WHO's SCROLL

  ALBROOK -- History                                                                                               [p07 of 15]   

Home

Site Map

Links/Literature

Dedications

Guest Book

Contact WHO

   

AMERICA'S LEGACY IN PANAMA

PANAMA CANAL TREATY TRANSITION

END OF AN ERA

U.S. MILITARY IN PANAMA

U.S. MILITARY IN REGION-History

LIFE AFTER SOUTHCOM

SOUTHCOM TODAY

PANAMA

COMMENTARY

By WHO / By Others

OTHER TOPICS

BASES-LIST/MAP

AMERICA'S LEGACY IN PANAMA

Bases:  Summary

Bases: Then/Now

Panama Canal Construction 

Panama Canal 1914-1999

 

BASES

QUARRY HEIGHTS

FORT AMADOR

FORT CLAYTON

FORT KOBBE

ALBROOK AIR FORCE BASE/ STATION

HOWARD AIR FORCE BASE

RODMAN NAVAL STATION

PANAMA AIR DEPOT (PAD) AREA

FORT SHERMAN

FORT DAVIS

FORT GULICK

GALETA ISLAND

EARLIER MILITARY INSTALLATIONS

Camp Elliott/Gaillard

Camp Otis

Fort Grant

Fort DeLesseps

Fort Randolph

France Field

Coco Solo Naval Base

Camp Rousseau

 

ARCHITECTURAL OVERVIEW 

Architectural Styles

The historic buildings at Albrook AFS and Howard AFB fall into seven basic architectural style groups: Mission, Spanish Colonial Revival, Spanish Eclectic, Modernistic, International, Varied Eclectic, and Military Vernacular. An eighth 'n/a' designation was given to structures that lack distinct stylistic forms and features. It should be noted that few, if any, examples of pure styles exist at either installation. For this study, the assignment of an architectural style to a building was frequently based on only minor expressions of that style.

Mission Style

Some of the earliest buildings constructed at Albrook feature Mission Style design elements. This style originated in California in the 1890s as a counterpart to the popular Colonial Revival architecture on the east coast, and its use continued well into the 1920s. The Mission style drew from regional Hispanic influences, including the following features:

Shaped parapets with coping
Tile roof projections cantilevering from wall surfaces
Red tile roof
Wide and open overhanging eaves
Smooth stucco wall surfaces
Porch roofs supported on large square piers134

Spanish Colonial Revival

The most dominant architectural style at both Albrook and Howard is Spanish Colonial Revival (1880-1940). As the title suggests, designs of this type were influenced by the Spanish Colonial architecture of the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. Examples at Albrook and Howard are of the pitched-roof variety and simple in form. Other characteristics include:

Low-pitched clay tile roofs
Small unglazed window openings
Stucco wall surfaces
Narrow porches that act as passageways135

Spanish Eclectic

Although referred to by many as Spanish Colonial Revival, a richer architectural style of Latin influence is the Spanish Eclectic. The style was popularized by the Panama-California Exposition held in San Diego in 1915. The exposition's designer, architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, had previously conducted detailed studies of Spanish Colonial architecture, and chose to feature more precise imitations of elaborate Spanish prototypes for the exposition. As the Spanish Eclectic style gained popularity, architects turned directly to Spain for inspiration. The style remained fashionable until the 1940s. Decorative details draw from all periods and regions of Spanish architecture, including:

Eaves with little or no overhang
Round or square towers
Arches
Balconies or balconettes
Stucco or tile decorative vents
Decorative tiles
Heavy wood paneled doors
Decorative iron window grilles136

Modernistic

Some of the technical construction at Albrook and Howard was done in the Modernistic Style, popular from the 1920s through the 1940s. The earlier variant of the style is Art Deco which has features that give vertical emphasis:

Smooth stucco wall surfaces
Towers and vertical projections beyond the roof line
Zigzags, chevrons, and other stylized and geometric motifs as facade decoration

Art Deco was superseded in the 1930s by Art Moderne which has features that give horizontal emphasis. The move from one variant to the other was spurred by developments in streamlined industrial design of ships, planes, and automobiles. Art Moderne is thus a fitting design medium for aircraft hangars and other transportation-related structures. Its image was one of aerodynamic forms created by the use of:

Smooth stucco wall surfaces
Rounded corners
Flat roof with coping
Asymmetrical facade
Corner, glass block, and round windows
Horizontal grooves or lines to emphasize streamline quality137

International Style

A limited number of International Style buildings were constructed at Albrook and Howard. Still in use today, the style was originally introduced to the U.S. during the 1930s when several avant-garde architects fled tensions in Europe and emigrated to the states. In their homelands, and as early as 1925, they had favored new designs that exploited the materials and technology of the day. The style shuns traditional decorative features and emphasizes functional elements, such as:

Long ribbons of metal casements, often wrapping around comers
Floor-to-ceiling; windows
Often obscured front entrances
No decorative details at doors and windows
Smooth unadorned stucco wall surfaces
Flat roofs with shallow coping or wide boxed overhangs
Cantilevered sections of house, roof, and balconies
Plain round porch supports
Asymmetry 138

Varied Eclectic

Varied Eclectic refers to buildings executed in multiple architectural styles without any single dominant style. Only two buildings fall into this group. Howard Building 34, the theater, has a combination of Spanish and Art Deco features. The design for Howard Building 723, the former dispensary, is a unique Spanish-International Style hybrid.

