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Stainless steel in architecture
Stainless steel has become an essential material in the related fields of construction and architecture. Landmark buildings, sculptural projects or infrastructure improvements affirm the main benefits of timeless beauty, exceptional strength and unmatched durability. From the famous upper section of the Chrysler building to the Freedom Tower in Manhattan, from Burj Khalifa in Dubai to Marina Bay Bridge in Singapore, stainless steel provides functional and aesthetic advantages. Famous examples for sculptural projects are the Cloud Gate in Chicago by Sir Anish Kapoor or the Kelpies in Falkirk, Scotland by Andy Scott.

Stainless steel is used for a variety of architectural elements such as :


 * Exterior: roof, wall cladding, roof drainage (gutters, downspouts), flashings on roofs and facades, balconies, column wraps
 * Interior: interior cladding, furniture, kitchen surfaces, household appliances, elevators, escalators, heating, cooling, ventilation
 * Infrastructure: bridges, reinforcing concrete, plumbing pipes and fitting systems, signage, light poles, public furniture (e.g. seating)
 * Structural: structural beams, fittings, rebars, balconies, ballustrades, stairs, load bearing support structures for facades and roofs, fastening elements, curtain wall supports

Stainless steel has long played a leading role in prestigious projects and skyscapers. From impressive towers and spires to invisible beams and rebars it has developed to become a popular choice for challenging applications.

History
For thousands of years mankind has used iron. Only in the late 18th century chemical elements crucial for the development of stainless steel have been discovered and described for the first time. Materials considered stainless steel today have been developed in the past 150 years for the first time. First documented knowledge of corrosion resistant steel exists from 1821 when Pierre Berthier described a material resistant against attack by some acids. The actual invention of what can be considered stainless steel today is found in Germany, France, England, Sweden and United States of America in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Already some years after the invention of stainless steel architects started discovering its potential for building and construction - in exposed and concealed applications. The foundations of St. Pauls Cathedral in London were stabilized using stainless steel as early as 1922. The first large scale architectural applications where in iconic buildings as seen at the top of the Chrysler Building in Manhattan, NY built in 1930. Another early application was the protection of the original Aswan dam in Egypt in 1930 while its height was raised or an art-deco sculpture on the Niagara Mohawk Building, Syracuse, NY from 1932.

Another great example for the durability of stainless steel is a concealed application in a pier built in Progreso, Mexico in 1941. It is the longest pier in the world and one of the first major civil engineering structures to use stainless steel rebar. No significant maintenance has been performed since construction. For the construction of the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona stainless rebar is used for the completion of the church towers. During the late years 1980 and early 1990 stainless steel becomes a large scale roofing material and is consequently increasingly used for wall cladding as well. This is largely due to the development of HFX stainless specifically developed for architectural applications.

Benefits
Durability

Corrosion resistance

Low maintenance

Variety of finishes

Sustainability

Recyclability

Cost effectiveness

No metal erosion

Design continuity

Low thermal movement

Lightweight

No underside corrosion / ventilation

Radio frequency shielding

Finishes
Standard industrial grade mill finishes can be applied to flat rolled stainless steel directly by the rollers during the rolling process or as a workshop finish by mechanical abrasives. Steel is first rolled to size and thickness and then annealed to change the properties of the final material. Any oxidation that forms on the surface (mill scale) is removed by pickling, and a passivation layer is created on the surface. For HFX stainless the final surface texture and roughness is applied during the rolling process optionally adding surface treatments like matte-tinplating, electro-coloring, plasma-coloring or pigmenting. This provides most homogenous results ensuring the durability of material and surface finish. Alternatively a mechanical finish can be applied to standard stainless steel mill finishes at the workshop to achieve different appearances. Most of the grinding or brushing significantly increases the risk of staining as residues from these processes may cause foreign rust.

