A Nissen hut is made from a sheet of metal bent into half a cylinder and planted in the ground with its axis horizontal. The cross-section was not precisely semi-circular, as the bottom of the hut curved in slightly. The exterior was formed from curved corrugated steel sheets 10 foot 6 inches by 2 foot 2 inches, laid with a two-corrugation lap at the side and a 6-inch overlap at the ends. Three sheets covered the arc of the hut (about 54 sheets in all were required). These were attached to five, 3 x 2 inch wooden purlins and 3 x 2 inch wooden spiking plates at the ends of the floor joists.
The purlins were attached to eight T-shaped ribs (1 x 1 x 0.2 inch) set at 6 foot 0.5 inch centers. Each rib consisted of three sections bolted together using splice plates, and each end was bolted to the floor at the bearers. With each rib were two straining wires, one on each side and a straining ratchet (or in some cases a simple fencing wire strainer). The wires were strained during construction. The straining wires do not appear in the original Nissen patent.
The purlins were attached to the ribs using a "hook" bolt, which hooked through a pre-drilled hole in the rib and was secured into the purlin. The hook bolt was a unique feature of the Nissen design.
Interior lining could be horizontal corrugated iron or material like Masonite attached to the ribs. The roof and lining form a circular space with a radius of 8 foot 0.5 inch, although, because of the inward curve, the floor was only 15 foot 10 inches. The space between the interior and exterior lining could be used for insulation and services, if required.
The walls and floors rested on foundations consisting of 4 x 4 inch stumps with 15 x 9 inch sole plates. On these were 4 x 3 inch bearers and 4 x 2 inch joists at 2 foot 10 inch centers. The floor was made from tongue and groove floorboards. At East Hills and at Villawood the floor was concrete; the ribs in this case were simply attached to the concrete slab by a simple metal strap.
At either end the walls were made from a simple wooden frame with weatherboards nailed to the outside.
Windows and doors could be added to the sides by creating a simple dormer form through adding a simple frame to take the upper piece of corrugated iron and replacing the lower piece with a suitable frame for a door or window.
Nissen huts come in three internal spans 16 ft (4.88 m), 24 ft (7.32 m) or 30 ft (9.15 m). The longitudinal bays come in multiples of 6 ft (1.83 m). The corrugated steel half-circles used to build Nissen huts can be stored efficiently, because the curved sheets can be cupped one inside another.
The Nissen hut is able to withstand earthquakes, because it has no weak right-angle bends between its walls, roof or foundation, and also because of its circular shape.
Between April 16 and April 18, 1916, Major Peter Norman Nissen of the 29th Company Royal Engineers began to experiment with hut designs. Nissen, a middle-aged mining engineer and inventor, constructed three prototype semi-cylindrical huts. The semi-cylindrical shape was derived from the drill-shed roof at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. Nissen design was subject to intensive review by his fellow officers, Lieutenant Colonels Shelly, Sewell and McDonald, and General Liddell, which helped Nissen develop the design. After the third prototype was completed, the design was formalized and the Nissen hut was put into production in August 1916. At least 100,000 were produced in World War I.
Nissen patented his invention in the UK in 1916 and patents were taken out later in the United States, Canada, South Africa and Australia. Nissen received royalties from the British government, not for huts made during the war, but only for their sale after the conflict. Nissen got some 13,000 and the DSO.
Two factors influenced the design of the hut. First, the building had to be economic in its use of materials, especially considering wartime shortages of building material. Second, the building had to be portable. This was particularly important in view of the wartime shortages of shipping space. This led to a simple form that was prefabricated for ease of erection and removal. The Nissen hut could be packed in a standard Army wagon and erected by six men in four hours. The world record for erection was 1 hour 27 minutes.
Production of Nissen huts waned between the wars, but was revived in 1939. Nissen Buildings Ltd. waived their patent rights for wartime production. Similar-shaped hut types were developed as well, notably the Romney hut in the UK and the Quonset hut in the United States. All types were mass-produced in the thousands. The Nissen hut was used for a wide range of functions; apart from accommodation, they were used as churches and bomb stores, etc.
During World War II the Nissen hut was produced along with a similar type, the Romney hut. In the United States the Quonset hut and its derivatives were developed; the initial version was a near-copy of Nissen's design.
Accounts of life in the hut generally were not positive. Huts in the United Kingdom were frequently seen as cold and draughty, while those in the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific were seen as stuffy and humid.
Although the prefabricated hut was conceived to meet wartime demand for accommodation, similar situations, such as construction camps, are places where prefabricated buildings are useful. The Nissen hut was adapted into a prefabricated two-storey house and marketed by Nissen-Petren Ltd. The standard Nissen Hut was often recycled into housing. A similar approach was taken with the U.S. Quonset hut at the end of World War II, with articles on how to adapt the buildings for domestic use appearing in Home Beautiful and Popular Mechanics.
However, the adaptation of the semi-cylindrical hut to non-institutional uses was not popular. Neither the Nissen, nor the Quonset developed into popular housing, despite their low cost. One reason was the association with huts: A hut was not a house, with all the status a house implies. The second point was that rectangular furniture does not fit into a curved wall house very well, and, thus, the actual usable space in a hut might be much less than supposed.
Nonetheless, 50 Nissen huts were constructed in North Belmont, a suburb of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia after World War II. They were designed to provide cheap, ready-made housing for post-war British migrants families. While 17 of the huts were eventually demolished, the remainder have been refurbished, improved and extended over time, and remain popular with their owners. Currently, there are attempts to have the remaining cluster of huts declared as a conservation area, with the objective of assisting in their preservation.
Brown, Ian et al. (1995). 20th century defenses in Britain: an introductory guide. Council for British Archeology. ISBN 1-872414-57-5.
See Francis 1996, Innes 1998, 2000, Pullar 1997
Engineer in Chief (Army). 1966. Handbook of Nissen Huts: 16'0" and 24' 0" Span, issued December 1944, Revised March 1966 Army Code No 14867. (Probably a British Army publication).
Francis, P. 1996. British Military Airfield Architecture: from Airships to the Jet Age. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Limited.
Innes, G.B. 1995. British Airfield Buildings of the Second World War. Earl Shinton: Midland Publishing Limited
Innes, G.B. 2000. British Airfield Buildings Volume 2: The Expansion & Inter-War Periods. Hersham: Midland Publishing.
McCosh, F. 1997 Nissen of the Huts: A biography of Lt Col. Peter Nissen, DSO. Bourne End: B D Publishing.
Pullar, M. 1997. Prefabricated WWII Structures in Queensland. Report to National Trust of Queensland.
Stuart, I.M. 2005 Of the Hut, I bolted: A preliminary account of prefabricated semi-cylindrical huts in Australia. Historic Environment, Vol 19(1):51-56.
Image of a World War II USAAF Nissen Hut
Nissen hut pictured at nissenhut.com.
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