Blog 10 THE EVOLUTION & IMPACT OF STEEL IN ARCHITECTURE


INTERPRETATION OF INFOGRAPHICS

This blog is a verbal interpretation of an infographic sourced from Archdaily.[1] 


THE EVOLUTION & IMPACT OF STEEL IN ARCHITECTURE

Steel architecture has come a long way in the construction industry due to its durability, tensile strength & weight. Due to the advancement in the manufacturing and production process, steel has significantly become leading member in the structural part of buildings in the post Industrialization era.

Some of the various structural steel forms include: I Beam, known for its resistance to shear force and bending moment; HSS (Hollow Structural Steel), a hollow tube with rectangle cross section, commonly used on welded steel frames, for its ability to manage loading from multiple directions; Channel, C shaped cross section; Angle, L shaped cross section; Plate, steel metal sheets of thickness 6mm or one-fourth of an inch.

Here’s how Steel is made

Iron ore, coke and Limestone are smelted in a blast furnace, from 400 degree C up to a temperature of 1800 degree C In this process a number of products are obtained, including alloys of iron with carbon and various other metals. 

The timeline gives an inception on the experimentation and innovation made in steel in the construction industry. From the fireproofing mills to the most used structural material for the some of the tallest & iconic buildings of the world.

Structural Steel before it came out as the fine material in today’s date, it started out as iron sheathed wooden beams for fire-proofing the Mill at Derby in 1793 and as iron-frames in Dithering ton Flax Mill in 1797. The Hollow circular cross sections of cast iron columns in Orrell’s Mill which reduced the total cost of the construction of the building by 30% laying an example for its engineering.

The Chicago fire in the 1970’s was an alarming incident that demanded the use of non-combustible building construction materials, out of which steel was preferred as it pave the way to Vertically dense buildings i.e. Skyscrapers.

The Cast-iron facades of Daniel Badger’s EV Haughwout Building which replaced masonry walls in 1840. The large windows of First Leiter building because of its load bearing beams and columns. The Wainwright Building, the first one of its kind to impart steel building frames. The Metropolitan Life Tower with a fully integrated system to withstand wind loads. Going a step ahead by using bronze-toned exposed I beams in Seagram Building as an answer to the American Building Codes in 1958.

The trussed-tube bracing system in John Hancock Center built in 1969 which reduced the material use by 30%. World Trade Centre for its stiff lattice structure made of heavy tube box columns or the Sears Tower which imparted a bundled-tube system in 1974 to have remained one of the tallest buildings.

CCTV Headquarters for its diagrid framing system, with a lesser material usage, allowing an open floor plan.

Looking back, steel has been innovated from material

I would like to re-quote the line from my first blog on Steel Architecture[2]

“I believe, steel is what it is today because of the excellence in the integrated teamwork, possible prefabrication of the material, and the engineering involved throughout the construction.”


 - Janani Venkateswaran

Total words - 525






    Location: India

    Comments

    Post a Comment

    Popular posts from this blog

    Steel Erection, Fabrication and Hybrid construction -Blog 16

    Image
    This blog is about how the steel sections are transported to the site, the issues involved with transportation, erection and fabrication along with the onsite constrains. TRANSPORTATION: The steel sections have to transported from the manufacturing site to the fabrication site and this becomes a tough task due to their size. Often large pieces cannot be transported in a single part, they are split or divided and shipped as two separate pieces or even as one piece to avoid damage or scratches. Temporary connections are made on the pieces to avoid damage and to keep the parts in place during transportation.     These parts are not transported in normal vehicles but require long trail vehicles to fit their length and size which again becomes a difficult task to turn around the corners of the road and at junctions     FABRICATION & ON SITE CONSTRAINS: Fabrication of steel on sites which are along the main road or at the corner site is very hectic as there is very...
    Read more

    BLOG-16 FABRICATION, ERECTION AND HYBRID STRUCTURES

    Image
      FABRICATION: The process of  steel fabrication  involves grinding, welding, cutting, bending, drilling, punching, burning or melting and other general crafting methods using various high-quality tools and CNC equipment. ERECTION LIFTING, POSITIONING AND PLACING OF STEEL MEMBERS IN A STRUCTURE  Once the member(s) are lifted and placed in the required place, with the help of temporary supports and equipment, they are fastened and fixed, depending on the nature of connection.  Erections may be achieved by two techniques such as MEWP(Mobile Elevating Work Platforms) by Mobile crane and Tower cranes. HYBRID STRUCTURES Hybrid structures are structures built with composite materials a combination of different materials with steel. A common  hybrid system  consists of hollow core slabs together with steel or cast-in-situ concrete frames                       EXAMPLE STEEL WITH TIMBER     I...
    Read more

    STEEL , ALLOYS AND THEIR COMPARISON

    Image
    BLOG- 8                                     STEEL , ALLOYS AND THEIR COMPARISON                                                               STEEL AND ALLOYS                                               An alloy is a blend consisting of metal and other elements. Alloys are generally made for achieving properties like greater strength or resistance to corrosion. Steel is an alloy of iron. It mainly consists of iron with some small amounts of carbon. Definition ALLOY :      A homogeneous mixture of a metal with other types of elements                       ...
    Read more