424: A half-century before it was demolished in 1998. The building was hurriedly constructed in 1943 as part of the emergency war research effort; however, it continued to be used until shortly before its demolition in 1998, making it one of the longest-surviving World War II temporary structures on campus. The building had the overall shape of an extended mirror-reversed "F", with multiple parallel "wings" connected to

612-458: A hole through the wall." Many building occupants were unaware of the presence of asbestos . Institute Professor Emeritus Morris Halle commented that the abundance of space in Building 20 meant that "many quite risky projects got off the ground. Linguistics, my field, was one such risky project. But for the existence of Building 20, it would not have been developed at MIT." Noam Chomsky pioneered modern linguistics and generative grammar in

680-653: A less human-centered community. Among other things, the book details the notion of Shearing layers . Criticism of the architect Richard Rogers was removed from the UK edition but remains in the US edition. The book inspired a 6-part TV series by the BBC , produced by James Runcie , executive producer Roly Keating , which was screened in July 1997. In the BBC series, Brand is highly critical of

748-489: A longer spine which paralleled Vassar Street. The spine of the "F" (wing B) was slightly skewed compared to the projecting wings, because of the gradual divergence of Vassar Street compared to Memorial Drive, which runs parallel to the Charles River Basin. The three-floor structure was framed with large wooden posts and beams , supporting massive floor planks which creaked and groaned underfoot. The structure

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816-406: A temporary structure, researchers and other occupants felt free to modify their environment at will. As described by MIT professor Paul Penfield, "Its 'temporary nature' permitted its occupants to abuse it in ways that would not be tolerated in a permanent building. If you wanted to run a wire from one lab to another, you didn't ask anybody's permission — you just got out a screwdriver and poked

884-467: Is another alternative where straw bales are stacked for nonload-bearing infill with various finishes applied to the interior and exterior such as stucco and plaster. This appeals to the traditionalist and the environmentalist as this is using "found" materials to build. Mudbricks also called adobe are sometimes used to fill in timber-frame structures. They can be made on site and offer exceptional fire resistance. Such buildings must be designed to accommodate

952-454: Is not well defined and has been used for any kind of framing (with the usual exception of cruck framing). The distinction presented here is that the roof load is carried by the exterior walls. Purlins are also found even in plain timber frames. A cruck is a pair of crooked or curved timbers which form a bent (U.S.) or crossframe (UK); the individual timbers are each called a blade. More than 4,000 cruck frame buildings have been recorded in

1020-455: Is now confusingly applied to a Roman stone/mortar infill as well. Similar methods to wattle and daub were also used and known by various names, such as clam staff and daub, cat-and-clay, or torchis (French), to name only three. Wattle and daub was the most common infill in ancient times. The sticks were not always technically wattlework (woven), but also individual sticks installed vertically, horizontally, or at an angle into holes or grooves in

1088-510: Is readily available and log houses were favored, instead. Half-timbered construction in the Northern European vernacular building style is characteristic of medieval and early modern Denmark, England, Germany, and parts of France and Switzerland, where timber was in good supply yet stone and associated skills to dress the stonework were in short supply. In half-timbered construction, timbers that were riven (split) in half provided

1156-474: Is technically called a nave . However, a nave is often called an aisle, and three-aisled barns are common in the U.S., the Netherlands , and Germany. Aisled buildings are wider than the simpler box-framed or cruck-framed buildings, and typically have purlins supporting the rafters. In northern Germany, this construction is known as variations of a Ständerhaus . Half-timbering refers to a structure with

1224-400: Is used to describe timber frames with an infill of stone rubble laid in mortar the Romans called opus incertum . A less common meaning of the term "half-timbered" is found in the fourth edition of John Henry Parker's Classic Dictionary of Architecture (1873) which distinguishes full-timbered houses from half-timbered, with half-timber houses having a ground floor in stone or logs such as

1292-521: The Kluge House which was a log cabin with a timber-framed second floor. Traditional timber framing is the method of creating framed structures of heavy timber jointed together with various joints, commonly and originally with lap jointing , and then later pegged mortise and tenon joints. Diagonal bracing is used to prevent "racking", or movement of structural vertical beams or posts. Originally, German (and other) master carpenters would peg

1360-716: The Ray and Maria Stata Center (Building 32). Demolition may have been slowed by the need to relocate the many small research, administrative, and student groups located there, plus the special precautions needed to safely dispose of asbestos , lead paint , and PCBs found throughout the World War II vintage structure. Some of its previous occupants moved into the new Stata Center upon its completion, while other "Building 20 refugees" moved to Building N51/N52 or permanently dispersed to other locations on campus. On March 27, 1998, "The Magic Incubator", an all-day farewell celebration,

