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Fig. 3. Prefabricated block being constructed in Turkey
Some 84 per cent. of the flats will be of two rooms, each of about 380 sq. ft., and the remainder are three room apartments.
The matter of stability and the technical potentialities relating to the erection of such tall buildings should attract a great deal of interest. Lar- sen and Nielsen have had wide ex- perience of building to high levels. Their Norwegian licencee has already built 14-storey blocks (Fig. 2) and the UK licencee. Taylor Woodrow Anglican, Ltd., is at present designing for 24-storey blocks (Fig. 4).
In extending their operations east- wards from Europe, L. & N have now secured their first contract for 500 flats in Turkey (Fig. 3).
Production of L & N buildings is based on the assumption that the re- sult of work in the factory should be
a finished building. They maintain that while it is worthwhile streamlin- ing and industrialising the production of the raw structure, full advantage of the process is obtained only if it includes the finishing work.
Large Components
Statically, the construction is based on the "plate" effect. There is no skeleton of beams and columns, stability being acquired by means of panels hinged together so that they are rigid in their own plane. If the plates formed by the panels are hing- ed together in other directions, then the structure becomes stable without columns or girders.
Another of L & N's principles is to manufacture the components as large as possible, limited only by transport
regulations and the lifting capacities. of the cranes used. In this way the number of working operations em- ployed in transportation and erection are reduced. Wall panels up to 26 ft. length and weighing up to 8 tons are now being handled.
As stated the highest possible de- gree of finish is carried out in the factory. Facades are delivered with glazed, painted windows, interior wall panels are completed with painted door frames and cast-in plastic tubes for the electric wiring, and the toilet/ bathroom is manufactured as a unit, complete with all installations and sur- face treatment of walls and floors (Fig. 7).
An interesting detail of the L & N system is the face joint. Mastics or pipes are used in many countries to seal and caulk face joints, but this company has developed a simple joint detail which has been successfully used over the past eight years.
In the "sandwich" face panels
the concrete insulation/concrete vertical joints are sealed merely by pressing in from the exterior side a neoprene strip. Vertical grooves are provided for the strip which at every floor level is pushed back and over- lapped by the strip from the storey above.
The grooves are arranged in such a way that at the overlapping the space behind the neoprene strip will be ventilated. Atmospheric wind pressure is thus obtained in front of and behind the neoprene strip and rain water will tend not to pass around it. Should rain drops pass around the edges they will run down a groove provided for this purpose just behind the strip. Wind tighten- ing is arranged behind the water tightening, as shown in Figure 6.
Fig. 4. Blocks of 24-storeys to be built by the L & N system at Newham, London
56
Far East Architect & Builder August, 1966
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