Concrete matter : building the Bruges submarine pens (1917-18)

Starting in August 1917, a large submarine shelter was erected in the German-occupied port of Bruges. Its construction completed a transition from mixed steel-and-timber shelters to all-concrete bunkers in this area. The new Gruppenunterstande prefigured many of the typological, technological and logistic key features of the iconic submarine pens from World War II, when lessons learnt from the Bruges prototype were to be pushed to extremes. The case of the Bruges submarine pens exemplifies the scientifically managed construction site and hints at the underexposure of experimental military concrete technology in architectural construction history. It is argued that the conflict period, rather than forming a gap in an otherwise continuous evolution of building practice, created certain opportunities for a modern and experimental attitude towards building typology and construction