engineering

Weedin Place fallout shelter

Weedin Place fallout shelter is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Weedin Place fallout shelter rather than just read about it. In short: The Weedin Place Fallout Shelter is a disused and sealed off fallout shelter in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was built in 1962–1963, under Interstate 5, to hold about 100 individuals.

Key takeaways

Weedin Place fallout shelter belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Weedin Place fallout shelter to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Weedin Place fallout shelter from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Weedin Place Fallout Shelter is a disused and sealed off fallout shelter in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was built in 1962–1963, under Interstate 5, to hold about 100 individuals. It had diesel generators, an air circulation system that included electric heating and air conditioning units; a well, pump and pressure tank; and piping connecting the facility to the city water and sewer systems. It was intended to be the prototype "for countless similar shelters that would be installed nationwide under interstate highways". The fallout shelter is categorized by Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) as a bridge, since it supports the southbound lanes of Interstate 5, and is eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.

Prototype fallout shelter

As a prototype "community fallout shelter", the structure is considered "perhaps the only one of its kind in the world" and "apparently the first, and only, fallout shelter ever constructed in the U.S. under a public roadway". The shelter is 3,000 square feet (280 m2) with a circular main room 60 feet (18 m) in diameter, and cost $67,300 to build. The walls are 15-inch (380 mm) thick concrete. It also had an artesian well. It was engineered by Andersen-Bjornstad-Kane firm in Seattle, and constructed by McDonald Construction of Seattle. It was originally designed to house 200 people and enough supplies for 2 weeks. When it was dedicated, pamphlets circulated that said its capacity had grown to 300 people. It was built to survive the initial fallout of any nuclear detonation, but was not designed to survive a direct nuclear strike. It was built as a "dual purpose" building, meaning it would have other primary functions besides being a fallout shelter. Despite its purpose as a fallout shelter, it was never stocked with food or other survival supplies and there were never any drills run in the event of a nuclear attack. After its construction, it was initially used by the Washington State Patrol as a licensing office, then used by the WSDOT as file storage, and finally as storage for surplus furniture. Since 2018, it has been sealed shut by the WSDOT after being broken into, vandalized, and stripped for parts.

References

Sources Williams, David B. (2017). Seattle Walks: Discovering History and Nature in the City. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0295741291. Holstine, Craig (Fall 2011), "Waiting for the end of the world: a prototype fallout shelter under Interstate 5 in North Seattle." (PDF), Journal of Northwest Anthropology, 45 (2): 209–220

Further reading Holstine, Craig (2014), "Lifeboat Ethics" under the Interstate: Seattle's Prototype Highway Fallout Shelter (PDF), Society of Architectural Historians Marion Dean Ross Pacific Northwest Chapter Conference{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) George Foster (April 7, 2002). "Getting There: Freeway's basement seems right out of 'Dr. Strangelove'". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

External links Bridgehunter

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Weedin Place fallout shelter

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Weedin Place fallout shelter claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Weedin Place fallout shelter before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Weedin Place fallout shelter ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Weedin Place fallout shelter

In research: Weedin Place fallout shelter appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Weedin Place fallout shelter in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Weedin Place fallout shelter is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1963 establishments in Washington (state), Bridges in Seattle, Buildings and structures completed in 1963, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Weedin Place fallout shelter outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Weedin Place fallout shelter in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Weedin Place fallout shelter means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Weedin Place fallout shelter out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Weedin Place fallout shelter in simple terms?

The Weedin Place Fallout Shelter is a disused and sealed off fallout shelter in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was built in 1962–1963, under Interstate 5, to hold about 100 individuals.

Why does Weedin Place fallout shelter matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Weedin Place fallout shelter?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Weedin Place fallout shelter.