THE ARUP JOURNAL

JULY 1981

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..... ,•••• , .. ,u ...... 1, - ••'1-••· Vol. 16 No. 2 J uly 1981 Publtshed by Ove A rup Partnership THEARUP 13 Fitzroy Stree t. London W1 P 680

Edi tor : Peter Hogge11 Art Editor : Desmond Wyeth FSIAD JOURNAL Assistant Editor David Brown

Front and back covers : M aps courtesy of The British Library

prefabricated buildings from Britain, although Subsequently, and most unexpectedly, Introduction the Crystal Palace in 1851 marked the received an approving letter from an AD ultimate achievement in construction. with reader which made particular reference to my Peter Dunican one million square feet of exhibition space brief observations about Brunel's Crimea being completed in less than a year from hospital and referred to a private. unpublished the start of the design. A most remarkable and detailed monograph on the subject. At M axwell Fry's 80th birthday party in achievement, still unequalled.' Naturally I was so intrigued by this that I August 1979 the publisher and editor of 'Following Paxton's Crystal Palace achieve­ asked to see it. Having seen it I was absolutely Architectural Design, Dr. Andreas Papadakis, ment - which unfortunately was not repeated convinced that this was a work of historical arranged with me to review for him 'Pioneers in its transfer to Sydenham, mainly because importance. which should be widely pub­ of prefabrication: The British contribution in of the client's interference - Brunel completed lished, preferably in The Arup Journal; and the nineteenth century' by Gilbert Herbert. My in 1855 a 1 OOO-bed prefabricated hospital in here it is. review was published in the November the Crimea in ten months from the date of the I consider it to be a most distinguished issue of Architectural Design and in it I said, initial instruction, which emanated from the contribution to the history of our construction inter alia: direct involvement of Florence Nightingale. industry and a significant challenge to our 'In detail the examples which are given This outstanding work was erected by a team future performance. I think that we are cover particularly the middle period of the of 13 carpenters. one pipelayer. three privileged to publish David Toppin's mono­ 19th century, but go back to 1787. And, in plumbers and a smith, with some assistance graph and I trust that we have done it justice. fact, to a prefabricated hospital arriving in from Greek carpenters. It was a most remark­ Sydney in 1790. Perhaps 1830-1840 was the able achievement which has not been I wish I had the ability and tenacity to produce real beginning of the export in earnest of repeated anywhere since.' such a work.

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Fig.1 A contemporary observer's view of the Renkioi Hospital (The Illustrated Times. 1 December 1855. Reproduced by courtesy of City of Westminster Reference Library) modularity and honest response to functional, subjective ; that properly there is no history, The British Hospital climatic and logistical problems, yet still only biography. In this account of technical significant in concept. Both exhibit examples and related social history, revolving therefore at Renkioi 1855 of an architectural planning principle that has around the sheer force of individual person­ come to be known as indeterminacy. alities, Brunel's multi-faceted achievement, David Toppin Interest in the hospital lies as much in the with its genesis in a critical political situation, concept of indeterminacy as in how this is remarkable. The hospital is notable for the Introduction speed was achieved and what the hospital speed and methods of its design, its linear Over 125 years ago two buildings were both was like. Unlike the Crystal Palace, the organizational principle, and its wide sense of designed and constructed in an incredibly British Hospital is a considerably under­ energy consciousness in terms of materials short space of time : the Crystal Palace, and a exposed topic and commands only relatively usage, environmental management, servicing hospital for the Crimean War which was brief mention in readily accessible literature 2, and assembly process, as well as being an "designed, constructed, crated, shipped to and at the same time 1t has been surrounded illustratlon of an early example of prefab­ the Dardanelles and opened for use in six in rumour and conflicting claims. Reasons for rication. months in 1855"'. Whilst the former building this must include the bias of writers in ways What follows does not, in relation to any was designed by a head gardener and the of interpreting available facts, linked with history of construction, seek to claim primacy latter by a civil engineer, lsambard Kingdom the shortage and difficulty of access to of inventions, and is less about firsts and Brunel, both are paradigmatic, and, in their information on the hospital, coupled with the rather more about mosts 3 , and it is in their contrast, illustrative of the range of early inevitable overshadowing effect of other cumulation that the significance of the industrialized building. The former is a bravura works by Brunel of greater magnitude, building lies. Yet the outstanding point that display and symbol of Victorian daring, complexity and contemporary controversy ; emerges is that, whilst none of the con­ ingenuity and technological skill, the latter, and the fa ct that the hospital was conceived stituent parts were totally original inventions, perhaps unspectacular and of no momentous as a temporary structure erected outside it was Brunel's conception of their total single breakthrough, is of courageous com­ England and in use for a little over a year. functioning together as a co -ordinated plan mon sense, modest in its simple disciplined It has been said that all history becomes of action that was in a sense the great invention. There is no work, to the author's knowledge, which fully describes or does justice to Brunel's achievement, and the wider import of it has still to be satisfactorily interpreted. The significance of his building lies in the fact that the fundamentals that Brunel grappled with, successfully, are still relevant today.

The Crimean War For various motives. England, in the mid 1850s, slid into the Crimean War without real object or occasion, contrary to the policy of her peace-loving Premier. Lord Aberdeen. She sided with the French and war was 4 declared in March 1854 • The capture of Sebastopol. the Russian arsenal and naval Fig. 2 base, was chosen as the all ied objective. View of hills Sebastopol could have been taken within a surrounding, seen few days of the landing of the French and from the site of the English in the Crimea, had they chosen to Hospital. Summer 1972. march into 11 at once from the north. However, (Photo : David Toppin) defic1enc1es of leadership resulted in a march

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Fig.3 1855 Map of the Black Sea and its environs, indicating the region of the Crimea n War and the site of the Hospital. ( Drawn by David Toppin) round the fortress to the south to begin a slow building, formerly a disused barracks, with a thing within its capacity. In January 1855, siege. The enemy were thus given time for grave natural disadvantage as a hospital John Roebuck, the radical member for defence works and the reinforcement of the since it stood over old sewers, there was a Sheffield, angered by the Government's field armies. The besiegers were soon put on complete lack of facilities. There were no inability to recognize the true situation and the defensive and, as a result of the breakdown arrangements for landing the sick and the need for immediate action, moved a vote of organized supply and transport, the little wounded brought by sea, there was no of censure on the Government, and proposed British army nearly disappeared in the proper water supply or drainage system, an a committee of enquiry6 . The Government of Crimean winters. inadequate number of open privies w ithout Lord Aberdeen fell and was succeeded by any means of flushing or cleaning stood Lord Palmerston's in February ; a determined It seems incredible that the British nation, beside the main water storage tank - whose effort was made to better the situation and which then led the world in new methods of supply was eventually found to be polluted. improve the conditions of the troops. A industrial production and organization, should Very often the supplies of warm clothing, sanitary commission was sent to Scutari and be unable to provide for 20,000 soldiers half medicine, tents and building materials, the reports of Florence Nightingale clearly a dozen miles from her fleet in the port of shipped from England to the Crimea, got no indicated that the problems of the hospitaliza­ Balaclava, yet the breath of reform, which further than their ports of destination, where tion of the troops were the poor quality of was transmuting commerce, Parliament, they were stolen or left to rot because of the medical care and the inefficient supply Municipalities. Church and Education, had inadequacy of communication and transport services available within the military structure, left the army untouched. systems6 . together with the unsuitability of using The deficiencies in military preparation led to accommodation not designed or adequate such a disastrous situation that in the five Developments for the purpose. But for two developments, the diminished months from September 1854 to January The request for a hospital 1855 only 22,000 of the 56,000 troops sent British Army might have finally perished for It was against this background that the to the East by the British Government still want of shelter, clothes, food and medicine. newly-formed Government asked for a survived. Of the 22,000, at least 10,000 were The first of these was the arrival of Florence hospital system to be designed. made in in hospitals. The small remainder of men were Nightingale in Scutan, despatched from England and sent out ready for erection. completely demoralized, their officers no England in January 1855 by Sydney Herbert. Quite obviously, the reasons for prefabrica­ longer having the ability to command .. The A woman of administrative genius, inexhaust­ tion lay in the difficulties of building to a sick and wounded were dying in hundreds in ible energy and a withering contempt for red satisfactory standard and rate with local deficient hospital buildings which lacked tape, she saved the sick and wounded of the materials, labour and processes. It is perhaps sanitary provisions. were overcrowded and British Army, in spite of its medical chiefs, by not surprising that the request should have understaffed. There was no heating in the creating at Scutari a modern base hospital been for an engineer. The massive social buildings, and, during the severe winter in with trained women nurses and necessary changes and technological developments in January, bedclothes and boots froze on the material. new materials and techniques were of little patients; the moisture of their breath turned The second development was the emergence concern to the majority of architects at the to ice. Men suffered frostbite and chilblains, of the newspaper correspondent, an unknown time. Their preoccupations, impeded by an some freezing to death in the exposed wards person in Sebastopol or Scutari ; for this was architectural tradition unable to discard its during the nights. Disease spread : dysentery the first war to be covered by the newspaper cultural load, lay more with the derivation was the largest killer ; cholera and typhoid correspondent. The daily reporting of the of styles, and the conscious art of creating also spread rapidly amongst the weakened grim facts of the appalling conditions of the massive enduring structures, than the per­ troops who had little or no resistance to troops during that winter gave rise to a formance and construction of buildings. Sir these diseases. The losses of men from growing public awareness in England of the George Gilbert Scott held that the great disease far outnumbered those lost from 6 42% death rate • principle of architecture was to decorate battle. The emotional indulgence in the celebration construction, and in 1853 Ruskin stated that The organization, strategy and supply services of war gradually turned to disillusionment and ornamentation was the principal part of were totally unsuited to waging long-range challenged the statements by the Minister of architecture. The problems and potentialities warfare. At the base hospital at Scutari (now State, that conditions were improving daily of the first half of the century were left to be called Uskudar), a huge quadrangular and that the Government was doing every- recognized and grappled with by others.