1428-644: The structural frame of load-bearing timber is left exposed on the exterior of the building it may be referred to as half-timbered , and in many cases the infill between timbers will be used for decorative effect. The country most known for this kind of architecture is Germany, where timber-framed houses are spread all over the country. The method comes from working directly from logs and trees rather than pre-cut dimensional lumber . Hewing this with broadaxes , adzes , and draw knives and using hand-powered braces and augers (brace and bit) and other woodworking tools, artisans or framers could gradually assemble

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1496-624: The 12th century to the 19th century, and subsequently imported to North America, where it was common into the early 19th century. In a scribe frame, timber sockets are fashioned or "tailor-made" to fit their corresponding timbers; thus, each timber piece must be numbered (or "scribed"). Square-rule carpentry was developed in New England in the 18th century. It used housed joints in main timbers to allow for interchangeable braces and girts. Today, standardized timber sizing means that timber framing can be incorporated into mass-production methods as per

1564-522: The 5- to 25-cm (2- to 10-in) range. The methods of fastening the frame members also differ. In conventional framing, the members are joined using nails or other mechanical fasteners, whereas timber framing uses the traditional mortise and tenon or more complex joints that are usually fastened using only wooden pegs. Modern complex structures and timber trusses often incorporate steel joinery such as gusset plates, for both structural and architectural purposes. Recently, it has become common practice to enclose

1632-585: The Blue Book which was the first thorough study to build a gravitational-wave antenna. Many of the leaders of the gravitational-wave field did their early work in the F Wing of the building. In the last half of the 1980s, Building 20 became home to the Biological Process Engineering Center, a prestigious National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center run by Institute Professor Daniel I.C. Wang . Building 20 also

1700-487: The Canadian Military Engineers undertook to construct airplane hangars using this timber construction system in order to conserve steel. Wood hangars were constructed throughout North America and employed various technologies including bowstring , Warren , and Pratt trusses, glued laminated arches, and lamella roof systems. Unique to this building type is the interlocking of the timber members of

1768-681: The German ständerbohlenbau , timbers as in ständerblockbau , or rarely cob without any wooden support. The wall surfaces on the interior were often "ceiled" with wainscoting and plastered for warmth and appearance. Brick infill sometimes called nogging became the standard infill after the manufacturing of bricks made them more available and less expensive. Half-timbered walls may be covered by siding materials including plaster , weatherboarding , tiles , or slate shingles. The infill may be covered by other materials, including weatherboarding or tiles , or left exposed. When left exposed, both

1836-660: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology . Since it was always regarded as "temporary", it never received a formal name throughout its 55-year existence. (Many major buildings at MIT are known by their numbers regardless of how neoclassical or otherwise permanent they may be.) The three-floor structure originally housed the Radiation Laboratory (or "Rad Lab"), where fundamental advances were made in physical electronics, electromagnetic properties of matter, microwave physics, and microwave communication principles. It has been called one of America's "two prominent shrines of

1904-455: The UK. Several types of cruck frames are used; more information follows in English style below and at the main article Cruck . Aisled frames have one or more rows of interior posts. These interior posts typically carry more structural load than the posts in the exterior walls. This is the same concept of the aisle in church buildings, sometimes called a hall church , where the center aisle

1972-451: The assembly was held together with through-bolts. The through-bolts only held the assembly together but were not load-carrying. Shear plate connectors were used to transfer loads between timber members and metal. Shear plate connectors resembled large washers, deformed on the side facing the timber in order to grip it, and were through-fastened with long bolts or lengths of threaded rod. A leading manufacturer of these types of timber connectors

2040-469: The complete skeletal framing of the building. Europe is full of timber-framed structures dating back hundreds of years, including manors, castles, homes, and inns, whose architecture and techniques of construction have evolved over the centuries. In Asia, timber-framed structures are found, many of them temples. Some Roman carpentry preserved in anoxic layers of clay at Romano-British villa sites demonstrate that sophisticated Roman carpentry had all

2108-519: The distinctive "half-timbered", or occasionally termed, " Tudor " style, or "black-and-white". The most ancient known half-timbered building is called the House of opus craticum . It was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD in Herculaneum, Italy. Opus craticum was mentioned by Vitruvius in his books on architecture as a timber frame with wattlework infill. However, the same term

