H & N responsibility, proceeded rapidly.
Production of drawings for
other structures, technical and laboratory facilities for which Users
were to supply design criteria, was consistently retarded. This slowness can best be accounted for by the progressive increase in scope of
the Project, the corresponding increase in personnel, and the addition
of more complex structures, The numerous changes and revisions required the utmost in engineering effort and coordination in order to
keep abreast of the construction schedule.
In addition to the semi-permanent housing for that portion of the
population scheduled to be at the Jobsite for a considerable length of
time, it was necessary to provide housing for personnel who would be at
the Atoll only during the experiments or for other short times. When
information was received that surplus tents were stored in Army supply
depots and were available for transfer to AEC, it was decided to use
these for short-time personnel. Use of these tents would make possible
considerable economy, with no essential sacrifice of health, safety, or
comfort,
A sample 4-man tent was sent to the Holmes & Narver Los Angeles
warehouse, and a frame was designed which could be easily erected and
also easily taken down and stored. Bids on this frame and on another
less easily reused frame were both too high, and ultimately the frames
were "job-built" at a considerable saving.
Later, the 4-man tent was frozen and the new 16 x 32-foot standard 8-man "squad tents" were used. Frames were designed from physical

measurements and specifications of the tents, and although variations

in tent size were common, frames were adjusted to fit the tents. Construction proceeded on this basis, and comfortable and economical housing was obtained. For tent-housed personnel, 100-man aluminum shower
and latrine buildings were provided.
A total of 344 4-man tents and 289 8—-man tents were used.

These

tents could normally house 3688 men; but during the peak population

period, use of double tier bunks increased tent-housed personnel by 20
per cent.
PARRY ISLAND

Preliminary planning indicated that approximately 73 prefabricated

buildings, with an aggregate floor area of about 152,832 square feet,
would constitute the building construction on Parry Island. Actually,

the Architectural Department prepared at the Home Office 105 sheets of

working drawings covering the architectural design of 69 aluminum

buildings and having a total of 163,772 square feet of floor space.

Wherever the function of the building would permit, a standard
basic building was used without modification. Sometimes, however, the
function of the building was somewhat restricted by the limited width
and general construction afforded by the building type selected. In

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