Abstract
This is the first of two companion articles which aim to address the research on Architecture and Steel. In this article, some architectural projects are analyzed to show the potentiality to conjugate architectural conception and steel structures, as well as to show the contribution and influence from architectural history. This article also aims to contribute to the reflection of the knowledge and legacy left to us by several architects throughout the history of architecture in using aesthetic, visual and structurally safe profiled steel structures in architectural conception. The presented analysis and reflection are based on the characteristics and influences of the Industrial Revolution and, mainly, the Modern Movement, where the first housing projects came up with this constructive system, combined with the “simplistic” ways of living in architecture, highlighting the relationship with the place, cultural, spatial and typological references, the structural systems and associated materiality. In view of the diversity of alternatives allowed by the use of steel “Skeletons”, modular and standardized, combined with a huge variety of existing materials and constructive complexity, well combined and interconnected, it is possible to obtain a final product whose characteristics seduce by their beauty and elegance. Moreover, the practical and functional comfort which allows the safeguarding of the architectural integration of such product, with the necessary serenity in space and nature, in full environmental integration, is also emphasized.
Highlights
With the Industrial Revolution, between the 18th and 19th century, “iron architecture” emerged from engineers who were in the art of building bridges, railway stations and pavilions for wide exhibitions, with magnificent drawings and economic solutions
In the 20th century, architects such as Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson, Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler marked the use of steel in architectural projects as a symbol of modernism
The previous two houses, designed to be produced in mass, were used as models for other projects based on the modular system with steel structures, combined with the concept of simplicity, flexibility, lightness, speed and relationship with the place and integration
Summary
With the Industrial Revolution, between the 18th and 19th century, “iron architecture” emerged from engineers who were in the art of building bridges, railway stations and pavilions for wide exhibitions, with magnificent drawings and economic solutions. Together with Charles and Ray. Eames, and Craig Ellwood, they defined such houses as poetic steel structures combining the strength and simplicity of this industrial system. The creative process is the way that architecture evolves, based on the influences that come from history, culture and the experiences from each architect. It includes experiences carried out with or without success, the application and combination of new techniques and technologies and the materiality combined with the form and place. Some architectural projects are analyzed to demonstrate the potentialities to combine architectural conception with the use of steel structures, showing the contribution from the history of architecture and its influences. The aim is to try to demystify the use of this constructive system today, highlighting its advantages and disadvantages
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