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2176-585: The entire modernist approach to architecture. He fully rejects the "center out" approach of design, where a single person or group designs a building for others to use, in favor of an evolutionary approach where owners can change a building over time to meet their needs. He focuses specific criticisms on modernist innovators like Buckminster Fuller for making round buildings that do not allow any kind of additions or internal divisions, Frank Gehry for making buildings that were hard to maintain, and Le Corbusier for making buildings that did not take into consideration

2244-636: The famous street known as The Shambles exemplifies this, where jettied houses seem to almost touch above the street. Historically, the timbers would have been hewn square using a felling axe and then surface-finished with a broadaxe . If required, smaller timbers were ripsawn from the hewn baulks using pitsaws or frame saws. Today, timbers are more commonly bandsawn, and the timbers may sometimes be machine- planed on all four sides. The vertical timbers include: The horizontal timbers include: When jettying, horizontal elements can include: The sloping timbers include: Historically were two different systems of

2312-671: The field of cognitive science . Building 20 was the home of the Tech Model Railroad Club , where many aspects of what later became the hacker culture developed. Around 1973, the MIT Electronic Research Society (MITERS) was founded there, as an early student-run hackerspace . Building 20 also housed one of the first anechoic chambers , where research was performed by acoustics pioneer Leo Beranek . Professor Amar Bose did his early research on loudspeakers here, eventually leading to

2380-710: The first floor of the Stata Center, near the Dreyfoos Tower elevators, and may be viewed by visitors during normal office hours. In its final years, Building 20 and its demise were marked by some farewell hacks (student pranks). In March 1998, a large red banner appeared bearing the words "MASS. INST. OF TECH. — DEACTIVATED — PROPERTY OFFICE", mimicking the stickers the MIT Property Office affixes to obsolete equipment removed from inventory tracking in preparation for surplus disposal. In April 1999,

2448-614: The first people to publish the term "half-timbered" was Mary Martha Sherwood (1775–1851), who employed it in her book, The Lady of the Manor , published in several volumes from 1823 to 1829. She uses the term picturesquely: "...passing through a gate in a quickset hedge, we arrived at the porch of an old half-timbered cottage, where an aged man and woman received us." By 1842, half-timbered had found its way into The Encyclopedia of Architecture by Joseph Gwilt (1784–1863). This juxtaposition of exposed timbered beams and infilled spaces created

2516-462: The founding of Bose Corporation . Prolific analog circuit designer and technical writer Jim Williams had an electronics lab here for a decade, before moving on to National Semiconductor and then Linear Technology . The Strobe Lab of high-speed photography trailblazer Harold "Doc" Edgerton was located here for many years, although the facility was relocated to Building 4 before the final years of Building 20. Professor Rainer Weiss ’ group

2584-649: The framing and infill were sometimes done in a decorative manner. Germany is famous for its decorative half-timbering and the figures sometimes have names and meanings. The decorative manner of half-timbering is promoted in Germany by the German Timber-Frame Road , several planned routes people can drive to see notable examples of Fachwerk buildings. Gallery of some named figures and decorations: The collection of elements in half timbering are sometimes given specific names: According to Craven (2019),

2652-522: The framing. The coating of daub has many recipes, but generally was a mixture of clay and chalk with a binder such as grass or straw and water or urine . When the manufacturing of bricks increased, brick infill replaced the less durable infills and became more common. Stone laid in mortar as an infill was used in areas where stone rubble and mortar were available. Other infills include bousillage , fired brick , unfired brick such as adobe or mudbrick , stones sometimes called pierrotage , planks as in

2720-403: The ideal form of building. This embracing traditional box design as the optimal structure puts him in direct contrast to thinkers like Buckminster Fuller who proposed geodesic dome as a better solution for buildings. Building 20 Building 20 (18 Vassar Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts ) was a temporary timber structure hastily erected during World War II on the central campus of

2788-418: The influence of Building 20 on the design of the new Stata Center which was to replace it, saying "People didn't love this building for its beauty or its comfort, but for its flexibility. What we learned from Building 20's success was that we would need to provide modern services and technology without being rigid or constraining." Building 20 was gradually emptied in 1996-1998, and demolished to make way for

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2856-470: The joinery industry, especially where timber is cut by precision computer numerical control machinery. A jetty is an upper floor which sometimes historically used a structural horizontal beam, supported on cantilevers, called a bressummer or 'jetty bressummer' to bear the weight of the new wall, projecting outward from the preceding floor or storey. In the city of York in the United Kingdom,

2924-414: The joints with allowance of about 1 inch (25 mm), enough room for the wood to move as it ' seasoned ', then cut the pegs, and drive the beam home fully into its socket. To cope with variable sizes and shapes of hewn (by adze or axe) and sawn timbers, two main carpentry methods were employed: scribe carpentry and square rule carpentry. Scribing or coping was used throughout Europe, especially from

