Skyscrapers need new technologies

Are steel load–bearing frames in the construction of high-rise buildings a new trend or a well-forgotten old one?

This issue was discussed at a working meeting by Marat Sharafislamov, Director of the Central Exhibition Complex, Dmitry Yeremeyev, General Director of the Association for the Development of Steel Construction (ARCC), and Denis Konin, Head of the sector of High-rise Buildings and Structures at the V.A. Kucherenko Central Research Institute, Candidate of Technical Sciences, member of AISS and CTBUH.

The design and construction of high-rise buildings with steel frames are mainly carried out by foreign companies. In Russian high-rise projects, for various reasons, from strategic to climatic, monolithic reinforced concrete is preferred. Denis Konin, who made presentations on the design features of high-rise buildings made of steel and reinforced concrete at the forum last year, notes that the construction of multi-storey buildings with steel frames has been developing recently. Although the technology of a load-bearing metal frame in a high-rise building was first applied in 1885 in Chicago during the construction of the Insurance Company building, which is now considered the first skyscraper in the world.

Examples of metal-framed high-rise buildings in Soviet Russia are Moscow's high-rise buildings, known as the "Stalin Skyscrapers." One of the largest projects using steel frames in the construction of multifunctional business complexes in the capital is the World Trade Center (WTC). The metal foundations of the structures are in excellent condition after 35 years and perfectly demonstrate the capabilities of steel and reinforced concrete construction. The Eurasia Tower in the Moscow City complex is a rare Russian example of a high-rise structure with a steel frame. It has already received the name "Steel Peak" and has taken the lead among European skyscrapers built on the basis of metal bearing structures.

Today, when not only construction technologies, but also materials are rapidly improving, metal construction can claim to be a fast and efficient, and ultimately economically profitable method of constructing civil and high-rise buildings, Dmitry Yeremeyev believes. The prospects for the development of this area are proposed to be discussed in thematic sections with the participation of specialists from the V.A. Kucherenko Central Research Institute and the Association for the Development of Steel Construction as part of the business program 100 + Forum Russia 2015.