Military Vernacular

Many structures at Albrook and Howard lack high-style design influences. Some of these were intended to be purely functional, and consequently they were constructed from military standard plans that emphasized building functionality. The use of standard plans promoted a utilitarian military aesthetic that is evident on most, if not all, military installations. This style, called Military Vernacular, employs simple forms and materials suitable for local conditions. Standard plans used at Albrook and Howard were interpreted for the tropical climate.

Building and Site Features 

Environmental factors greatly impacted construction in tropical Panama. The dry season (January to March) is characterized by almost constant sunshine and little precipitation. The remainder of the year is referred to as the wet season for its predictable light rains and heavy downpours interspersed with sunshine. Consequently, buildings at Albrook AFS and Howard AFB were designed and situated to protect the inhabitants from heat, intense sun, and torrential rains.

Ventilation

It was necessary to design buildings for maximum cooling of interiors, as most structures were constructed before the availability of air conditioning. The exterior walls of many temporary type quarters, bar-racks, and administration buildings were punctuated with 4- or 5-in. ventilation slots at the baseboard flush with the floor. Most of these temporary structures have since been demolished, but for those that remain, ventilation slots are blocked to keep cooled air in and insects out. A similar concept was implemented at the interior of both temporary and permanent building types in the form of large upper-wall openings and door transoms. Views are obscured by slats or milled posts, but sound still travels between the spaces. Roofs feature ridge ventilators or gable end vents to allow heat to escape, and virtually all original exterior doors and windows featured screens or jalousies to allow breezes to reach indoors. A jalousie is a blind or shutter with adjustable horizontal slats used to regulate the passage of air and light. Their use was popular throughout the Isthmus, despite the drawback of shutting out light along with the wind and rain. After much experimentation, two types of jalousies were favored: the Miami type and a simpler mechanism. The former was made of hardware slides and handles that allowed adjustment to any fixed angle. The latter was a slatted blind with a center adjustment rod. While the Miami type was preferable, the simpler version was produced in large quantities and at a low cost by the Panama Canal Department shops.139

Effects of Moisture and Rain

 
Figure 51. Deep overhanging eaves protect window openings from torrential rains that are common In Panama from April to December
 

It was necessary to design and site buildings to minimize the effects of excessive moisture and torrential rains. The closets of high ranking officers feature dry bulbs -- low-temperature electrical devices to reduce humidity, circulate air, and prevent mildew. There was also the practice of adding bichloride of mercury to paint. The fungicidal quality of the mercury kept the mildew problem in check. The most obvious building features on those structures at Albrook and Howard are the deep overhanging eaves and mediaguas (Figure 51). Roof overhangs approach 6 or 7 ft depending on the structure and its location. Mediaguas (sometimes referred to as subsidiary eaves, eyebrows, skirt-roofs, canopies, and aquamedias) are a special type of continuous pent roof. This Latin term, meaning "middle waters," refers to an overhang placed on intermediate floors of a building to shelter window openings below. A final form of protection against rain, no longer present on the buildings at Albrook and Howard, was the canvas drop. Virtually all window and porch openings that did not have louvers or shutters featured rolled canvas drops. As with the jalousie, their usage blocked the passage of light.140

Figure 51. Deep overhanging eaves protect window openings from torrential rains that are 

Figure Combating the Termite Problem

Military architecture in the former Canal Zone features interesting elements to combat the termite problem. Wherever and whenever practical, concrete construction was employed. Family housing units were raised on stilts, with only the servant's quarters having direct contact with the grade level. In temporary wood construction, insect pans separate the ground floor concrete support columns from the upper level wood components. The most interesting solution to the termite problem was to insert a break in the middle or top of a stair flight. Each side of the break had its own supports, and the break prevented termites from passing from the ground level to the upper floors.

Drainage

The management of water runoff during the rainy season was a major consideration in the layout of both installations. This is evident in the landscape, which is overlaid with a sophisticated system of surface drains and culverts. Rainwater is shed directly off building roofs or directed through eave funnels onto narrow concrete surface drains at building perimeters (Figure 52). Water then quickly flows to large surface drains that run between buildings. Finally, it is directed to paved culverts that lead to a large body of water. The system functions beautifully during torrential rains. However, settlement of the ground in some areas has created low points in the surface drains that collect standing water. The residual moisture tends to attract pests. Heavily planted lots also suffer similar problems when surface drains fill with plant material.


(Footnotes and bibliography are at the end of this section)

 

Preceding Page          NEXT PAGE

Site designed, developed, and owned by

William H. Ormsbee, Jr.  2005