2992-428: The letters D, E, and F. Although there was no basement, the ground floor was inexplicably assigned room numbers beginning with "0", underscoring complaints of some occupants that the first floor corridors looked like a basement. The idiosyncratic floor numbering required the second floor to use "1", and the third floor to use "2", a confusing exception to the usual logical MIT scheme for assigning room numbers (although

3060-459: The necessary techniques for this construction. The earliest surviving (French) half-timbered buildings date from the 12th century. Important resources for the study and appreciation of historic building methods are open-air museums . The topping out ceremony is a builders' rite , an ancient tradition thought to have originated in Scandinavia by 700 AD. In the U.S., a bough or small tree

3128-425: The needs of families. Brand was also critical of French development during the 1980s which did not take local conditions into account and ended up not serving their purpose, like the central Library which had to take money away from buying new books to deal with the heat produced by so many windows. Brand stresses the value an organic kind of building, based on four walls, which is easy to change and expand and grow as

3196-769: The number of knots, the moisture content, the temperature, the grain direction, the number of holes, and other factors. There are design specifications for sawn lumber, glulam members, prefabricated I-joists , composite lumber , and various connection types. In the United States, structural frames are then designed according to the Allowable Stress Design method or the Load Reduced Factor Design method (the latter being preferred). The techniques used in timber framing date back to Neolithic times, and have been used in many parts of

3264-480: The panels span considerable distances and add rigidity to the basic timber frame. An alternate construction method is with concrete flooring with extensive use of glass. This allows a solid construction combined with open architecture. Some firms have specialized in industrial prefabrication of such residential and light commercial structures such as Huf Haus as low-energy houses or – dependent on location – zero-energy buildings . Straw-bale construction

3332-419: The poor thermal insulating properties of mudbrick, however, and usually have deep eaves or a veranda on four sides for weather protection. Timber design or wood design is a subcategory of structural engineering that focuses on the engineering of wood structures. Timber is classified by tree species (e.g., southern pine, douglas fir, etc.) and its strength is graded using numerous coefficients that correspond to

3400-529: The position of posts and studs: Ridge-post framing is a structurally simple and ancient post and lintel framing where the posts extend all the way to the ridge beams. Germans call this Firstsäule or Hochstud . In the 1930s a system of timber framing referred to as the "modern timber connector method" was developed. It was characterized by the use of timber members assembled into trusses and other framing systems and fastened using various types of metal timber connectors. This type of timber construction

3468-728: The roof trusses and supporting columns and their connection points. The timber members are held apart by "fillers" (blocks of timber). This leaves air spaces between the timber members which improves air circulation and drying around the members which improves resistance to moisture borne decay. Timber members in this type of framing system were connected with ferrous timber connectors of various types. Loads between timber members were transmitted using split-rings (larger loads), toothed rings (lighter loads), or spiked grid connectors. Split-ring connectors were metal rings sandwiched between adjacent timber members to connect them together. The rings were fit into circular grooves on in both timber members then

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3536-530: The same as floor numbering in Britain ). Thus, a typical room number might be "20B-119", located in Wing B, on the second floor. There was little provision to admit daylight to the narrow interior corridors, which were dimly lit even as summer heat baked them. Heat and humidity released a distinctive "old familiar musty odor" recalled by an occupant years later. Opening a windowless corridor door would disclose

3604-427: The sun shone. The outer sheathing consisted of asbestos-cement shingles painted a dirty white in a vain attempt to reduce solar heat load . The windows were leaky, rattling wooden sash, and bristled with numerous large window-mounted air conditioners, since the interior spaces would otherwise become unbearably hot during warm weather. Wings A, B, and C were built first, in a Π shape. The later wings were assigned

3672-557: The term: was used informally to mean timber-framed construction in the Middle Ages. For economy, cylindrical logs were cut in half, so one log could be used for two (or more) posts. The shaved side was traditionally on the exterior and everyone knew it to be half the timber. The term half-timbering is not as old as the German name Fachwerk or the French name colombage , but it is the standard English name for this style. One of

3740-600: The timber structure entirely in manufactured panels such as structural insulated panels (SIPs). Although the timbers can only be seen from inside the building when so enclosed, construction is less complex and insulation is greater than in traditional timber building. SIPs are "an insulating foam core sandwiched between two structural facings, typically oriented strand board" according to the Structural Insulated Panel Association. SIPs reduce dependency on bracing and auxiliary members, because

