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10. Facts on the Sho-Hondo Construction |
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The 23,500 tons steel frame
of Sho-Hondo is made of shipbuilders steel - stainless,
can't rust even if soaked for years in ocean water.
Concrete Poured
120,000 cubic meters or 140 cubic meters/working day poured.
Instead of the impossible task of trucking in that volume
they built a concrete plant on-site. The sand was in-situ,
dredged from the Fuji River that was diverted for the
project.
Waterproofing
Conventional construction wisdom of the late 1960's held
that 100% waterproofing is impossible. The Sho-Hondo attempts
to overcome the state of the art limitations through double
waterproofing and by leaving a work space between the
layers for inspection and repairs. The second layer provides
protection if the first layer fails and the first layer
can be repaired easily without compromising the structure.
Therefore the protection is squared, i.e. if the danger
of leakage of one layer is, for example, 1/100, the danger
with the two layers is reduced to 1/10,000. The upper
level of the Garden of the Law (outer, lotus fountain)
has twelve layers of asphalt waterproofing.
(Source: Pictorial Report of the Sho-Hondo, 1972)
Amount of Work
Length of time to completion: 48 months
Number of workers: up to 1000 a day
Total number of people involved in the construction: 1,013,595
Total number of work hours: 9,742,624
(Source: SD (Space Design) Magazine, 1973, January)
No sea sand was used in the concrete, which was made under
the strictest scrutiny. All the sand used in the concrete
was excavated from Shibakawa to Minobe along the Fuji
River. A concrete test center was established, which tested
the quality of the sand and aggregates brought in for
the concrete. If they did not meet a certain standard,
they were turned away, and the contractors who brought
in the aggregates were asked to investigate why their
materials failed to meet quality standards.
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(Source: Taiseki-Ji, Sho-Hondo:
Construction Work Record,
Published by the Joint Corporate Entity for the Construction
of Sho-Hondo, July 1, 1974) |
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