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Fig. 4 A contemporary observer's view of Scutari Barracks in use as the British Hospital ( The Illustrated London N ews, 6 January 1855) lsambard Kingdom Brunel principle capable of adapting itself to unknown site conditions and accommodating lsambard Kingdom Brunel was born at an unknown number of patients Portsmouth on 9 April 1806, the third child and only son of Sir Marc lsambard Brunel, A form of construction utilizing an assembly civil engineer. Sir Marc was an unself­ technique appropriate to the possible available conscious man of simplicity, unworldliness labour force and natural dignity ; from French stock he A speedy manufacture of the component parts, was self-taught and a born craftsman with a with an ease of their means of transportation. flair for invention 2 . Records indicate that the Any answer. however ingenious and carefully son showed a brilliant intelligence from the conceived, could be rendered useless through outset. He displayed a talent for drawing from a lack of anticipation of contingencies. What the age of four and had mastered Euclid emerges is a uniquely appropriate solution by the time he was six. Sir Marc was one of judged both from Brunel's own description, the first in England to have mastered the and the observation of others on the per­ system of mechanical drawing evolved by formance of the hospital in use. Gaspard Monge, upon which modern engin­ eering drawing is based, and. under paternal Method direction, lsambard started the habit of Once committed to the undertaking, Brunel measuring and drawing on the insistence moved with remarkable speed, showing that the habit was as important to an engineer considerable initiative and the beginnings as a knowledge of the alphabet, and which of his design method. Within six days he had undoubtedly contributed to his extra­ placed the contract for the supply of buildings ordinarily acute powers of observation 7 • for a hospital with 1 OOO beds, and had By the time lsambard had reached adoles­ written to Hawes at the War Office outlining cence his father had already achieved honour desirable conditions. and asking for sketches and distinction as an engineer and was able, of contoured maps of suggested sites. To despite financial vicissitudes. to give his son have placed the contract. even by this early a good education and training. His childhood stage, he must have been fairly clear about was spent at a boarding school in Hove, and the eventual form of his solution. An outraged Fig.5 squeak from the War Office Contracts holidays at the family home by the river in lsambard Kingdom Brunel, aged 49 Department at this unorthodox and pre­ Lindsey Row. Chelsea. At the age of 14 (Detail from portrait by J . C. Horsley, 1857. Brunel went to the College of Caen in cipitous behaviour produced the following Reproduced by courtesy of the Normandy and later to the Lycee Henri retort2 . 'Such a course may possibly be National Portrait Gallery) Quatre in Paris famous at that time for its unusual in the execution of government work, mathematical teachers, and, after finishing but it involves only an amount of respon­ there, took an apprenticeship under Louis sibility which men in my profession are and work output out of all proportion to Breguet, maker of chronometers, watches accustomed to take ... It is only by the ordinary physical powers. By temperament, and scientific instruments 2. prompt and independent actions of a single he was complex in character. privately individual entrusted with such powers that The incredible number and variety of projects acutely self -conscious ; yet cold, proud and that Brunel undertook in his life, included expedition can be secured and vexatious self-confident in public2 • Brunel earned high tunnels, bridges, railways, trains, ships, and mischievous delays avoided . These reputation in the profession for his evidence buildings, if wanted at all, must be wanted harbours and ports; his understanding of given before Parliamentary committee on timber, for example, stemmed from a line of before they can possibly arrive.' schemes of which he was an engineer8 . development of its structural potential in But he was restive under restraint of any Most probably in writing to Hawes, Brunel was trying to establish a more complete railway bridges. law, rule or regulation which interfered - For whilst the 19th century could look back even in an age of individualism - with brief, yet we can be sure that he did not get contoured maps, for his later explanation of on a long tradition of centuries of timber individual responsibility or initiative, and a bridge truss construction, no serious attempt persistent and outspoken opponent of the the idea behind the design of the hospital was made before that century at scientific patent laws, reserving special scorn for acknowledged that the actual site was un­ design. The impetus was provided by the Government departments and their officials. known. In a further two weeks on 5 March, needs of the railways, whose construction Brunel reported on his design to the War 9 commenced in 1821 ; the railway train is The commission for the hospital Office. He recorded 'It is most gratifying incapable of negotiating steep gradients up Sir Benjamin Hawes, who was Under to be able to state that from everybody I have or down hill. nor can it operate until the Secretary of State for War, had married received the most zealous and cordial permanent way is complete, thus posing a Brunel's eldest sister and was. perhaps. assistance, and found it sufficient to mention new problem requiring new solutions prompt­ instrumental in Brunel's appointment for the the object of my enquiries to obtain immedi­ ing original thinking, not least in terms of size design of the hospital. The state of war must ately every assistance I could possibly and number required in a short space of time. have been a topic of conversation between require.' them and the project might well have been Brunel's explanation of the idea behind his Experiments with timber discussed and developed in private. At any hospital was 1 o That the aggregate of the His first major project, which in 1841 estab­ rate Brunel must have been forewarned. and building should consist of such parts as lished him at the age of 35 as second only to with his usual zeal for new tasks, he had might be conveniently united with one whole the engineer Robert Stephenson, was the explored his first ideas for the design of the under great variations of conditions of the original main line London to Bristol Great hospital by 16 February 1855, for, when he form and nature of the site. That the several Western Railway which used a timber received the official request from the parts must be capable of being formed into a bridge2 . By the late 1840s he had acquired Government through Sydney Herbert, Secre­ whole united by covered passages, and that considerable experience of timber bridge tary at War, to undertake the work. he replied it should be capable of extension by the building and carried out experiments to on the same day2 'This is a matter in which addition of parts to any size.' determine the strength of timber beams and I think I ought to be able to be useful and It would be interesting to know who Brunel methods of preservation. In the later extension therefore I need hardly say that my time and saw and what advice he sought during this of the Great Western Railway into Devon best exertions without any limitations are time. Yet there seem to be no records of his and Cornwall, where Brunel faced the entirely at the service of the Government.' contact with advisers - whether medical, problem of crossing many deep and narrow Definition of problem constructional or manufacturers of equipment. valleys, he developed a standardized design However, his choice of principal material, This was not the moment to embark on the of timber viaduct of considerable simplicity wood. has genuine virtues : in terms of prolonged development of an elaborate and with spans of 50 and 60 ft. From piers. four performance in use - visually undemanding, original design idea. What was required was diagonal members sprang, supporting the acoustically quiet, thermally comfortable an exercise in rapidly identifying all the main longitudinal members carrying the because it has a thermal conductivity which factors essential to the success of the project platform. The members could be replaced places it among the range of more than and proceeding with haste. Brunel was without interruption of traffic and the whole moderately good heat insulating materials, fortunate indeed in having the problem so design was based on the repetition of standard and also a low thermal capacity enabling its sharply focused and critically defined by the units of timber. vegetable fibre surfaces to warm quickly; circumstances of its inception. Obviously the As a man, Brunel, short in stature and of no in terms of construction - freely available solution had to be conceived in terms of the great physical strength, had immense reserves and easily workable. Certainly we can assume following esse ntials : of nervous energy and unlimited capacity for that the evolution of the organizational hard work which, coupled with a dogged The environmental needs and provision of principle and the decision on the enclosure persistence, could, once unleashed upon a facilities for the care of the sick and wounded. system was made early on for him to have particular project, perform feats of endurance A building complex based on a planning placed the contract for the buildings. 5 ~ ,,-,,,-=-- ..._!.LO~ITl!,.:.c :::--,...~ ~O:t,:OJ:S:&:f lCDT ~r~. - ,. •..-. 1111•H•1, COIITUfl•l'ltlC&UI --f'wttiot11w-..1.,,...... t ~..... [ . ---~-..,,...__ _ ,__,_,_,,_...... ---- .-,- ...... - ..... :...... ,_J"l"llpo _....,._._,,._...,... -·-- .' - --·-·-"'------.....-·--....---...-..,_... _-6 __,.,,. _____ ... ,. ._...,._,.._,. 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Working drawing for the :::::...,_,,__.. __ ,.._~--·-..-. •.. - ::::.· 'Gloucester' soldiers' hut, . ....__...,.__ __.,_ __ __ -.,...._, _ ...... ,_ ..... illustrating the extent of - ~ ...... -·~- ''!~.-- rational1zat1on of timber hut ·--_....--,-----.... - -.-..---.--.,-- q, ,. ,,,_ 1,-·- ::=---...... --.---.,_ ' construction. in terms of --·-~-..._,..._._ prefabrication, coding of .-.------...... - components and assembly process. ( Reproduced by courtesy of the Public Record Office, London)

