Ideal Basic Cement Company Corporate Hangar
Denver County
The 1959 aircraft hangar embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type and method of construction – a thin shell concrete barrel vault. Thin shell construction was popular primarily from World War II through the 1960s. The building is also notable for its early use of post tensioning to control structure behavior and cracking.
Ideal Basic Cement Company Corporate Hangar
The hangar is believed to be the only diamond-shaped cylindrical arch thin shell structure constructed worldwide. Structural engineer Milo S. Ketchum, a nationally and internationally recognized proponent of thin shell construction, designed the hangar. A number of professional organizations subsequently honored Ketchum for his contributions to the field of thin shell engineering as well as for his work in steel construction. The hangar represents the apex of Ketchum’s career, and more specifically, his work from the late 1950s and early 1960s in thin shell engineering.