Assessment and Rehabilitation of Historic Browning Hangar: Fid-Bau Portal

Assessment and Rehabilitation of Historic Browning Hangar

Bedre, J. A. / Naeve, G. C.

During World War II, a period of history when steel was in short supply, builders resorted to alternative construction techniques to achieve traditional building spaces. Airplane hangars were no exception. The Browning Hangar, named after the Robert Browning family who were early Austin aviators and pioneers in the service of general aviation, was constructed in 1943. The hangar construction consisted of a series of five parallel 3-hinged parabolic arches clear spanning 130 feet to buttressed foundations. The arches were constructed onsite with innovative glued and laminated 1 x 10 pine boards, laminated to variable depths along their lengths. Over time, the arches began to creep and sag. Termites destroyed large amounts of the arch bases. As portions of the roof decking deteriorated, moisture attacked the arches, further deteriorating the wood. Though a limited structural renovation was made in the early 1980s, aggressive deterioration of the hangar continued unabated with the closure of Robert Mueller Municipal Airport in 1999. In 2005, AEC conducted an evaluation and subsequent renovation of the hangar to arrest further degradation. Presently, the hangar stands as one of the only remaining structures of the old airport in a new master-planned mixed-use development of the area fittingly called `Mueller'. This paper will illustrate the various investigation techniques used to evaluate, test, and repair damaged parts of the structure to make the building safe and serviceable for future use.