~~·~- =~~=~.·~~ Fig. 7 Prefabricated portable wooden barracks manufactured in Gloucester for the French Army in the Crimea (The Illustrated London News, 6 January 1855)

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As will be seen later, the basic concept of ga ined in manufacturing large quantities of not least for its portending of the idea of Brunel's design was based on timber prefabricated huts quickly for export to indeterminate buildings - i.e. those buildings pavilions. and it is known that from pioneer Australia and elsewhere, and a system of in which not all aspects are fully determined beginnings in the 1830s, British industry had, coding of the parts had been developed6 . at the time of their design, and are by the time of the Crimean War, developed a Thus for the enclosure system Brunel drew on characterized by a linear organizational significant technical competence and produc­ existing resources. planning principle which accommodates an tion capability for the manufacture of pre ­ A person of Brunel's varied experience would incomplete brief and at the same time contains fabricated buildings, ranging from modest often have been involved in the design built-in potential to meet unknown growth 1 • wooden or corrugated iron huts to the most activity of forming assemblages through the Shortly after Brunel reported to the War Office, elaborate iron villas, churches and commercial combining of repetitive elements. But even a prototype ward was erected on the premises buildings. Considerable experience had been so, the idea behind the hospital is remarkable; of the Great Western Railway at Paddington. 7 The size of the ward was considerably larger These separate buildings have been made all trade-off between its increasing economy of than existing huts, and one of the objects of of the same size and shape; so that with an construction and decreasing ability to adjust the prototype must surely have been a indefinite length of open corridor to connect itself to unknown site conditions; as well as number of tests which included the lightness the various parts, they may be arranged in any the elucidation of a coherent repetitive and strength of the structure, and the form, to suit the levels and shape of the principle of organization of the units, performance of heating and ventilating ground ... so that by lengthening of the and a system of extension to accommodate an systems to see if further economies and corridors and the addition of any number of unknown patient load. He continues ' o: improvements could be made. these buildings, the hospital may be extended "Each building, except those designed for A report on the hospital dated March 1855, to any degree.' stores and general purposes is made to written by Brunel to satisfy his friends' What this amounts to is a very subtle contain in itself all that is absolutely essential curiosity, appears to be the only instance in definition of the size of a basic unit based on a for an independent hospital ward room ; ... which he printed an account of his works. It shows an elastic and efficient plan of action, capable of adapting to unknown conditions and anticipating possible con­ tingencies. It gives considerable insight into his design method, and reads almost like a primer. He outlines his strategy and sets down his definition of requirements 10. "The condi­ tions that it was considered necessary to lay down in designing these buildings were : First, that they should be capable of adapting themselves to any plot of ground that might be selected, whatever its form, level, or inclina­ tion, within reasonable limits. Secondly, that each set of buildings should be capable of being easily extended from one holding 500 patients to one of 1,000 or 1,500 patients or whatever might be the limit which sanitary or other conditions might prescribe. Thirdly, that when erected they might be sure to contain every comfort which it would be possible under the circumstances to afford. Fourthly. that they should be very portable and of the cheapest construction.' Proceeding, Brunel then explains: 'The mode in which it has been sought to comply with these conditions is as follows : The whole hospital will consist of a number of separate buildings each sufficiently large to admit of the most economical construction, Fig.11 but otherwise small and compact enough to be Isometric drawing illustrating the linear organization of Brunel's easily placed on ground with a considerable standard ward units : pavilions either side of a connecting corridor. slope, without the necessity of placing the characteristic of indeterminate buildings. ( Drawn by David Toppin) floor of any part below the level of the ground.

Lavatory basins

/ / /

Lead water service pipe

Outlets under table foot boards conta1n1ng cooling and humidifying water reserves

Wooden ventilation trunking for forced fresh air prov1s1on

Fig.12 Isometric drawing illustrating servicing systems in a standard ward unit. ( Drawn by David Toppin) Pollshed tin sheet ...... ______on one layer of felt Roof boards a· , i · 4 "> 2· 4! ", 2· 4!" · 2·

Transom Floor boards a· x i · 4!" · 3· Floor Joists 4!' >' 2' Sleepers 4!'v 3' Posts 4!'" 4!' Transom 4!' x 3· Side s,11 4!' x 3 • laid ons· small stones and gravel. Fig.13 Isometric reconstruction of Brunel's ward building by David Toppin, showing the manner of construction and the materials and various components.

