The Japanese Construction Miracle

(No, it isn’t concrete.)


Sure, concrete’s in damned near everything here, but that’s not the miracle I’m referring to. Let me show you what I’m talking about.

Okay, yes, that’s concrete, but that’s not the point.

This is the foundation for a new building that’s going up about a block from my apartment. It took them a couple weeks to get to this point, what with ground preparation and all that.Now here’s how it looked one day after that photo was taken:

Yes, that’s ONE day later.

Damned speedy, eh? The scaffolding went up first thing in the morning, and while some dudes were putting that up, another group got to work on the wood bits. How do you build a frame (and floors) that quickly?

Sledgehammers.

No lie! These guys basically pounded the building together. It was all pre-fab, pre-cut bits. Kind of like a “Let’s make a house!” Lego/Lincoln Logs thing. There were notches, holes and other connectable bits and it went up in a flash. It’s not all held together with willpower and brute force though. They did have hardware that fit some of the spots to keep the place from falling down.

Like this:

And this:

I don’t know if this technique is used anywhere else, but it seems damned efficient.

It sort of reminded me of Star Trek.

Remember that bit from Wrath of Khan when Kirk’s first checking out the Genesis Device project? How the chick’s talking about how it took the Starfleet Corps of Engineers to months to hollow out the space they’re using for their offices and quarters, yet the Genesis Device filled up that big cavern with all sorts of flora and stuff in just one day?Same thing here, but instead of a cave and flowers, it’s a foundation and a building.

Hmmm, I wonder if there might be somebody named “Sulu” on the construction crew… ^.^