# That 10 day Chinese hospital build - how did they do it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 4, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496 "2020-02-04T21:16:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Running\_with\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/1 "2020-02-04T21:16:28Z")
You’ve probably heard about the [Huoshenshan Hospital](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/03/world/asia/coronavirus-wuhan-hospital.html) in Wuhan, China, which was built in 10 days. I’m trying to understand how it was done. The simple answer is “lots of people and equipment working around the clock” and this is obviously the case, videos and pictures show many excavators working where a typical American construction site might only have two or three. Also, it appears that the individual rooms were prefabricated. However, this doesn’t answer all the questions, such as: [ol] [li]It’s built on a concrete base, and to my knowledge, concrete takes several days to cure, right? So they wouldn’t be able to continue building until the slab had cured.[/li][li]Where did all the prefab rooms come from? Did they have them sitting around just waiting for this sort of emergency? [/li][li]A hospital is a relatively complex build, with several (presumably hardened) systems that you wouldn’t need in a business or residence. Even with an abundance of skilled workers, they would still have to coordinate with one another, which takes time. How did they manage that in the allotted time?[/li][li]Does that time include stocking all the rooms with the required equipment, which also presumably needs to be set up and calibrated before it’s used? Were people readying the rooms while other parts of the building were still being assembled? [/li][li]A building needs a roof, which presumably requires the rest of the building to be in place, if not complete. How was that done?[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/2 "2020-02-04T21:23:57Z")
It appears to be modular construction, so those units may even have been prebuilt awaiting such a emergency to move to where it is needed. Slabs can also be premade and moved on site. Also the basic hospital is really a bed for the sick to rest and a attendant staff. It shares a common root with hostel where a traveler would go for a night’s sleep and recover from the toils of the journey. Since this is basically a single function hospital, to treat one disease, I think they could forgo most of the complex stuff found in most hospitals. Basically a place where people can be isolated and treated for the virus in some degree of comfort. One is not going there to get their appendix out. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/3 "2020-02-04T21:26:48Z")
There are some Youtube videos: [https://www.youtube.com/results?search\_query=wuhan+hospital+build&search=Search](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wuhan+hospital+build&search=Search) ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/4 "2020-02-04T21:32:41Z")
Here’s some pictures of what it looks like inside [In Pictures: Inside Wuhan’s fast-built hospital | Coronavirus pandemic | Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/pictures-wuhan-fast-built-hospital-200203080542994.html) ---
**Author:** ![Running\_with\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/5 "2020-02-04T21:40:41Z")
The videos answer some questions, but not all, but also made me think of another: Was this a design that was used before? Was an architect or engineer involved? Didn’t they have to do any alterations to fit on the allotted site? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/6 "2020-02-04T21:43:56Z")
From the videos, it looks like they poured the slabs on site. They may have used [“high-early” concrete](http://www.graestone.com/High-Early-Concrete) (high strength, early cure), which, depending on the mix, can set up in as little as 12 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/7 "2020-02-04T21:44:47Z")
Well, those Aljazeeria pics are pretty informative. Yeah, the walls look modular, even flimsy, but are likely not actually easily knocked down, they just seem that way. The beds are short, and fixed, not the expensive, reclining beds I’ve seen in US hospitals. Impressively, they have the CT scanner set up, and they will need that for monitoring chest x-rays. Pretty impressive all around. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/8 "2020-02-04T21:46:06Z")
> [@Running\_with\_Scissors](#): > > The videos answer some questions, but not all, but also made me think of another: > > Was this a design that was used before? Yes, according to the Aljazeera link, this is a copy of the hospital built in Beijing for SARS. ---
**Author:** ![Running\_with\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/9 "2020-02-04T21:47:16Z")
From info in one video, the 10 days (although some sources say it took eight; maybe that doesn’t include the slab curing time?) doesn’t include bringing in the hospital equipment, just the building and major systems. ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/10 "2020-02-04T22:06:23Z")