'To ensure the necessary comforts, and the climatic conditions under which the supplying 1,000 to 1,500 cubic feet of air particularly to provide against the contingency hospital might have to operate, and the means per minute, or 20 to 30 feet for each patient. of any cargo of materials not arriving on the of attaining environmental control in the This air is conveyed along the centre of the spot in time, each building contains within wards. The systems for the protection against floors of each ward-room, and rising up under itself two ward rooms, one nurses room, heat and cold, supply of air by natural and foot boards placed under the tables, is found small store room. bath room. surgery, mechanical means, control of humidity and to flow over the floor to every part of the water-closets, lavatories, and ventilating artificial and natural lighting were all carefully room . . . By forcing the air into the room, apparatus.' worked out 10• 'As a protection against heat. instead of drawing it out. the entrance of bad The ward room .. .. intended for 26 beds each, experience in hot climates and experiments air from the closets, drains or any other which is found in practice to be a size of made expressly for the purpose satisfactorily nuisances, is prevented. The fan is placed room admitting of proper control and super­ proved that a covering of extremely thin and at the opposite end to the closets and drains ; vision, ... is made wide enough and high highly polished tin. which reflects all direct and all the fans being in the open corridor, enough to ensure a good space of air to each rays of heat, was the cheapest, lightest, and the workmen can be seen by a single sentry bed, even if these should be unduly crowded.' most effective protection, and every piece and kept to their work.· of woodwork not covered with tin is to be 'Besides this mechanical supply of air, Here, Brunel is juggling with the size and whitewashed externally.' opening windows are provided along the composition of the unit for self-containment, whole length of the eaves, and spaces left and trading off variously the size of the unit In the provision of heating and in the event immediately beneath the roof at the two for effective control and supervision, economy of the buildings still being in use in the winter­ gables, amply sufficient together to ventilate of provision of self-contained facilities, and "The framework is adapted to receive an the rooms thoroughly if any breezes are contingency of supplies. internal lining of boarding and the interstices can be fitted with a non-conductor.' stirring, without the help of the fan.' Turning to the provision of sanitary facilities 10 As all the buildings except the kitchens and Humidity he continues : 'With respect to closets and lavatories, after examining and considering wash houses were constructed entirely of "There is a very simple provision made for everything that has been done, both in wood, Brunel considered it essential that passing the air over a considerable extent of hospitals of the best description and poor stoves or fire places should not be used : water surface ; which would not only cool it, houses of the cheapest construction. it was · .. . each ward building is provided with a but diminish the effect of excessive dryness, found that the requisite security for cleanliness small boiler, heated by candles, which by which is said to be occasionally in this climate and the greatest amount of economy of experiment have been found amply sufficient more oppressive than even the temperature.' for all that can be required.' labour and on consumption of water, could Lighting be obtained by a cheap description of water­ Ventilation The light is admitted by a long range of closet designed for the purpose ; and with the 'To secure ventilation in a hot climate with narrow windows, immediately under the same object of diminishing the amount of low buildings extending over a large area. eaves, which protect them from the direct labour and waste of water, and securing and therefore incapable of being connected rays of the sun. These windows open, and cleanliness without depending upon the with any general system of ventilation, it was are provided with shutters inside, which constant attention of assistants, fixed basins considered that forcing in fresh air by a small exclude the light, but admit the air . . . Intern­ for lavatories and mechanical appliances for mechanical apparatus attached to each ally the lime wash has a slight tint of colour supplying and drawing off water were building would be the only effective means. to take off the glare . . . Candles are to be used adopted.' Each ward-room is therefore furnished with a exclusively for lighting. and lamps and From the report it is clear that Brunel gave small fan or rotary air pump, which, easily lanterns have been constructed for the considerable thought to the anticipation of worked by one man, is found capable of purpose.' 9 Fire protection and a kitchen and washhouse. So that by He got rather angry " What were your 'A proper supply of fire engines is provided and no accident, mistake or confusion short of expenses coming up here" , he asked - other precautionary measures are adopted the loss of several of the ships, can there I named the sum. He immediately wrote out a against fire.' fail to be a certain amount of hospital cheque, " There" said he, " is a cheque for accommodation provided with every comfort your expenses and ten guineas for your time Drainage and water supply services and essential.' and trouble - you will get the cash for the 'With each set of buildings is sent a pumping 12 The cargo space required for their conveyance cheque downstairs good morning" .' apparatus. a small general reservoir, and a is about a ton and a half to a ton and three Brunton was obviously a man after Brunel's sufficient length of main, with all its branches, quarters measurement per bed.' own kind, and as stubborn. He too was to supply water to every detached building ; acutely aware of the conditions necessary and all the pipes and branches are of such Equipment for effective leadership. However. within a day construction to admit of being put together 'As the space in the wards is very liable to be of his return to Dorchester he was recalled to without any soldering or cement. A system encroached upon, and the beds crowded , the War Office. 'I told him that not only did of drains is provided, formed of wooden portable baths have been designed, into I stand by all my previous demands as to the trunks properly prepared, and of sufficient which the more helpless patients can be lifted, power to be placed in my hands. but I had extent to form a complete and perfect system and lowered, on a frame or sack, without others . . . in addition the Commissariat of drainage from evey building to a safe requiring space for assistants to stand around, should have orders to pay all accounts distance from the general hospital'. or with the bath placed only at the foot of the certified by me. that I should receive Her bed.' Construction portability and cost Majesty's Commission as a Field Officer in the 'The construction of each building has been 'The kitchen and laundry have each required Service, and be entitled to draw all the studied with very great care, so as to secure many special contrivances.' allowances, rations, etc. to which that rank the minimum amount of material, the least Other spaces in the service entitled me. To which Hawes possible amount of work in construction or 'A number of small buildings, intended to be replied, " you are a hard man to deal with, but erection, and the means of arranging all the despatched from the main body, are provided I suppose you must have it." ... On leaving parts in separate packages capable each of for residences for the officers and servants of and when he handed me my signed terms of being carried by two men ; and the result the establishment. and for a small detachment engagement Mr. Hawes said. " There Mr. is that each building is the cheapest and of soldiers. A slaugh.ter house and a store Brunton, you have now in your hands lightest that has yet been constructed in yard and some other appurtenances are also greater powers than any other officer in Her proportion to the area covered.' provided, the extent of which depends on the Majesty's service. I feel sure you will not 2 Transport circumstances of each case.' abusethem".'' 'For the transport of the materials to the spot Flexibility of Brunton left England at the end of March with selected. two sailing vessels and three steam­ accommodation demand a party of 30 men : carpenters, joiners, fitters. boats, capable of carrying one hospital for The ward room is made wide enough and etc., from the Army Works Corps, and after 1,000 men which is the first about to be sent high enough to ensure a yard space of air briefly attending to some hospital work at out. have been secured. In each vessel is sent to each bed, even if this should be unduly Smyrna he joined Dr. Parkes in Constan­ a certain number of complete buildings, with crowded .. . if pressing emergency should tinople. After consultation they decided that every detail, including their proportion of lead to the beds being placed closer. and Brunton should start to search for a site on the water pipes and drains, closets, lavatories, fifty per cent. more patients introduced, it is borders of the Black Sea eastwards to baths, etc, and a small amount of surplus believed that the perfect system of ventilation Trebizond, and he set out on mules with a material and tools ; and in each of two separate which is secured would render these hospitals small party consisting of a Dragoman and a vessels are sent a set of pumps and mains very superior to any now in use for the army.' guide. What were the desiderata that he was looking for in a site? The original hospital plan by Prospecting for a site may have been one of Brunel's assistants, but Brunel for 1,000 men consisted of 22 wards The newly formed Government had decided at the time he was at Dorchester engaged in connected by an open corridor, which required to officer the hospital with civil medical railway duties for a firm called Hutchinson at least four acres of fairly level ground for the practitioners instead of calling in the already and Ritson on the Wilts, Somerset and wards alone : Weymouth Railway. His selection for the overburdened and inadequately organized The locality had to be free from all causes of Army Medical Officers. The physician task was obviously a surprise for he says : 'One day I received a telegram from Mr. endemic disease and have a temperate appointed during March 1855 as Medical climate ; a slight but not excessive wind was Superintendent was Dr. Parkes. Brunel requesting me to come to town by that night's mail and be at his office by 6 desirable. The site, while being a reasonable Dr. Parkes was not overtly involved in the o'clock next morning.' He travelled overnight distance from the scene of the war, had to be design of the hospital, as he himself com­ from Dorchester to reach Duke Street in the situated close to the sea, and not at a distance mented after consulting with Brunel and early morning. or on a height which would have made the inspecting his proposals. The design had conveyance of materials, stores and patients already been considered and fixed and was 'A footman in livery opened the door, and told ditficult, if not impossible ; equally essential, 'distinguished by the perfection of detail me in reply to my enquiry that Mr. Brunel it must possess a good landing place, and excellence of method which stamped all was in his office room expecting me. I was accessible at all times in all weather. the works of that excellent engineer. I was ushered into the room blazing with light, and saw Mr. Brunel sitting writing at his desk. At the site itself. the ground had to be level convinced nothing could exceed the enough to avoid terracing or major earth­ excellence of the mechanical arrangement, He never raised his eyes from the paper at my entrance, I knew his peculiarities. so walked works, yet with sufficient fall to carry off any and that the most pressing duty seemed to be rainwater. A large supply of good water was the choice of a fit locality for the hospital.''' up to his desk and said shortly " Mr. Brunel I received your telegram and here I am" . essential both for consumption and for the Dr. Parkes left London on 5 April having made " Ah" was his reply " Here's a letter to Mr. flushing of the sewers as no cesspools were arrangements for the medical organization Hawes at the War Office in Pall Mall, be to be allowed, with a reservoir at sufficient of the hospital, and requisitioned medical and there with it at 10 o'clock." ·1 2 height to supply the wards and to flush the purveyors' stores for 1,000 men. He arrived in sewers, in order to avoid the necessity of At the meeting with Hawes, Brunton was Constantinople on 18 April. horse power to pump up the water. A good offered the job of prospecting for the site outlet with running water was necessary Brunton's appointment and superintending the works, on the for disposal of the sewage. The choice of the engineer to prospect for a recommendation of Brunel. He immediately site and superintend the erection of the accepted. But he could not agree to certain Towards the Dardanelles buildings was obviously of critical importance conditions of his duties - for the supply of After some days examining various localities in Brunel's plan of action. He was an exacting materials and labour he would have had to along the borders of the Black Sea. which were man to work with, as some of the letters of apply to the Royal Engineer in charge of the found to be unsuitable due to the absence of heavy sarcasm to his backers and withering district who in turn would apply to the War good water and the malarious influence of the scorn to his erring assistants show. However, Office. coast, noticeable in the inhabitants, Brunton amongst his many capabilities was the 'I saw that if my hands and feet were thus was forced to re-trace his steps; he started to ability to both recognize the necessary to be bound with red tape the important work search along the Bosphorus, but still to no human qualities and abilities needed for the would never be completed either to my credit avail. On submitting his report to Dr. Parkes, task and to develop in his assistants and or to the attainment of the end in view. This I Brunton was instructed to continue his supporters the trust and loyalty necessary for stated plainly, and firmly I said I must be searches westward, and with a small the functioning of his projects. perfectly free to act promptly on all occasions steamer at his disposal, sailed to the Sea of The man chosen was John Brunton. His that might arise and to be in a position to Marmora with more success. father William was a railway engineer who employ what men I required and purchase He found an excellent site, as far as healthiness had been one of Brunel's early rivals in the such materials as I deemed necessary. We and position were concerned, on the island original selection of the engineer for the argued this point for at least an hour, I stuck of Prinkipo (now known as Buyukada), but 10 Great Western Railway works. John Brunton to my colours, convinced that I was right. there was a grave deficiency of water. L,.L...ri.A

