Flooring

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Constructalia

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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

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

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We are proud to introduce you to our newest Constructalia feature: SiCA – Steel in Construction Academy. SiCA is a self-learning online platform for those in, or joining, the construction industry focussed on the use of steel as the material of choice for construction applications and required performances.

The story of SiCA

Just before the start of the new millennium, over 200 European steel and steel construction specialists (including ArcelorMittal) sat down together to create ESDEP, the European Steel Design Education Programme, to further the development of steel in construction.

We have taken this valuable content and revised, updated, and enriched it to meet the standards and requirements of 2022 and beyond. Don’t worry, we didn’t forget to comply with the most recent versions of the Eurocodes. The history of steel, construction physics, design, applications, and the properties of steel are just a sprinkling of the topics on offer.

This is just the beginning

Topics such as sustainable construction with steel, energy efficiency, or the circular economy were not of great importance all those years ago when this content was first created. Not only have we updated the content to meet the needs of these now very important topics, but such themes will be the subject of upcoming lectures.

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Constructalia

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Constructalia

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A report from the Steel Construction Institute (SCI) describes their independent review of the performance of the Magnelis® ZM120 coating for corrosion protection. An innovative metallic coating that offers protection in the harshest environments, Magnelis® is a ZM (zinc-aluminium-magnesium) coating in accordance with EN 10346:2015.

Review of Magnelis® coating performance as corrosion protection

The SCI report details the performance of Magnelis® ZM120 coating against corrosion compared with traditional Z275 coating and includes the surface, cut edges, deformed elements, and welded tubes. This independent review and assessment was conducted via a wide range of testing, such as salt-spray tests according to ISO 9227, cyclic tests VDA 621-415 and ECC1, and outdoor exposure tests of up to 10 years.

Conclusions and recommendations

As a result of the performance review and assessment of research information, the SCI findings are as follows:

• Magnelis® ZM120 provides corrosion protection which is not less than the corrosion protection provided by Z275 coating.
• This conclusion applies to surface protection and to protection of cut edges.
• Magnelis® ZM120 is suitable for the same applications as the Z275 coating which is typically specified in UK and Irish construction.
• The design life predictions for the Z275 coating as stated in SCI publication P262 are also applicable to Magnelis® ZM120.

Magnelis® ZM120 applications

While the primary application under consideration was the use of Magnelis® on cold formed sections used in light steel framing, Magnelis® ZM120 is already widely used to manufacture cable trays, flooring systems, indoor ventilation equipment, ceilings, walls and partitions, racking systems, profiled members, and opened and closed profiles.

Magnelis® can be applied to an extensive scope of steel grades, including steels for cold forming and deep drawing applications, as well as structural and high strength, low alloy steels.

About SCI

The Steel Construction Institute has been a trusted, independent source of information and engineering expertise globally for over 30 years. SCI is a leading, independent provider of technical expertise and a disseminator of best practice to the steel construction sector.

The SCI supports everyone involved in steel construction from manufacturers, consulting and design engineers, architects, and product developers to industry groups and peers.

Text:
Constructalia
ArcelorMittal

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SCI
ArcelorMittal

Related link(s)

Review of Magnelis® coating performance as corrosion protection by the Steel Construction Institute