Thin elevated post-tensioned concrete slabs definitely needs the full 28 day cure time since they’re engineered so tightly. Normal structural concrete can get by with just a week of curing. In this case, with a simple slab on grade, it can be ready to go after just a day or two with the proper admixtures. It helps that the modular construction leads to pretty light loads that are also widely distributed. They can also just make the slab thicker to get the bearing capacity up sooner, it just means that after a month it will be way stronger than it needs to be. So it’s not as much like a traditional building with footings, foundations, piers, or piles with multiple floors of heavy concrete and steel above. This is more like a field of shipping containers stacked no more than two high on a big parking lot. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/11 "2020-02-04T22:18:00Z")
I wonder how long the building will last. A hospital in America can still be standing (with updates and modifications) decades later. Will this one? ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/12 "2020-02-04T22:40:46Z")
Regarding the first question, if pre-fab construction is a big thing in China (which I have every reason to believe it is) then there must be factories churning out the pieces all the time. I guess a number of other less urgent projects all got bumped by ten days. I would also imagine that they already know how to build a pre-fab hospital on totally flat ground, and that the design is a pre-existing one, which simply had to be grabbed and implemented again, probably by people who had done this before (on a less urgent timescale) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/13 "2020-02-04T22:42:40Z")
There is some talk that it may be more akin to a “prison for patients to die,” rather than a hospital. > **[Video shows interior of new Wuhan 'hospital' resembles prison | Taiwan News |...](https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3870468)** > > Interior of Communist China's ballyhooed 'hospital' looks eerily similar to a prison | 2020-02-04 12:06:00 ---
**Author:** ![Running\_with\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/14 "2020-02-04T22:59:05Z")
Considering that there’s no love lost between Taiwan and China, that article seems a bit heavy on the hyperbole. But the point is noted. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2020, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/15 "2020-02-05T01:43:26Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I wonder how long the building will last. A hospital in America can still be standing (with updates and modifications) decades later. Will this one? Well, the one in Beijing from 15 years ago largely sat empty of people since the SARS crisis ended. They are now planning to use it for new cases, but it requires extensive renovation before it is habitable. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/16 "2020-02-06T13:36:47Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > The ghost town story can be misleading, as many become populated after a while. > > Heck, I live in an area of Shanghai which was once referred to as a ghost town and now looks like Manhatten, only taller and with 3x the population. > > ETA: I’m not dissing NYC, I’m just emphasizing that Pudong is as far from a ghost town as you pretty much get. One wonders why they were abandoned, and how they came to be populated again. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/17 "2020-02-06T14:15:54Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > One wonders why they were abandoned, and how they came to be populated again. I think they weren’t abandoned per se - it’s just that they were built in anticipation of demand, and the demand took far longer than expected to develop. > **[Under-occupied developments in China](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under-occupied_developments_in_China)** > > Under-occupied developments in China are mostly unoccupied property developments in China, and frequently referred to as "ghost cities" or ghost towns. The phenomenon was observed and recorded as early as 2006 by writer Wade Shepard, and subsequently reported by news media over the decades. Although a feature of discourse on the Chinese economy and urbanization in China in the 2010s, formerly under-occupied developments have largely filled up. > Media outlets often label under-occupied developm... ---
**Author:** ![Grave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@Grave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grave)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/18 "2020-02-06T14:29:04Z")
That hospital is not a structure intended to last. Perhaps it will, but isolation is what is needed to control infections. Premade everything, quick dry cement, metal roofing - cheap buildings are thrown up that quick everywhere in the world. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/19 "2020-02-06T14:33:21Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I think they weren’t abandoned per se - it’s just that they were built in anticipation of demand, and the demand took far longer than expected to develop. > > [Under-occupied developments in China - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under-occupied_developments_in_China) Thanks, Machine Elf. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496/20 "2020-02-06T19:03:33Z")
They built an entire [railway station](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtEQCOlGqr0) in just 10 hours. I imagine a hospital in 10 days was a cakewalk. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-10-day-chinese-hospital-build-how-did-they-do-it/847496.md?page=2)