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Fig.14 Leaves from Brunel's sketch books. Sketches for various parts of the Renkioi Hospital. Top left : Portable washbasin. Top right : Invalid bath. Bottom two leaves : Metal kitchens and sculleries. ( Reproduced by courtesy of Wills Memorial Library, Bristol University) 11 I ...... 1:!J. , , , I ·:rv :___, --. / 1 ~--- '\ rV k v-- - v~-~-

Fig.15 Leaves from Brunel's sketch books. Sketches for various parts of the Hospital. Top two leaves : Lavatory basin . Bottom two leaves : Closets. (Reproduced by courtesy of Wills Memorial Library, Bristol University) 12 ------~ / - --- I enthusiastic, clever. agreeable man, devoted to the object, understanding the plans and works and quite disposed to attach as much importance to the perfection of the building and all those parts I deem most important as to mere doctoring · "The son of the contractor goes with the head foreman, ten carpenters, the foreman of the W.C. makers and two men who worked on the iron houses and can lay pipes. I am sending a small forge and two carpenter's benches, but you will need assistant carpenters and labourers. fifty to sixty in all ... I shall have sent you excellent assistants - try and succeed. Do not let anything induce you to alter the general system and arrangement that I have laid down.'2 On 13 April he wrote to Brunton again concerning the shipping arrangements and revealed a passionate concern for cleanliness, again showing how clearly he understood Turkey the reasons for the catastrophe at Scutari : 'Materials and men for the whole will leave next week. I will send you bills of lading for the five vessels : the schooner Susan and barque Portwallis, the sailers Vassiter and Fig.16 Tedjorat and the Gertrude and Hawk Map showing regions explored by John Brunton when prospecting steamers. By the first named steamer, a fast for a site for the Hospital. ( Drawn by David Toppin) one, the men will go with Mr. Eassie's son.' ·1 would only add to my instructions attention to closet floors by paving or other means so that water cannot lodge in it but it can be kept perfectly clean. If I have a monomania it is a belief in the efficiency of sweet air for invalids and the only point of my hospital I feel anxious about is this .. . ·2 Five days later he sent the bills of lading for the complete hospital and added : 'I trust these men will pull all together, but good management will always ensure this - and you must try while you make each man more immediately responsible for his own work to help each other - and to do this it is a good thing occasionally to put your hand to a tool yourself and blow the bellows or any other inferior work, not as a display but on some occasion when it is wanted and thus set an example. I have always found it answer.' 2 Meanwhile, he had written to Parkes and revealed another of his concerns, that all his precautions could be defeated by the patients themselves, who may well have never seen Fig.17 Part of the site of the Hospital used as a camping site, Summer 1972. a water closet in their lives. 'All the vessels (Photo : David Toppin) with the entire hospital will I believe have left England before the end of next week, that is before 21 st. Finding that none of the Ordnance Stores were likely to be ready, and on the Asiatic side. The plain on which the Continuing further along the coast. he indeed that no positive time could be ascer­ reached the Dardanelles, and a few miles hospital stands is about two miles off, and tained for their being ready, I obtained west of the principal town of Chanak Keleshi runs down on the slope to the coast . .. The authority yesterday to purchase one third of (now called Canakkale) his searches ended. surrounding country is purely agricultural the required quantity of bedding and some ·1 found a splendid site combining all my and the natives seem quiet, industrious and other similar stores and they are now going requirements as to natural formation, supply inoffensive. The plain of Renkioi consists of aboard with the buildings. I have added 20 of water and freedom from malaria. I ascended a sandy loam; it is bounded by an amphi­ shower baths, one for each ward and six the rather precipitous hills lying immediately theatre of mountains, 1,000 feet high, vapour baths.' to the south and found fine springs of water. whence an abundant supply of water is collected . . . The amphitheatre of hills 'You will be amazed to find also certain boxes The village of Renkioi lay on top of the hills protects the hospital against the land wind, of paper for the water closets - I find that at about two miles to the south west. I which, however rarely blows; the rush of the cost of a few shillings per day an ample immediately drew up my report and sent it to water between the M editerranean and the supply could be furnished and the mechanical 1 Constantinople.' 2 Sea of Marmora seems to keep up a perpetual success of the W.C.'s will be much influenced On 3 May Dr. Parkes inspected the site and sea- breeze.' 1 3 by this. I hope you will succeed in getting this used and not abused. In order to assist confirmed its suitability. His only objection Management of resources in this important object I send out some was its distance from the seat of war. From During this time Brunel was attending to the printed notices or handbills to be stuck up, if Constantinople it was an additional 100 arrangements for the shipping of the crated you see no objection, in the closet exhorting miles beyond the Bosphorus, about an extra hospital parts. His letters to Parkes and the men to use the apparatus properly and 14 hours by steamer on half power, yet it Brunton at this time provide a classic example telling them how to do so. If you do not had the considerable advantage of being in of that scrupulous attention to detail which approve of such appeals the paper can be the direct line to England with transport was the secret of his success as an organizer. used for other purposes and perhaps impart steamers. sail and store ships constantly To Brunton on 2 April he wrote: "All plans some information in its exit from this upper passing. will be sent in duplicate ... By steamer Hawk world.' The Times correspondent on his first visit or Gertrude I shall send a derrick and most to the hospital, was struck by the natural of the tools, and as each vessel sails you 'The buildings will be very quick after you; beauty of the surroundings and the excellence shall hear what is in her. You are most I almost fear you cannot have satisfied of the site. "The village of Renkioi lies embed­ fortunate in having exactly the man in Dr. yourself about the site by the time they ded in the hills at the south of the Dardanelles Parkes that I should have selected - an arrive.' 2 13 Fig. 18 Sh ipment at Trieste of wooden barracks for the Allied Armies in the Crimea. ( The Illustrated London N ews, 13 January 1855)

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Fig.19 Shipment of wooden barracks on board The White Falcon at Southampton for the French Army in the Crimea. ( Th e Illustrated London News, 3 February 1855) Fig.20 Between-decks of The White Falcon receiving on board the wooden barracks. ( The Illustrated London News, 3 February 1855)

