Text:
Constructalia

Images:
xxxx

Education escorts us throughout our entire lives – as do the buildings in which we acquire our knowledge and skills. We recollect their architecture, interior design, pieces of furniture, and even their smells. Some have impressed us more than others, but none of them have left us indifferent. In our memories, these buildings are profoundly connected to our experiences and emotions, including the people we connected with there.

Over the last few decades, education has evolved and so have the requirements for educational buildings. Architectural design has significantly increased in importance, technology has conquered interior design, and user comfort is a key concern, all of which are important factors accompanying the learning experience. Architecturally attractive buildings not only express the prestige and status of institutions but contribute to a sense of wellbeing for their users.

We invite you to explore a sampling of our Constructalia case studies about educational buildings in which steel plays an important role. Be it in their structural systems, facades, or roofing, find out how steel contributes to the aesthetics, functionality, and safety of these buildings whilst keeping cost and sustainability concerns in mind.

Experimental construction at the service of science

Seemingly floating over the ground with its gentle slopes and internal patios, the educational experience at the Rolex Learning Center on the campus of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland must be one of a kind. Who wouldn't like to discover its innovative learning labs, libraries, and student mingling spaces? While we cannot take you there, our case study can offer you a glimpse.

It takes a village…

At Vista College, formerly known as Arcus College, hundreds of students receive vocational education at different levels, preparing them for the ever-changing professional world. At its campus in Herleen in the Netherlands, six steel-clad, organic shaped buildings are connected on their ground floors below street level and arranged around two patios, resulting in an environment that encourages openness, flexibility, and exchange.

Ecological intelligence transformed into a building

Stoas Vilentum University of Applied Science, now called Aeres Hogeschool, focusses on research and teaching in the fields of agriculture and ecology. With a durable steel facade, its university building in Wageningen in the Netherlands was also featured as Constructalia case study a few years back. Learn about its 'ecologically intelligent' design that was conceived in close cooperation with its future users.

An all-in-one primary education project

Wouldn’t you like to acquire skills and knowledge at a school that combines education, handicrafts, and leisure activities? Read how this is achieved at Pôle Molière in Le Havre, France where former stables now function as a part of a modern multipurpose school project, partly clad with weathering steel.

Secondary education with a sustainability focus

Find out more about Gallieni High School and its workshops in Toulouse, France that offer a fine example of steel architecture, in an industrial philosophy, designed in accordance with an environmental approach. In this project, like in many others, steel allows for a high degree of prefabrication, offers wide spans for flexible spaces, and optimises user comfort while saving materials and cost.

Just plane lightness

A more specific form of education takes place at Air Vergiate Flying School in Sesto Calende on Lake Maggiore in Italy where, thanks to their lightness, beams with large web openings brought life back to a sacred place of Italian civil aviation. See where future pilots learn to fly planes in this renovation project case study.

Text:
Constructalia

Images:
© EPFL | Alain Herzog
© Dirk Verwoerd for ArcelorMittal
© Little Planet
© ACAUM - Atelier BETTINGER DESPLANQUES Architectes associés & Paul Kozlowski
© ArcelorMittal
© Andrea Raffin for ArcelorMittal

Related link(s)

Using an 80 mm high trapezoidal steel profile alongside a lower volume of poured concrete, Cofraplus® 80 outperforms a traditional precast slab in a greener and more environmentally conscious package.

A new flooring solution for construction companies that want to build differently

With an estimated 25% reduction in overall slab weight, the Cofraplus® 80 flooring system has a positive impact on surrounding load bearing beams, columns, and even foundations, leading to more cost effective, lower mass, and ultimately more sustainable construction. Cofraplus® 80 reduces CO2 emissions by 15% compared to a traditional precast slab.

The cost savings and environmental benefits extend into efficient transportation, storage, and installation. For a 1400 m² floor, Cofraplus® 80 requires only one truck delivery to site and 12 crane movements to unload (as the lightweight profiles can be efficiently stacked) compared with 8 deliveries and 96 crane movements for a prefabricated slab.

Similarly, during installation, a single Cofraplus® 80 profile weighs only 52 kg whereas the equivalent precast slab weighs 1875 kg. A single team can manually install up to 600 m2 safely in just one day while a crane is needed to install the same surface of precast slab.

Thus, logistics is one of the key areas where Cofraplus® 80 really scores over the prefabricated concrete alternative.

Flexibility and long spans

Cofraplus® 80 is flexible enough to be adapted to specific project requirements and detailed design drivers. It can be used alongside all structural materials – including steel or timber beams and concrete - and with any kind of modern build method.

ArcelorMittal Construction has developed a new range of dedicated system accessories that provides a complete solution for installing the slab and pouring the concrete.

Suspended elements such as tubes, ducts, and suspended ceiling fixtures can be anchored using a specific accessory so there is no need for drilling of the concrete during installation or refurbishment. This saves time and cost on floor adaptations and reduces noise levels for those living or working nearby.

In standard mode, the system is compatible with through-deck welding connectors, or it can be supplied in a pre-punched version to suit shear connectors welded to the beam.

The Cofraplus® 80 system can span up to 4.5 m without props and more than 6.5 m with props. The geometry of the prefabricated steel means that it can serve both as shuttering during the pouring phase and reinforcement during the service phase. Its specific geometry means that composite action with the concrete is optimal.

Text:
ArcelorMittal Construction
Constructalia

Images:
ArcelorMittal Construction

Related link(s)