Evening star., 1950-10-15
Experts 10 Study
.Atom-Bombiing
Shelter Problem
Group Of Architects,
Engineers to Tackle
Job This Week
By Miriom Ottenberq

| py mtfIQW gutenberg
A volunteer group of architects
this week will tackle the job of
providing shelter for the people of
Washington in event of an atomic
attack.
Some of the proposals this group
will study range from using the
streetcar underpass below Dupont
Circle to putting semi-buried, dirt
covered shelters in the parks.
Alan B. Mills, the Washington
architect chosen to head the shell
ter study committee, said last
night that to complete the job a
building -by-building and house
toulouse canvass for shelter pur-
poses should be made.
Cooperation to Be Sought.
! Meanwhile. the cooperation of
banks, hotels, large apartments,
Office buildings and departments
stores will be sought to determine
how parts of existing structures
can be converted into air raid
shelters for their occupants.
At the outset, Mr.. Mills said
Washington has certain advant-
ages over other cities from the
point of view OF safety for its
residents.
In the first place. he said, the
city's low, spread-out buildings
are better suited for shelter pur-
poses than the skyscrapers OF
other cities.
He also rated as an advantage
Washington'S wlde-open spaces
and multiple parks. These con-
stitute not only natural fire.
break but can be used possibly
for trenches as well as dirt COW
cred structures built against hill
sides.
Space in Most Buildings.
| Mr.. Mills also said he believed
virtually every large building in
Washington has some space avail
able to which the occupants
could go and find comparative
safety. He added, however. that
some of these quarters will have
to be strengthened.
That is one of the principal
angles of the shelter study now
getting under way-methods by
which some part of the interior
of existing structures can be re-
Iinforced to provide shelter.
Mr.. Mills said the first step in
the shelter study already has been
taken. From the British. the Army
Engineers, the National Security
Resources Board. the Air Force.
and other Government sources.
he has collected the latest studies
on shelter designs.
The next step, he said. will be
taken this week when the city
is divided into zones to facilitate
the shelter study. Once that has
been done, he added. the actual
studies will be made.
To Get Technical Advisers.
Mr.. Mills said both the Amer
ican Institute of Architects and
the American Society of Civil
Engineers have volunteered to
lend their members as technical
advisers.
These experts. he explained, will
suggest to building managers
methods by which shelters could
be improvised in their buildings.
Where surveys Of structures in
dicate. they have more than
enough shelter space to take care
of their own occupants. it will
be recommended that shelter
signs be posted outside the build
ing listing the number Of out
siders who chould be taken in.
The goal. however. Mr. Mills
emphasized, Is to keep people in
side the buildings where they live
or work instead of having them
f1ocking out into the street to
seek other shelter.
In the residential areas. MIR.
Mills said. it probably will be nee
essary to devise some froms of
public shelters.
New Problems Created.
| While some of the World War
II shelter areas will be adequate,
Mr.. Mills said. the atomic bomb
has created many new shelter
problems. The new shelters, he
said. must protect against greater
explosive power, more flying de-
bris, more intense heat and the
radiation peculiar to atomic weap-
ons.
He said he did not want to be
pinned down now to the types of
shelters that might be recon-
mended but he mentioned that
the streetcar underpass below
Dupont Circle had the advantage
OF many curveS-thereby elimi-
mating the dangers of a direct,
through blast.
When the study is completed,
he said, his committee will re-
port its findings to the Commits
sioners. This report will cover
what types of shelters are feasible
in what types of buildings as we'll
as what areas lack buildings which
could be converted into shelters.
1t will go into protection of in
dividual homes, gathering places
and larger buildings.
Mr.. Mills said his report will
not go into the question of financ-
ing a city-wide shelter program.
That will be something for the
commissioners and Congress to
decide.
Maryland U. to Mark