3808-525: The triumph of science during the war" (along with the desert installation at Los Alamos , where the atomic bomb was born). A former Rad Lab member said, "At one time, more than 20 percent of the physicists in the United States (including nine Nobel Prize winners) had worked in that building". After the Rad Lab shut down after the end of World War II, Building 20 served as a "magical incubator" for many small MIT programs, research, and student activities for

3876-616: The world during various periods such as ancient Japan, continental Europe, and Neolithic Denmark, England, France, Germany, Spain, parts of the Roman Empire , and Scotland. The timber-framing technique has historically been popular in climate zones which favour deciduous hardwood trees, such as oak . Its northernmost areas are Baltic countries and southern Sweden. Timber framing is rare in Russia, Finland, northern Sweden, and Norway, where tall and straight lumber, such as pine and spruce,

3944-417: Was extremely sturdy, but it complained continually under its burden of heavy equipment and material. The ground level floor was concrete slab. Over time, the interior walls became a hodgepodge of Transite , Masonite , and gypsum wallboard as various occupants grew, shrank, or repurposed their spaces. The roof was flat, covered in tar paper and gravel, and emitted radiant heat into the top floor whenever

4012-419: Was held in honor of Building 20, its former occupants, and the feats accomplished therein. Professor Jerry Lettvin published an "Elegy for Building 20" to mark the occasion. In addition, a time capsule box was prepared, which is now displayed in the new Stata Center which was erected on the site. The time capsule along with several large informational panels about the history of Building 20 are located on

4080-486: Was housed in Building 20 from the 1970s until the building was torn down. Balloon-lifted packages to measure the cosmic microwave background , and the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite’s FIRAS instrument and its analysis all had homes there. The LIGO gravitational-wave antenna project was also germinated in Building 20, with prototypes of various detectors built, as well as the writing of

4148-633: Was installed or removed, especially during times of student unrest in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Building 20 was originally referred to by one of the architects, George McCreery of McCreery & Theriault, as the "Building 22 Annex". The Rad Lab had started in MIT Building 4, then had a radome constructed on Building 6, then expanded to Building 24 (erected in 1941), and to Building 22 (completed in May 1942). Building 20, completed in December 1943,

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4216-483: Was part of the continued rapid expansion of the Rad Lab on the MIT campus. McCreery noted that the building was designed and constructed "as a war measure, the life of said building to be for the duration of the war and six months thereafter". In 1945, as the Rad Lab prepared to close down, these temporary buildings were not taken down immediately, since post-war student enrollments were increasing dramatically and more space

4284-612: Was started here. The closing of the ERC was followed by the establishment of the Division for Study and Research in Education (DSRE). Coordinated by Benson R. Snyder, Donald A. Schon, and Seymour Papert , the DSRE was an innovative interdisciplinary center for “learning about learning” at the individual, institutional and societal levels, and made significant contributions to the development of

4352-608: Was still needed. Building 22 was remade into a temporary dormitory, which housed 600 students by 1947. Building 20 continued to be used for machine shops, research labs, and offices. Building 22 was later demolished, to make room for Building 26 (the Karl Taylor Compton Laboratories). As of 2023 , Building 24 still stands, as the sole surviving structure from the WWII period, still being used for labs, offices, and classrooms. Due to Building 20's origins as

4420-502: Was the Timber Engineering Company, or TECO, of Washington, DC. The proprietary name of their split-ring connectors was the "TECO Wedge-Fit". Timber-framed structures differ from conventional wood-framed buildings in several ways. Timber framing uses fewer, larger wooden members, commonly timbers in the range of 15 to 30 cm (6 to 12 in), while common wood framing uses many more timbers with dimensions usually in

4488-503: Was the home of Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) offices and facilities. After Harvard University shut down its own ROTC program in 1969, its students who wished to join such a program shared facilities with MIT's ongoing ROTC program in Building 20. Students from Boston University (BU) also came to Building 20 for ROTC training. Dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning William J. Mitchell later acknowledged

4556-878: Was the home of the MIT Linguistics section, which became the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy in 1976, and the Anthropology section of the Humanities Department. The innovative MIT Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), the MIT Council for the Arts, and the predecessor to the Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Office were among the assorted administrative offices that sheltered in Building 20. Here also

4624-482: Was used for various building types including warehouses, factories, garages, barns, stores/markets, recreational buildings, barracks, bridges, and trestles. The use of these structures was promoted because of their low construction costs, easy adaptability, and performance in fire as compared to unprotected steel truss construction. During World War II, the United States Army Corps of Engineers and

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