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)

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.

Text:
Constructalia

Images:
Constructalia

Related link(s)

Text:
Constructalia

Images:
©Darby Sawchuk (Parkway Gate)
©Dekmetal (Hala Nebovidy)
©ArcelorMittal

When designing a building envelope with steel, the end product for roofing or cladding is usually at the centre of attention - aesthetically as well as functionally speaking. Profiled sheets of different shapes, sandwich panels with steel shells in diverse surface structures, architectural siding systems, or tailor-made solutions are all aimed at providing the final aesthetics for our buildings. However, the selection of facade and roofing products involves the choice of the material itself, which is often defined in the design phase. Pre-painted steel is a choice option.

Pre-painted steels: endless aesthetic possibilities combined with durable and sustainable properties

Pre-painted steel is a material that not only meets a wide range of technical requirements but offers an infinite number of colour shades, different surface appearances, and printed effects, thus providing endless aesthetic possibilities.

The visual qualities of organic coated steels go hand in hand with the functional properties of their paint systems and steel substrates: very long corrosion and UV resistance; colour stability to maximise durability; scratch and abrasion resistance in fabrication, erection, and use phases; flexibility to withstand forming operations; or optimised low carbon footprint per m². These are just a few characteristics of the material that makes up the vast majority of facade and roofing products and are key criteria to consider when choosing the right steel for your facade or roofing product, taking into account the environmental conditions it will be used in.

The material of choice: ArcelorMittal’s Granite® range of organic coated steels

With its Granite® range of organic coated steels developed for the construction industry, ArcelorMittal Europe - Flat Products offers pre-painted steels with paint coating systems from 25 to 70-75 μm on galvanised steel or ZnAlMg alloy substrates, guaranteeing durability and corrosion resistance in environments up to categories RC5+ and RUV5 as classified in the newly revised EN10169 standard. The choice of paint system to ensure long term durability depends on the environmental conditions to which the product will be exposed.

Aesthetically, Granite® leaves no desire unfulfilled: apart from the sheer endless chart of solid, metallic, and pearlescent colours, Granite® is available in a vast selection of surface patterns including smooth, grained, embossed, textured, or orange-peel effect - with surface finishes ranging from matt to high gloss and metallic sparkles.

In addition to the numerous economic and sustainability factors, the main advantage of organic coated steel is its consistent quality. Paint film thickness, colour matching, and surface appearance are reproducible within narrow tolerances from batch to batch.

A responsible choice

Granite® coated steel forms part of ArcelorMittal's range of organic coated steel building solutions and, as such, is free from heavy metals and chromates. With this product range, ArcelorMittal is offering a responsible option - a sustainable advantage for your projects.

Sustainability: greener steels with XCarb® Recycled and renewably produced

Making its steel products more sustainable is at the heart of ArcelorMittal's objectives, and decarbonisation is an important part of the process. With XCarb®, the company’s global programme of steelmaking innovation, the aim is to achieve carbon-neutral steel by 2050.

In 2023, ArcelorMittal Europe - Flat Products will offer organic coated steels with the label ‘XCarb® Recycled and renewably produced’, meaning that they will be produced from recycled steel in an electric arc furnace using 100% renewable electricity. This will be a real breakthrough in CO2 footprint reduction per m² of organic coated steel for the construction industry.

There will be a new dedicated Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for the Granite® and Estetic® product ranges, in which ArcelorMittal Europe - Flat Products will provide extensive information about the environmental impacts of this new organic coated steel offer.

Choose the right organic coated steel to maximise protection and durability

There is a wide range of characteristics that can be built into organic coated products, and this explains the diversity of the solutions proposed by ArcelorMittal. It is therefore essential to define precise prior specifications, so that the optimum solution in terms of technical and economic requirements can be determined.

EN 10169, the standard that specifies the appropriate technical and performance criteria for continuously organic coated (coil coated) flat steel products, defines corrosion resistance categories from RC2 to RC5+ (in its new published version).  ArcelorMittal’s Granite® organic coated steel offers a safe solution for all of these environments with guaranteed performance and without sacrificing aesthetic freedom.

Coastal and industrial environments with high pollution (RC5/RC5+)

ArcelorMittal’s new building for industrial digitalisation (INDI) is located on the ArcelorMittal Gent site, close to the industrial environment of the mill and the sea. The newest organic coated steel in the product family, Granite® HDXtreme, was the intelligent choice for its facades as it offers best in class resistance to corrosion thanks to its coating system.

Marine and industrial environments (RC4)

Due to its marine environment in Toulon, France, the Sittomat waste incineration and energy plant’s original zinc envelope had aged rapidly, creating the need for a renovation of its roofing and facades. Its double-sided 35-micron organic coating made Granite® HDS the perfect solution for this industrial site close to the sea.

Rural, urban, and in between (RC3)

The 55µm coating system of Granite® HDX steel provides the necessary aesthetics, durability, and protection for the perforated facade elements of the Stoas Vilentum University building in the Netherlands. Although not the initial material selected for this project, Granite® HDX turned out to be the more sustainable solution. A special concern were the perforations: In order to avoid compromising the integrity of the substrate over time, ArcelorMittal’s R&D team calculated different options before specifying a 350 g/m² (Z350) zinc substrate that will prevent the cut edges from corroding for many decades.

Granite® Impression Cloudy organic coated steel with its 35µm thick paint coating system was chosen for the front facade of the Distrifill company headquarters in the Netherlands thanks to its lively bicolour effect. The copper and brown merging in Granite® Impression Cloudy make the facade look warmer and give the building that includes offices and a warehouse a more human feel.

Blending into the surrounding landscape aesthetically while providing a viable solution to make the construction earthquake resistant were the reasons why Granite® Deep Mat was used for the sandwich panels that make up the facade of the Bottovini wine centre in Northern Italy’s Piemonte region. And – the beauty lies in the detail: The textured surface coating reinforces the natural feel.

Apart from durability, the requirements for the material to be used for the envelope of the stadium in the Polish town of Tychy were light weight and good formability. The solution? ArcelorMittal’s Granite® HD, characterised by excellent resistance to atmospheric agents as it is coated on both sides with a 25μm polyester coating.

Related link(s)