Steel_Student blog

  AESS CUSTOM CATEGORY AESS Custom category   allows flexibility in the design of steel. It also requires a high level of communication. The premium ranges from 20% to 250% over regular steel. These type of custom elements was created so that there’s an allowance of a custom selection for the attributes or characteristics that are used to define other categories. Reused steel is also included for sustainable purposes. EXAMPLE 1 : HEATHROW TERMINAL 5 Located in London’s main airport. Architect’s: Richard Rogers Partnership, Pascall + Watson. Engineers: Arup and Mott MacDonald. Construction and integration of 18,000t complex plan spanning roof seemed to be the challenge. The massive steel arches, weighed a combined   2,100t and were bolted into position. This project in England has made use of a range of AESS category types. The connections are made using a combination of custom work for the central hinge, and showcase level of fabrication and fini...

22/September/2020  Coatings and Finishes    It takes me back to my initial blogs where I quoted that " God is in the Coating ". Seems like that’s not an amateur statement to make. The productivity, especially, in huge spans and in large structures depend legitly on the type of the coating and finishes the members obtain. The efficiency of Steel members is directly proportional to the type/ quality of coating.     Although steel was introduced in building construction because it was fire resistant, to replace timber, Steel itself is not that Fire R esistant . Another major disadvantage with steel with respect to context is the weather. Humidity causes C orrosion and rusting is evident. Certain issues pertaining to the Cleanliness and Maintenance also add to this list, like the trusses becoming a roosting place for pigeons, problems regarding the height of the structure and the equipment required to clean it. The frequency and efficiency of maintenance has a b...

12/September / 2020 Heatherwick Artists’ Studios in Aberystwyth, UK   Today’s session was about more case studies that dealt with steel structures. This has its basis on Stainless Steel structure and Polyurethane Foam. Never knew a spray could do this big, a difference in the play of form and structure in a built entity.   Design Intent Art Studio split into 8 smaller studios for better congregation and a way of approach to the design. To provide low cost facilities for start-up art organisations. This constraint brought such an innovation in the form of the structure. Aesthetics - In effort to respect the character of the wooded site, the program was broken down to 8 smaller studios and were placed among the woods. The structure was designed to be like a canopy between the other trees. The design was based on this concept.   Materials and Technical Details    The requirements of the material were it had to be thin, durable and resistant to we...

 STEEL – ITS SUSTAINABILITY Steel being the most used in the recent times in the construction industry  has many well known factors to be rightfully called a SUSTAINABLE MATERIAL. The major factors contributing to its sustainability are ·         Can be recycled to a greater extent ·         Energy efficient to its maximum ·         Long life span to be noted ·         Generates by-products that are reusable. ·         Totally environment friendly owing to the reduced CO2 emissions and diminished dust dispersions in a larger quantity ·         A lightweight material ·         On site construction friendly ·         Easy maintenance ·         Extr...

04/ September / 2020     Today’s session was about referring to some interesting examples where steel was used as a major material for construction. Although these examples were from abroad, they were of use because of similar context, based on coastal and semi-tropical climate. This gave an introduction for a lot of different materials (other ways of using steel in buildings other than the usual ones) and different ways to tackle the climate with steel.  St. Andrews Beach House, Australia   Intent - A vacation place for a stay away from busy routine. The construction is primarily based on oxidised mild steel. The other materials used in the construction are as follows: - Advantage of Oxidisation - It forms a layer on top of the steel which reduces the rusting tendency of steel Advantage of Mild Steel - It is cheap, it undergoes carburisation which optimises the amount of carbon to withstand the weather. Double-layer corrugated fiberglass - high pack...

29/August/2020   William Strutt was working in a mill, built with timber. He was a cotton spinner who wanted to protect his mill from fire, because he was working with inflammable substances. So, he encased timber with iron to make it fire resistant. Later this addition of iron to building construction was expanded from casing the structure to making it the structure itself! So, from then, building framework was made out of Iron. This not only made the building fire resistant, but also very strong compared to the previous one which was made of timber.   Later, this solid iron framework was replaced by hollow sections. This not only provided insulation, but also reduced the construction cost by 30%. Later this usage of iron in construction was not just limited to the framework, but also started to expose itself in facades.   All this was around England and New York. In 1869, Chicago fire had crushed off around 17500 buildings and made a lot of residents homeless. So, t...