Page:The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology-ItsFirstCentury.djvu/315

302 92.—Continued. B. The symbolic spade.

18 feet as a unit of office space along the outer walls. All necessary utility outlets were to be available in each unit, while larger units could be created by the ready removal of partitions. As part of the planning, the District Engineer built a mockup of an individual laboratory module in which it was possible to pretest ideas for the placement of equipment and fixtures, including laboratory benches for both sitdown and standup use, and also to try out flooring materials and different color schemes.

With excavation underway (fig. 94), the planning group turned its attention to the equipment for the new building—an activity which was to become a major undertaking in 1952. On the first working day of that year, the District Engineer placed sets of the contract drawings in the hands of construction companies who desired to bid on the job, allowing 60 days for study of the plans and specifications. Bids were received from nine prime contractors, ranging from $4,924,000 to $5,787,000—figures which did not include several features, such as elevators, structural steel purchased in advance, and electrical switchgear, amounting to a total of $865,000. The low base bidder was the firm of Cramer and Vollmerhausen, of Washington, to which the contract was let on 7 March 1952.

The outer walls of the building were halfway up when, on 20 October 1953. the second ceremonial occasion in its progress was observed with the laying