Steel
Steel is a material used in many fields including aeronautics, naval, mechanical industry, automotive sector, etc. and also in the construction field it has always been and continues to be a fundamental element for the construction of main types of structures, such as skyscrapers, bridges, industrial sheds, etc. Steel interprets the most current synthesis between engineering and architecture being a material characterized by durability, competitiveness, prefabricability, construction speed, lightness and seismic resistance, economic and environmental sustainability, recyclability, efficiency, fire safety. The adaptability of this material allows the maximum expressiveness of the designer thanks to the characteristics of elasticity and flexibility of the material, the creation of very large interior spaces without intermediate supporting structures and with reduced dimensions of the metal structures. Steel is able to intelligently exploit the performance of other construction materials such as in the case of glass with the construction of active facades.
The high level of prefabrication of steel constructions allows dry construction with all the advantages of a standardized work in terms of costs, time, risk calculation, etc.
In fact, the dry technology is based on the use of load-bearing elements and stratified buffering / partition, that is composed of individual elements produced and assembled in the factory or in operation to form technological packages that comply with current regulations and performance recommendations.
The dry steel construction system includes significant advantages including:
- predictability of implementation times and optimization of the site organization
All the structural elements and the casing systems are made in the factory and arrive on site pre-assembled and ready for installation, with extreme ease. The site is much more organized for which the work is limited to assembly and assembly of construction components. This allows a reduction in construction time of about 50 – 60%, a percentage that varies according to the level of finish of the elements that arrive at the construction site. The elimination of the “wet” phases eliminates the problems related to the long drying times of the casting, the maturation of plasters and screeds.
- affordability
The construction speed together with the optimized design, translate into the reduction of financial burdens, with a rapid return on investment and when the building begins to make. Furthermore, thanks to the mechanical characteristics of the steel profiles, much lighter structures are obtained. Lightness ensures a reduction in costs concerning foundation works, excavation and casting volumes.
We also recall that the incidence of labour is lower: the activities carried out on site cost twice the activities carried out in the workshop. - flexibility, comfort, healthiness and durability
The extreme flexibility allows to define all the characteristics of the structure in an optimal way with respect to the construction site, to the personalization of the functional layers, to the design of the finishes and this entails a greater freedom of design choices and the achievement of the desired environmental comfort. It is possible to equip the structure through the integration of systems such as heating, forced ventilation, etc. The steel, moreover, not being a conductor of humidity guarantees healthy environments and with optimal thermo-hygrometric comfort. The profiles, being initially subjected to anticorrosion treatments, do not require any particular maintenance operations with the consequence of an increase in the durability of the building.
- seismic safety
Steel, a ductile and lightweight material, guarantees high levels of earthquake resistance much more advantageous than those based on less ductile materials, such as reinforced concrete and masonry. Moreover, in the event of an earthquake, the restoration and maintenance interventions will be null or not invasive, unlike more rigid structures, such as those in which concrete is used, difficult to monitor after the earthquake.
- fire risk
The extreme flexibility allows preparing insulators such as plasterboard sheets, which provide excellent protection to fire or special slabs that reach very high parameters of resistance to fire or, in the case where the structure is left exposed a protective treatment must be performed.
- sustainability
The environmental impact of a dry steel construction is extremely reduced in all phases of its life cycle, from the construction to the end of the useful life of the building organism in which it is possible to reuse the components of the building organism.