The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-12-12
WORLDS FAIR
CONSTRUCTION
HOW BEAUTIFUL BUILDINGS ARE
MADE OF PLASTER AND STAFF
DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME.

DlF Il II I l. les Wv hlNOOM IL.
The various exhibit buildings being
constructed or planned by the Lousi-
ana Purchase Exposition are of a tenn
pOrary character, with one exception.
They must be removed after the Expo
sition, but during their brief existence
they are expected to be INTELLECTUALLY
BEAUTIFUL, at least as to their exterior,
and strong, firm and tight enough to
afford a safe shelter for exhibits and
visitors against wind and weather.
The materials entering into the con-
struCtion and finish of any one of the
exhibit buildings are easily counted on
the fingers. Iron, wood, plaster, staff,
roofing, glass, paint and the conduct
ing mediums for electric currents, wa
ter domestic supply and fire serviceA
and possibly steam, together with sani-
tary and Illuminating fixtures, will
practically make up the whole list.
The form and manner in which. the
few building materials enumerated are
used is manifold. The quantity not the
variety of each and all of the these ma
! terials is the principal factor in the
| cost if the buildings.
These quantities are expressed in big
| figures, and naturally are a scale for
the area and volume of the buildings
or vice versa. And yet when we COM
pare the price of a square foot or a
cubic foot of these temporary buildings
! with that of permanent editices for do
nestle or business purposes, the vast
| difference between them is fully ac-
counted for by the temporary character
! of the construction and finish, and by
the large volume of interior space left
undivided and unembellished.
The one permanent building, advert
| ed to above is the Art Palace, planned
as group of three buildings, the CEN
trail main building of masonry and fire.
| PROCEED steel throughout, and two semi
fire-proof thanking buildings, entirely
separate from the main building. A
comparison of the cost of this central
permanent Art Building with the tenn
pOrary large exhibit buildings, shows
the cost Of the former to be about to
10 times that of the latter for every
unit of the cubical contents enclosed.
The materials and methods with
which the architectural and the con-
structiOn problems are solved are here
briefly stated.
The masses and details of the designs
are represented and rendered in plas-
ter and staff applied to wood sheath
ing, Turing, studding, etc, the latter
backed and Draced, according to needs,
by heavier timber and steel framing
All the pedestrians, bases, columns,
plasters, antae, archivolts, rchitraves,
friezes, ccrnices, panels, vaulted, groin
ed and Gomed ceilings pendentives,
medalliors, consoles, brackets, inches,
parapets, archials, balustrades, span
drels, arches, Golfers, caissons, gargoy-
les didphragms, obelisks, globes, pavil-
ions, pylons, turrets, trophies, foun-
tains and what not which the architects
nave used in their compositions, require
bewildering mass of light framework
approaching the general contours OF
the architectural forms.
When the architectural forms are fin
ished in plaster and staff, they merely
represent" masses, as stated above,
while they are only light shell mount
ed on wood forms. These shells arise
to such respectable heights that special
care is required to brace them against,
buckling, crushing or overturning by
wind. The roofs of these buildings
must generally be carried on lOng-span
trusses, so as to restrict the number of
posts and give as much freedom as pos
sible in the arrangement of exhibits.
There are no solid walls on which these
trusses may be set; they must be sup
ported by pillars from the ground up.
The exterior walls are generally secur-
ed to these posts and these posts,
with knee braces and trusses over them
in one direction and portal bracings in
the other direction, give to the struc-
ture its stability.
All foundations are built of timber,
either crlbbage or ground stills resting
upon the natural solid ground, where
the natural ground is not more than
four or five feet below the established
street grades of the Exposition
grounds; or upon piles, driven not less
a N \ int n nn tt1p g,1 a
where natural ground is too far below
grade to make cribbage practicable or
economical, or where the nature of the
soil is not above suspicion as in the
basin of the former park lake, and the
filled in beds of the River DIES Peres
and its numerous tributaries.
The entire framework for the build
ing is of wood, of small size sticks in
close proximity shaped to the contours
of the architectural exterior and of
massive heavy timbers for truss posts
trusses, knee, spandrel and sway
| braces, etc.
Iron rods, bolts, pins and plates are
used for Web-tension members and
their connections and for the spices of
long tensions chord where they cannot
be had in one length.
Castings are used for washers, strut
shoes and special angle blocks.
Posts, trusses, and in general all
heavy framing timbers are of long
long-leated Southern pine. All outside
plaster is put on a dove-tail grooved
sheathing, nailed to the wall studs,
ceiling, jOists, etc. This sheathing is
used to add stiffness to the wall frame
and to furnish ready mailing ground for
all plaster or staff ornaments.
| The roofing material is gravel, and
composition on all fiat and deck roofs,
and felt on all other roof surfaces.
A HANDCUFFED TOURIST.