simple anchoring gear: this consists of stays coupled by means of keys to the different parts of the building already built on the one hand, and to the last erected elements on the other hand. There only remains to form the concrete ties which are poured on site so as to weld the different elements of the building together.
The elements of the secondary construction stage which have not yet been incorporated will also arrive in their turn directly from the fac- tory in their final form. They will be handled by the devices necessary for their installation without trial or tentative efforts and, by virtue of the precision of the entire assembly, the workmen will only have to fix the nuts and bolts, without having to take mearsurements, or to try the unit in position.
Advantages of the Industrial Methods
(a) Quality of finishes. The sub- servient, automatic, faithful and con- stant machine works with a perfec- tion and a sustained attention to minute detail of which the hand of man is incapable. It makes it pos- sible to ensure good quality and better still, the constancy of quality.
The material can be strictly pro- portioned and, although complex, the elements will have the quality of monoliths.
(b) Economy. The work of man is replaced by the work of machines. It should be recalled that in the West (and very soon in the East) mechani- cal energy is infinitely more econo- mical than human energy: the economy which can be achieved by substituting mechanical energy for manual energy, taking into account the costs of conversion and depre- ciation of investments is substantial. It is even further increased by the fact that the irregular work done on a construction site is replaced by continuous and much more produc- tive work carried out in a factory.
(c) Rapidity of execution. The in- dustrial methods permit speeds of execution which are not to be com- pared with those resulting from the old traditional methods. For exam- ple, the firm has achieved a speed record by constructing a superstruc- ture of a building comprising 40 apartments in 9 days, during a period of storm, frost and snow: 15 days later, the occupants were installed, and painting finished.
In order to build these 40 apart- ments, a month and a half of work was necessary between the arrival of the mechanical shovel and the re- moval of the paint-spraying com-
pressor.
The speed of execution which makes it possible to give quicker satisfaction to the occupant of an apartment has the financial advantage of producing a sharp reduction of intermediate interests as well as ear-
Right: Block at Asnières, near Paris, Superstructure finished in nine days.
factors
lier receipt of rents, such being by no means negligible in re- lation to the cost of construction.
(d) Working conditions. The work is in fact considerably less arduous and less dangerous than on traditional construction sites. The majority of the workmen work in the factory. sheltered from the weather, and even the site itself requires no scaffolding nor work over empty space.
Workers are freed from hard manual labour; efficiency is no longer obtained by an accentuation of physical efforts as in piece-work, but by the skill of the workmen and a good organization of work, which all contribute to a high production of the machines.
(e) Social promotion of workers. The specialization of the workers can be rapidly achieved. Many of the workers who would be only ordinary unskilled labourers when employed on building sites have become specialized factory or erection workers having the responsibilities and pay corresponding to their cate- gory.
Scientific organization of work. Work in the factory and simplicity of erection finally permit a rational organization in the pro- fessional activities. such as has hitherto been so difficult to establish and above all to maintain.
This organization must be based on a scrupulously careful preparation of the work based on a thorough analysis of all the details of construc- tion. It will lead to a strict pro- gramme which predetermines the progress of the different operations, in which all improvisation is exclud- ed, and which fixes hour by hour the use and the production of the ma- chines and of the work-teams, the installation of lifting equipment, the delivery of the manufactured pro- ducts and the erection, including the erection of secondary stage units.
PAUL BOSSARD'S PROJECT
This project at Creteil, outside Paris, can be called a negative ap- proach as compared with the Coignet system. The entire project is super- vised by an architect (from beginning to end) who has treated it as an architectural problem.
Bossard,
The author, Mr. Paul studied the problems of precast con- crete construction for several years before he got this job from his client and therefore has a very clear picture of the advantages and disadvantages of industrialised precast concrete sys-
tems.
Principles
The architect's principles are as follows:
The system of construction should be the result of the architectural re-
Far East Architect & Builder May, 1963
NEB & E
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