At 05:39 PM 4/20/99 -0700, Brian wrote:
> in the back of my mind, having survived Operation Urban Warrior
> in Alameda, a mock scenario of urban-combat, likely the way wars
> will be waged in the present-future... has been the thought of the
> nuclear arsenal.. an architectural what-if..
Present indeed! If we send ground-pounders to Yugoslavia, a good portion of
the fighting will be conducted in urban settings. Just remember Mogadishu,
and you'll get an idea of what's in store for our young men and women.
Hopefully, the Urban Warrior exercises pay off.
Better, of course, that they never be needed.
> would skyscrapers fall, toppling ontop of one another like
> dominos? would foundations melt? what if..?
I would think that the lighter elements---curtain wall, finishes, would be
vaporized. The light steel frames would melt, with the floor slabs falling
to the basements. Perhaps the only thing left standing would be CIP concrete
cores, which might serve as a refuge (talk about cold comfort!). Too bad if
your building uses shaftwall instead.
> has there been any research into the effects of nuclear weaponry
> and architecture to date- or has the measely fallout shelter been
> a best guess at nuclear defense... is there no defense to be had?
Have you seen the films from the 50s a-bomb tests? They would build
different kinds of buildings---little masonry and frame houses (complete
with crash-test dummy families), barns, concrete bunkers, and film them at
high speed to see what happens.
T'wasn't purty.
> a top-secret US Government fallout shelter for Senators and
> Congressional members and their families. see the facility via
> QTVR movies. read the interview about the construction of the
> facility and its purpose. and view the amazingly american
> interior decorating of a black-budge building....
>
> http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/amex/bomb/sfeature/
Is this the one built under a Virginia resort hotel?
Duck and cover! How naive we were to think that someone might actually
survive a 20 MT nuke blast. Simple extrapolation of the Hiroshima and
Nagasaki results would have suggested otherwise.
> in the back of my mind, having survived Operation Urban Warrior
> in Alameda, a mock scenario of urban-combat, likely the way wars
> will be waged in the present-future... has been the thought of the
> nuclear arsenal.. an architectural what-if..
Present indeed! If we send ground-pounders to Yugoslavia, a good portion of
the fighting will be conducted in urban settings. Just remember Mogadishu,
and you'll get an idea of what's in store for our young men and women.
Hopefully, the Urban Warrior exercises pay off.
Better, of course, that they never be needed.
> would skyscrapers fall, toppling ontop of one another like
> dominos? would foundations melt? what if..?
I would think that the lighter elements---curtain wall, finishes, would be
vaporized. The light steel frames would melt, with the floor slabs falling
to the basements. Perhaps the only thing left standing would be CIP concrete
cores, which might serve as a refuge (talk about cold comfort!). Too bad if
your building uses shaftwall instead.
> has there been any research into the effects of nuclear weaponry
> and architecture to date- or has the measely fallout shelter been
> a best guess at nuclear defense... is there no defense to be had?
Have you seen the films from the 50s a-bomb tests? They would build
different kinds of buildings---little masonry and frame houses (complete
with crash-test dummy families), barns, concrete bunkers, and film them at
high speed to see what happens.
T'wasn't purty.
> a top-secret US Government fallout shelter for Senators and
> Congressional members and their families. see the facility via
> QTVR movies. read the interview about the construction of the
> facility and its purpose. and view the amazingly american
> interior decorating of a black-budge building....
>
> http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/amex/bomb/sfeature/
Is this the one built under a Virginia resort hotel?
Duck and cover! How naive we were to think that someone might actually
survive a 20 MT nuke blast. Simple extrapolation of the Hiroshima and
Nagasaki results would have suggested otherwise.