• Short Summary

    A nylon air-house is constructed to shelter building work in Hampton, Middlesex.

  • Description

    Hampton, Middlesex.

    M/Ss of a group of men on an empty plot of land arranging a huge nylon sheet on the ground, hammering wooden pegs into the edges and unravelling more nylon over the top. Commentator says they are setting up an air house with nylon instead of bricks and zips instead of mortar. Ropes are threaded through the edges of the nylon and huge zips are done up to fasten pieces together.

    Two men are seen looking at a complicated plan; workmen fix a metal frame together which will form the entrance - the only framework to be used in the building. Commentator tells of the doors in the completed building forming an airlock so the air pressure inside is constant and will hold the structure up.

    Part of the nylon sheeting is pulled over the door framework; a wide nylon sleeve is attached over a large fan which starts to inflate the whole structure in minutes, according to the commentator.

    M/Ss of the exterior of the completed house, and the interior where builders are seen at work laying the foundations of a house, unloading bricks and so on. Commentator says the air-house is being used for the first time by a local building firm as a vast shelter for normal building operations, enabling them to put up a two-storey brick house without the usual hold-ups in bad weather.

    M/S of air-house exterior.

    Note: On file are some good 10 x 8 b/w photos of air-houses and correspondence from British Nylon Spinners Ltd about the filming of this story; it seems the house being built within this air-house by Hampton House Developments Ltd was expected to be the Ideal Home House of the Year - I wonder if it was?

  • Tags

  • Data

    Film ID:
    119.17
    Media URN:
    1648
    Group:
    Colour pictorials
    Archive:
    British Pathé
    Issue Date:
    28/11/1960
    Sound:
    Sound
    HD Format:
    Available on request
    Stock:
    Colour
    Duration:
    00:02:08:00
    Time in/Out:
    01:56:01:00 / 01:58:09:00
    Canister:
    CP 309

Comments (3)

  1. sue55flute says

    Hampton House was chosen as the House of the Year and featured in the 'Ideal Home' magazine of June 1961. As well as the airtent, the ducted air central heating, whose manufacturer was Canadian, flew in the very first machine in the country.
    I have the original magazine as well as the brochure of the house ! There is a lot to say about it if anyone is interested.

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  2. sue55flute says

    Forgot to mention that my partner, Norman Barker, who died in July 2015, was the director of Hampton House Developments Ltd. His partner in 1961 was Charlotte Parker, who planned the design together with the architect Ken Wood.

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  3. sue55flute says


    The architect, Ken Wood, can be googled . He died in 2015 and there are many of his house designs to view, including 'Hampton House'

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