Commonly used surface finishes for architectural applications are:


 * brush-rolled finish
 * bead-blasted finish
 * electro-colored finish
 * plasma-colored finish
 * matte-tinplated finish
 * mirror-rolled finish
 * No. 2BA: Bright annealed (BA or 2R) same as above but less gloss (2B skin-pass finish bright annealed under oxygen-free atmospheric condition)
 * No. 3: Coarse abrasive finish applied mechanically
 * No. 4: Brushed finish
 * No. 5: Satin finish
 * No. 6: Matte finish (brushed but smoother than #4)
 * No. 8: Mirror finish

Architectural Projects
A selection of architectural projects dispalying the versatitlity of stainless steel as a roofing and wall cladding material:


 * Musée des Confluences, Lyon, France, designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au
 * Paneum, Austria, designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au
 * Neuer Zollhof, Düsseldorf, Germany, designed by Frank Gehry
 * Haus 6, Berlin, Germany, designed by Sauerbruch Hutton
 * Jay Pritzker Pavillion, Chicago, USA, designed by Frank Gehry
 * Chrysler building, Manhattan, USA, designed by William Van Alen
 * Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, designed by César Pelli
 * Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai, China, designed by Adrian Smith (SOM)
 * Parliament House, Canberra, Australia, designed by Romaldo Giurgola
 * La Geode, Paris, France, designed by Adrien Fainsilber
 * 8 Spruce Street, Manhattan, USA, designed by Frank Gehry
 * Gateway Arch, St. Louis, USA, designed by Eero Saarinen
 * The Helix Bridge, Singapur, designed by COX Group and Architects 61
 * Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, USA, designed by Frank Gehry
 * Sibelius Monument, Helsinki, Finland, designed by Eila Hiltunen
 * Atomium, Brussels, Belgium, designed by André and Jean Polak (renovated with stainless-steel cladding in a renovation completed in 2006; previously spheres and tubes of the structure were clad in aluminium (Brussels, Belgium)

Bridges
Stainless steel is quite frequently used for pedestrian and for road bridges. Product forms are tubes (Helix bridge), plates (Cala Galdana bridge), or reinforcing bar (Champlain Bridge).


 * Cala Galdana Bridge in Menorca (Spain) was the first stainless steel road bridge.
 * Champlain Bridge, Montreal, Canada
 * Oudesluijs bridge in Amsterdam, a 3D printed stainless steel bridge using Construction 3D printing
 * Padre Arrupe Bridge (Bilbao, Spain) links the Guggenheim museum to the University of Deusto
 * Sant Fruitos Pedestrian Bridge (Catalonia, Spain), arch pedestrian bridge
 * Stonecutter's bridge, Hong Kong, China

Art, monuments and sculptures

 * Blossom pavilion (Shanghai, China) by Zhan Wang, created in 2015
 * Cloud Gate sculpture by Sir Anish Kapoor (Chicago, Illinois)
 * Cristo de Chiapas (Tuxla Guttierez, Mexico) by Jaime Latapí López. Created in 2007
 * Gateway Arch is clad entirely in stainless steel: 886 tons (804 metric tons) of 0.25 in (6.4 mm) plate, #3 finish, type 304 stainless steel. (St. Louis, Missouri)
 * Juraj Jánošík monument (Terchova, Slovakia)
 * La danse de la fontaine émergente (Paris, France) by Chen Zhen. Created in 2008
 * Man of Steel (sculpture) under construction (Rotherham, England)
 * Metamorphosis (Charlotte, NC, USA) by David Černỳ. Created in 2011
 * Sibelius Monument is made entirely of stainless steel tubes (Helsinki, Finland)
 * Sun Voyager (Reykjavik, Iceland) by Jon Gunnar Arnason 9mx18mx7m. Created in 1990
 * The Big Elk (Stor-Eldval, Norway) by Linda Bakke. Created in 2015
 * The Kelpies (Falkirk, Scotland)
 * Unisphere, constructed as the theme symbol of the 1964 New York World's Fair, is constructed of Type 304L stainless steel as a spherical framework with a diameter of 120 feet (37 m) (New York City)
 * United States Air Force Memorial has an austenitic stainless steel structural skin (Arlington, Virginia)

Airports
Stainless steel is a modern trend for roofing material for airports due to its low glare reflectance to keep pilots from being blinded, also for its properties that allow thermal reflectance in order to keep the surface of the roof close to ambient temperature. The Hamad International Airport in Qatar was built with all stainless steel roofing for these reasons, as well as the Sacramento International Airport in California.