The first steamer Gertrude arrived on 7 May force in the assembly of the hutting frame ­ Through the detailed reports of The Times and was unloaded by Greeks employed from work. which had to be put together very correspondent at Renkioi we are fortunate the local villages. and erection of the hospital carefully on account of the economy of the in being able to evaluate the provisions began on 21 May. construction, and complicated by the size intended in the design of the hospital against Brunel had given Brunton strict instructions of the units being much larger than the its actual performance in use >J. as to the sequence of operations when on site. largest Crimean Huts. This operation took On 1 October the correspondent observed : Brunton was to have constructed the com­ longer than Brunel had anticipated. yet "The lmperador steamed into sight about plete system of drainage and to have laid within seven weeks Brunton had the hospital midday with 215 sick and wounded from on the water supply before any building was ready to receive 300 patients as well as Balaclava ... The ship was anchored about a to have been capable of admitting patients. having erected a row of officer's quarters for quarter of a mile from shore, the sea quite Following his setting out of the ward units the arrival of the physicians, surgeons. nurses calm, and the weather moderately warm. to suit the peculiarities of the site he had to and other orderlies. Nothing could have been more favourable. As obtain as a first condition, ·a perfect system Use the permanent piers are not yet completed, of drainage, a good supply of water. free that able officer Mr. Brunton, the chief On 12 July Dr. Parkes reported that the ventilation and the most perfect cleanliness engineer. ran out into the sea, with the help hospital was sufficiently complete to accept . . . these conditions being assumed as of his navvies. in the space of quarter of an 300 patients. and by 11 August he was ready essentials. preceding the mere covering in of hour. a perfectly firm platform, between 60 for a further 200, yet it was not until October space and providing shelter for patients.' and 70 feet long, and capable of supporting that it was called upon to accept its initial any number of persons who could stand upon The plain of land projecting into the sea intake. This seems surprising, particularly in it. Orderly medical officers were appointed between the two bays rose regularly and view of the circumstances that led to the to receive the sick on landing, to supply any gradually from 1 Oft to 1 OOft above the sea hospital's inception. A pithy paragraph from immediate wants, and to order their con­ over a distance of ! mile to the foot of the the report of the correspondent of The Times veyance to the wards. if necessary, upon hills. Brunton was able to accommodate 34 dated 27 September alluded to the fact that stretchers. The two inspectors, Ors. Goodeve units, capable of holding 1,500 sick, in three this was due to the military authorities at the and Robertson, stationed themselves at the lines, each consisting of wards on either side front. 'Permit me to express my wonder that extremity of the corridor to sort out the cases of a central corridor, without any terracing the hospitals of Renkioi and Smyrna should as they arrived, so that, in accordance with or excavation and with considerable ease of be permitted to remain empty. It is well the admirable plan of the establishment, water supply and drainage. For further known that threats have been uttered that surgical cases, fevers of contagious nature, expansion of the hospital to the envisaged they should both be "' starved out," and that cases of dysentery. scurvy, etc, may be at once 3,000 patients, there was sufficient space the medical mPn should have no other classified and placed under conditions most to extend the first two lines and simply repeat employment than that of " picking their teeth". favourable for cure. Every ward had its proper the system to contain a further 750 men on But the appointment of an inspector. chosen surgeon or physician, with his staff of ward each line. from among those who have had better taste master, orderlies and nurses. A strong body Brunton discovered springs two miles from than to countenance such expressions. and of Greeks was marshalled as porters. the hospital complex, the first about 700ft. whose duty should be to apportion the stretcher carriers. etc. It will be scarcely above sea level and the other on the summit cases of both sick and wounded. would credited that not more than one hour and 25 of the mountain at nearly 1.000ft. He remove all difficulties and be very beneficial minutes elapsed between departure of the employed a large quantity of local Turkish to the soldier. Never has the head of the first boat from the Caradoc and the stowing labour to dig the trenches and lay earthenware army Medical Department had such materials away of the last patient in his comfortable and pipes to a large reservoir that he formed 70ft. to work with. He might have established a new well appointed bed. The ease and rapidity above the highest ward. From here he carried era in his department of the profession. How with which the whole proceeding was con­ the water in iron pipes down the centre of the advantages so liberally offered by ducted must have been most gratifying to all the corridor; branching off at every ward Government and the British public have been concerned, as it doubtless will be to those at there was a lead service pipe supplying the turned to account I must leave others to ward cisterns which in turn supplied the explain.' home.' baths, lavatories and closets. This simple There was considerable hostility on the part The weather's vagaries gravity system obviated any need for pump­ of the army towards the civil hospitals. The By the middle of November the correspondent ing the water and enabled easy flushing of the implication was that the army could not cope reported a change in the weather from baking sewers. From the lavatories and closets at with the situation. The medical officers felt in the Asiatic summer of nearly 1 OO"F by day the ends of the wards the sewage was their chances of promotion were infringed and night to 50 "F by day and 40"F by night, conveyed in wooden trunking, and discharged and they resented the high pay the civilians coupled with a strong sharp northerly wind some distance into the Dardanelles. commanded. Consequently the flow of the and occasional rain storms. Thereafter the Brunton was unable to find suitable local sick and wounded to the civil hospitals was hospital buildings were subjected to the carpenters to assist his own English labour considerably obstructed. vissicitudes of the weather. There were 15 frequent and sudden changes from the we consider the effects produced upon the such as can be gained by no other system generally cool and mild winter weather to hot wood, the metal, the iron pipes, accord;ng whatever.' southerly gusty winds with torrential cloud­ to the laws of expansion and contraction, by The anticipations that Brunton and Parkes had bursts, thunder and lightning. By the a sudden change of temperature amounting formed of the suitability of the site were beginning of December the buildings were to 40 deg of Fahrenheit, attended with a vio­ confirmed by the experience of more than a receiving major testing in the new climatic lent wind and a snowstorm positively blinding.' year. In spite of the sudden and great changes conditions. The buildings seem to be proof During these months of changeable testing of temperature the climate remained generally against the wind. There have been several weather, building continued and the corres­ moderate; there were few days in which the shocks of earthquakes, one of which made the pondent related: most delicate patients could not get out into houses in the village of Renkioi rattle ; but the sheltered corridor for a short time during they were scarcely felt in the hospital .. . 