Construction of the new central building of Syowa Station, Antarctica (2) Production and transportation of building elements and building work at Syowa Station

• Main Authors: Toshio Hannuki, Masashi Sano, Zenkichi Hirayama
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: National Institute of Polar Research 1993
• Subjects: Geography (General); G1-922; Antarctic; Syowa Station; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.15094/00008825; https://doaj.org/article/8225c469918a4c529e79001602237479

Production, packaging and transportation of building elements of the new central building at Syowa Station are reviewed. Construction work of the new central building at Syowa Station is described. Construction of the central building was divided over two successive summer seasons. Foundation and steel frame work were executed in January 1991,and laminated timber structure work, exterior and interior finish work were done in January 1992. Electric, air conditioning and fire protection equipment and the plumbing system of the central building were set up in January 1993,to complete the new central building of Syowa Station with total floor area of 721m^2 and 3 stories. The building work required a large number of workingmen, 2100 in total. Each person worked 7-hours per day. This was the greatest construction project ever at Syowa Station. A new construction system with large scale laminated timber was used. The method of working with concrete in Antarctica was improved. A fireproof laminated timber structure was adopted. Large building elements and a new joint system of wooden elements were used in the construction. When construction work extends over two or more summer seasons, an appropriate system for giving information to the next construction party is needed because the construction workers of the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition are changed every year.