Building Additions in Steel

A unique study on the topic of building additions and vertical expansion in steel construction, featuring outstanding examples by international architects and offering theoretical and technical basics

Since the introduction of steel as a building material in the early twentieth century, its superior performance has challenged conventional wisdom about construction, enabling designs of surprising lightness and span. Steel offered the opportunity to significantly expand buildings vertically and thus emerged as a symbol of the conflict between technological progress and the architectural ideal. More recently, the use of exposed steel elements in modern architecture ushered in a rediscovery of buildings' metamorphoses.

Building Additions in Steel looks at the largely ignored topic of steel additions in architecture and engineering, documenting an ambitious, interdisciplinary research project by architects, engineers, teachers, and students at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Institute of Constructive Design. The book offers basic theoretical and technical information on a selection of outstanding steel additions alongside more than one hundred illustrations, including plans and photographs.

• Concise surveys of the use of steel in contemporary residential architecture and vertical extension of existing buildings
• Explore the advantages of steel, such as prefabrication, swift and dry construction process, or structural adaptability over a building's lifetime
• Features examples by well-known Swiss and international architects

• Based on recent research at Zurich University of Applied Sciences' Institute of Constructive Design

  Autorentext

Daniel Stockhammer has been a research assistant at ZHAW, Institute of Constructive Design, in 201617 and is a teaching and research assistant at University of Liechtenstein's Institute of Architecture and Planning.

Astrid Staufer is an architect, professor at Technische Universität Vienna, and Co-director of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Institute of Constructive Design in Winterthur, Switzerland.

Daniel Meyer is a civil engineer and a lecturer at ZHAW, Institute of Constructive Design.

Zurich University of Applied Sciences' (ZHAW) Institute of Constructive Design is an interactive hub for teaching and research in building design and construction.