'The utmost activity prevails in the erection the day. The adequacy of the natural drainage Many of the buildings are watertight - my of the hospital huts and in the completion of of the land ensured that there was no con­ own for example, but the rain had made its the main corridor . .. roads are being con ­ sequent disease arising from the action of way into others, although the roof was structed about the place . . . The English heat on the moistened soil, and there was covered with a layer of felt and sheet tin. It will, artisans are willingly busy, the Greek work­ always a plentiful supply of good water from no doubt, surprise your readers as much as it men as usual are driven to their employment, the springs in the mountains. surprised all here that water could overcome the sound of the hammer is heard in all There can be no question as to whether or not the obstacles presented by a smooth directions, except during the pelting of the Brunel achieved the objective for which the metallic surface. and even now there is some very heavy rain when it becomes necessary hospital was designed, for example as revealed difference of opinion as to the cause. although to seek for shelter . . . The buildings are rising by the small number of deaths in spite of the a remedy has been discovered. Dr. Robertson, in rapid succession, and are not very far presence of the severest forms of disease; a one of the inspecting physicians, thinks that from their limit longitudinally. As their death rate of 0.3% as compared with the 40% it is capillary attraction acting along the numbers increase they will be erected on at Scutari Barracks Hospital. The fact that joinings of the sheets of metal. The engineers vacant ground already selected on the sides fevers and contagious diseases did not rather incline to the belief that the water finds of the main street, if I may call it so. At spread from bed to bed must have been due its way alongside the tacks used for fixing nightfall the long corridor is regularly lit with in large measure to his adequate space the sheet, and by that means get through . .. A lamps.' standards, means of ensuring proper ventila­ coat of thick paint of white lead spread over Railway tion and the hygienic conditions made the lines where the metal plates are in appo­ By 4 December the hospital was ready with possible by the provision of the drainage sition and are nailed down has proved per­ 1,000 places and by the beginning of January system as well as the specially designed fectly efficacious in checking this annoyance.' was up to 1.500 places. During November, equipment and facilities. The type of con­ The winter sets in changes in the hospitals at Scutari and struction employed with its low thermal On 19 December the correspondent noted : Smyrna into barracks or winter quarters for capacity could have led to intolerable 'Winter weather has set in, and all are glad the troops established Renkioi as the central environmental conditions in the wards, in a of fires. On the 16th snow flakes penetrated medical depot south of the Bosphorus, climatic situation that changed from 100 "F to the out-houses and the less finished buildings leading to its major intake in December and freezing. Yet it is precisely these kinds of like dust, and water froze in the pipes. which January. At the same time as the snowstorm construction with their high surface insulation in many places burst, and caused a cor­ previously mentioned, the Renkioi Railway which respond most effectively to handling responding amount of discomfort on the 17th was opened for carrying the sick the 3/ 4 mile of the outer surface fabric, coupled with when the thaw came. It has been found journey from the south pier to the corridor, environmental manipulation ; albeit in this necessary to complete with all speed the side considerably facilitating the working of the instance relying upon the availability of boarding on the north aspect of the long hospital. labour-intensive assistance. The fact is- even corridor, which is now perfectly sheltered and 'It is but a single line and the trucks are under the range of conditions experienced dry. A good deal of work has been required on drawn by horses . . . As the caique runs in the situations described- that the environ­ the roofs of the hospital to render them water­ alongside of the pier, the patients are raised, mental performance was satisfactory; and tight. and to close the apertures left as as they lie in their beds on the stretchers. and it further goes to show that the correctness ventilators during the heat of the summer.' are deposited on the flat railway carriage, of Brunel's anticipation of the problem was ·1 am sorry to say that the sheet tin roofing which, when full, starts at a rapid pace matched by his understanding of the means does not answer its ends satisfactorily. Rain towards the hospital. As the line is not quite for dealing with it. finds its way between the joinings of any finished, a medical officer and a fatigue party By the end of March the hospital could have accidental aperture. and the thinness of the were on duty at the temporary terminus to accommodated, with a little pressure, 2,200 plates renders them liable to tear upon the see that every facility was given to the patients. In a further three months Dr. least strain . .. Indeed for the future the patients for their conveyance over the short Parkes estimated that the whole hospital for engineers intend to cover the hospitals with distance which remained.' 3,000 would have been finished and in full two layers of felt, instead of one layer At the end of December the correspondent activity. For this huge figure, all based on protected by the tin sheeting. The native reported a new development : Brunel's ward and corridor principle, Dr. tiles make a better roof, as is proved by the "The railway connecting the north and south Parkes had evolved a system of medical mess house, but the general buildings are not piers is being constructed as quickly as organization based on the principle of sub­ constructed to support such material. All the labourers can be obtained, but the Greeks division into self-contained hospital units, buildings have stood firm, however high has still retain a strong partiality for holydays.' known as a Division5 , each consisting of 500 been the gale; no accident from this source And by the end of January : patients. Each Division was to have its own has happened, although it has blown '" great "The railway now runs from the pier into the kitchen dispensary, purveyors' provision, guns", and the shipping along the coast has corridor, where a turntable receives it, to issue store, utensil store, pack store and sustained considerable damage.' direct the carriages upon branch lines which matron's linen store. Each ward was to have In early January the weather had become will bring them to the very doors of the its own medical officer, either an assistant almost like an English summer. Wasps were wards. Instead of patients being carried surgeon or an assistant physician. who was seen about the fields, and the hillsides singly upon stretchers. between two men responsible not only for treatment but clean­ swarmed with the flights of goldfinches, but staggering over the rough and wild country­ liness, hygienic condition and discipline of on the 14th of the month this mild weather side, with their worn out and groaning burden, the ward. Each division had its Divisional broke and the countryside was covered with 50 or 60 men are put upon trucks, covered up Officer, to supervise the Ward Medical snow: with blankets and galloped into the hospital Officers, a ward master in charge of four 'During the severest time of the snow-storm along the smooth tramway in a few minutes. orderlies and 10 nurses as well as a lady of the 14th I visited the wards. The lavatories, Never was a more successful work undertaken, sister to superintend the nurses and tend to 1 1 etc. facing the blast were penetrated to a con­ and it will remain a matter of history that the the worst cases • siderable extent, but all the appartments first railway ever laid down in Asia Minor was Parkes was to have had in operation a daily occupied by the patients were warm and on the plain of the Renkioi Hospital and used reports system from the Ward Officers. on comfortable. I may assert. without contradic­ as a transport for sick and wounded soldiers the efficiency of service of the ward and its tion. that nowhere was any man exposed to during the campaign in the Crimea ... It is a hygienic condition, to the Divisional Officer circumstances connected with the sudden fact that a single trial of a railway spoils one who was to satisfy himself of its accuracy and change from summer to winter which could for all other means of transport; the speed and attend to its points, and then forward it on to in the smallest degree have given him dis­ the order with which the men are arranged the Superintendent. The total number of comfort, or increased the severity of his on the trucks, the ease and celerity with patients admitted and treated by the hospital disease.' which they are run into the corridor, the was 1.408, the number of deaths 50. 'The ample stoves blazed cheerfully in front certainty with which the military officer takes However the largest number of patients at of the convalescents grouped around them, the name and regimental number of every any time was 642. and the Division system and the covered corridor afforded a sheltered man, and the medical officer learns the was never really tested, though Dr. Parkes walk to those disposed to take active exercise. nature of the disease. that the case may be was sure from his experience that the system 11 16 The buildings have been severely tested, when despatched to the proper ward, are advantages would have worked • Fig.21 View from hills of southwest portion of plain used as site for the Hospital, Summer 1972. (Photo: David Toppin)

Fig. 22 View from hills of northeast portion of plain used as site for the Hospital, Summer 1972. (Photo : David Toppin)

After the signing of the General Peace Treaty on 30 March 1856, instructions were given to close the hospital down. Brunel in his characteristic methodical way, sent Brunton his disposal instructions2 : 'I don't want the thing to be flung into a ditch when done with. but should prefer a useful end; that each part should be made the most of and methodically and profitably disposed of. Everybody here expressed themselves highly satisfied with Everybody there and what we have done. I should wish to show that it was no spirit but just a sober excercise of common sense . . .' Auction By May the greater number of patients had been either discharged or invalided home and in July the remaining medical staff were sent home. In August. Brunton set about advert­ ising the hospital for sale by public auction and tried to persuade the Turkish Government to purchase the whole hospital. as it stood. and use it as a military school; but to no avail. The eventual sale of the building by public auction took place on 20 September. Prior to this a great fire in Salonica had left a large number of homeless. John Brunton recalled' 2 ·... a deputation came over to purchase some here Brunton, knock it down and I will give and at last I had only remaining 60 ventilating of the wards of the hospital ... for housing you an undertaking you shall have the fans which had been sent for the purpose of these homeless ones. When the Tallal or profits." I was staggered that such proposition ventilating the hospital wards. I could not auctioneer commenced his labours the bid­ as this should come from a British Consul. find a customer for these and was despairing ding for these wards was brisk. and they " No Calvert," said I .. you have the wrong pig when one morning I saw an article in the realised good prices. Day after day the sale by the ear this time". I called out at once to newspapers stating that the stoke holes in went on - much to my satisfaction - till the Tallal "£1.000 for this lot, I buy it in." Her Majesty's gun boats had proved so at last we came to what I called the mach­ Calvert was furious. I immediately determined deficient in ventilation that the stokers had inery department. a list of which was pub­ what I would do and sat down and wrote struck work.' lished. I valued this lot in my mind at [10,000. Calvert an order to send down a steamer that Brunton proposed a scheme to the Admiralty The bidding for this lot was very slow - it night to take this lot of things to England which on testing proved successful and reached £450 - and the Tallal kept calling where I knew I could sell them for a vast resulted in the sale of the fans. Thus were all out this sum for a long while, and still no deal more than had been offered at the the parts disposed of and Brunton closed his advance - he had orders to knock down no auction.' accounts to the profit of the War Office. lot without a signal from me.' Back in England, Brunton had to face the It was not to be long after this that Brunel's ·1 went to him and asked him to point out the wrath of the War Office for departing from health started to fail and his prolific career was bidder of this amount, which he did, and I instructions, and was responsible for a grave coming to an end. By the time of the building at once recognised the Greek who was a sort breach of duty and orders. Reluctantly he was of the Great Eastern ship, the labour and of agent for Calvert the British Consul. I given storage space and allowed to dispose anxiety involved proved too much for his sought out Calvert in the crowd and remon­ of the items on behalf of the War Office. physical powers, and he broke down on the strated with him. I know that all the people A few days afterwards the Medical Depart­ day of the start of her trial trip with an attack of the Dardanelles held Calvert in such dread ment of the Government advertised for of paralysis. 10 days later on the evening of that they dared not bid against him. Calvert tenders for 500 water closets and a number of 15 September 1859 he died. said " Come Brunton, knock this lot down ; lavatories for Netley Military Hospital. which His life-long friend, Daniel Gooch. wrote of you know your orders are very strict: you was then in course of erection. John Brunton him 'By his death the Greatest of England's must sell everything by public auction." related ' 2 'In my own name I sent a tender and engineers was lost. the man of the greatest I remonstrated with him and said I certainly a sample. As I had purchased these articles I originality of thought and power of execution, would not knock it down for any such price, knew what the wholesale price was or ought bold in his ideas. but right. The commercial if he wanted the lot he must boldly bid for to be. My satisfaction was great when in due world thought him extravagant. but although something near its value. The shouting course, my tender was accepted. I sent in the he was so. great things are not done by those Tallal still went on.' lot and acknowledgement came for the who sit down and count the cost of every 'At last Calvert, calling me aside, said " Look receipt of the same. Sales went briskly on, thought and act.' 17 Conclusion organization, for this was not just a collection interactive relationships in the functioning Brunel was not an architect, nor had he any of huts and other components modified from of the whole that is the prime and out­ experience in hospital design. His work a manufacturer's catalogue, but a highly standing lesson. organized plan of action, right down to the previous to the hospital was primarily con ­ Brunel's prodigious powers cerned with the design and construction of last detail of assembly and transportation. yet mechanical systems, machine- based en ­ with a built-in latitude, so that at no point In the final analysis, the "sober exercise of closures, or those in which people tended to could the plan become too highly stressed commonsense' may not seem enough to wear outdoor clothes ; yet in this work he and shatter. explain this achievement, and it is to the man showed in his commonsense approach a Whilst commonsense solutions and good we have finally to look ; for whilst Brunel highly perceptive grasp of human needs - and management are timeless, Brunel's fantastic lived at a time when the young profession of failings - and an understanding of the turn of speed was, in the end, only made civil engineering shone with a glow of measures necessary to deal with both. possible by his own initiative and capabilities. adventure and romance, no single person imparted more momentum to the greatest In a sense the hospital can be regarded as a This speed. based in some measure. perhaps, social revolution in history. Quite apart from unique Brunel work, since it was the only on an extremism of method and extravagance the hallmarks of genius, some mentioned instance where the end product was an of personality, was achieved through the use earlier - streaks of precocity, scepticism enclosure necessitating a specific environ - of a powerful design technique. as well as by towards conventional answers, freshness of mental performance, to accommodate a the use of a repeated element that was vision and acuity of perception, the faculty direct human need. Whilst the hospital shows capable of being manufactured by industrial of combining high flights of theory with a a form which was uninhibited by contempor­ fabrication methods. keen sense of the practical. as well as a head ary architectural morals. it may only be Lessons for generalizations and an eye for minute speculation to ask did Brunel employ this The lessons of such an exercise are various, particulars - here was a man with truly method because of the incomplete brief, or, and interrelated. Certainly, Brunel, in design­ Herculean powers. 'What most distinguished did the method arise out of the problem 7 ing for mechanical services, did not merely him was the force which drove him to the Certainly there was nothing new to Brunel. look for neat ways to install them, but of limit of his bent and which charged his as a railway engineer. about the extendability setting them to work in partnership with the personality with that mysterious magnetic of linear arrays. In using the linear form with fabric of the building. Artificial heat, natural force which so often discomfited his pavilions on either side of a connecting and artificial light, forced and natural ventil­ opponents and which drew others to follow corridor he not only exploited its indetermin­ ation all worked together to give an equable him.' 2 ate characteristics as a direct reaction to the indoor climate. The second linked lesson is problem of an incomplete brief, but he also It would be interesting to speculate on, but that this environmental performance was anticipated what was later to become the outside the scope of this article, from what achieved without recourse to any techno­ conventional hospital form. vital spring of the spirit he derived his logical novelty. Here was a building with an prodigious creative powers, and on the way Design and organization environmental technology, not call ed in as a that the history of construction might have Born out of a successful response to the desperate remedy - albeit called in as a been written had, by some chance, the multiple challenge of a crisis, it cannot be said that the remedy in a desperate situation - that was potential of Brunel been lured further from hospital was an original invention. though naturally in the working method brought to works of civil engineering, as his was surely some of the parts were specially designed . bear on the problem. 'a mind of large general powers accidentally Brunel's real wit lay in seeing the potential for The successful performance of the building determined to some particular direction, solution in the application of the relevant should guarantee it a place in the history of ready for all things but chosen by circum ­ existing technology ; a technology no more environmental control. Yet it is not Just that 11 stances for one. It is often by a trivial, even advanced than his understanding of its worked, rather that 1t worked through the accidental, decision that we direct our successful application and manipulation. The application of the ultimate form of environ­ activities into a certain channel and thus originality lay rather more in the conception, mental, and all other, power - knowledge. determine which of the potential expressions in perceiving right at the outset that funda­ For it was the overall proposition that Brunel of our individual ity bec ome manifest .. .' mental to the undertaking was the problem of made, which presupposed a knowledge so "Every decision 1s like a murder. and our organization. The success of the project complete of the parts of the system and an march forward 1s over the still born bodies illustrates the efficacy of his powers of understanding of their contributions and of all our possible sel ves that w ill never be.'1•

11 References and notes appear that he has not read his report , which 1967 -1968 (reprint of 1921 -1922 edition). is further confirmed by his not mentioning it in h,s (1) WEEKS, John. Indeterminate architecture. (9) Personal letter from Brunel to Sir Benjamin bibliography, as is also the case with Professor Hawes, Under Secretary of State for War, dated Transactions of the Bartlett Society. vol.2, p.6. Clapham·s book 12. University College, London, 1964. 5 April 1855. (3) BANHAM, Reyner. The architecture of the Weeks is incorrect in his assertion that the hospital (10) BRUNEL. lsambard Ill. The life of lsambard well -tempered environment. Architectural Press, Kingdom Brunel, civil engineer. Longman, 1870. ·was designed to open with 300 patients and be 1969. extendable to accommodate 1500". Brunel's (11) PARKES, Dr E. A. Report on the formation original contract was for 1 OOO beds, and it was (4) WEBB, Robert Kiefer. Modern England from and general management of Renkioi Hospital, always envisaged, according to Dr. Parkes, that the eighteenth century to the present. Allen and on the Dardanelles, Turkey, addressed to the the eventual size of the hospital would be 2500 to Unwin, 1937. Secretary of State for War. The War Department, 3000. (5) TREVELYAN , George Macaulay. British 1857. (2) ROLT, Lionel T. C. lsambard Kingdom Brunel ; history in the nineteenth century and after, 1 782- (12) CLAPHAM, Prof. J. H., Editor. John a biography. Longmans Green , 1957. 1919. Longmans Green, 1937. Brunton's Book. Cambridge University Press, In the few cases where I found the sources (6) THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS. 1938. relating to Brunel or the hospital to conflict in fact Various articles between 5 August 1854 and 4 John Brunton was the son of Brunel's old rival, or original quotation, the version by Rolt has been August 1855. William Brunton. who died in 1851 . accepted. He had access to earlier works on (7) NOBLE, Lady Celia Brunel. The Brunels, (13) THE TIM ES. Various reports by their cor­ Brune1 1.10, as well as to original, hitherto un­ father and son . Cobden Sanderson, 1938. respondent at the British Hospital, Renkioi, published, documents belonging to the Brunel (8) HARRISON, Robert. Essay on Brunel. 1855 and 1856. family. Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 3 (Earliest (14) DUBOS, Rene . Louis Pasteur. Little, Brown Although Roll refers to Dr. Parkes, it would times to 1900), p.143. Oxford University Press, & Co ., 1950.

Acknowledgements The author I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the I am also indebted to Suzanne King who con ­ David Toppin trained as a civil engineer at following organizations and individuals in the tributed at an early stage of research ; to Anthony Manchester University prior to studying at the preparation of this study : Froshaug for his generous encouragement and Architectural Association. His experience encom­ Islington Central Reference Library who found time to read and offer helpful comment passes public and private sectors and he now and annotate the text of the first draft; and to practises both as architect and consulting City of Westminster Central Reference Library Pauline Dunn for her help in typing the final engineer. Additionally he is a tutor at the The British Museum, Bloomsbury manuscript. Architectural Association and runs a course there The British Library, Newspaper Division, Finally, I would like to record appreciation of the under the title of 'Anatomy of Construction'. Colindale Ove Arup Partnership"s assistance. In particular The central body of material, on which this The Wills Memorial Library, Bristol University my thanks are due to Peter Dunican for kindly monograph is based, first appeared in a shorter The Public Record Office, Kew giving the opportunity of publication ; and also to form as a History Thesis at the Architectural Peter Haggett and David Brown with Desmond Association. Since that time it became increasingly Plantagenet Somerset Fry Wyeth, with whom I had the pleasure of collabora­ clear that the subject warranted further investiga­ Norman Hughes tion in taking the opportunity through to reality. tion and development. As a consequence, much relevant additional material has been incorporated, Thomas Stevens both of a factual and interpretative nature, EricWillats resulting in the evolution of the present version.

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