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The corporate office for Patni Computer System (designed by STUP) in Chennai. The steel space-frame is inspired by the surrounding palm trees.

With the world’s eyes now trained on India as the next design-strong economy, Savitha Hira examines the country’s technological architectural language and discovers untold benefits in the use of structural steel to frame tall storeys.

The term ‘structural steel’ instantly conjures up vivid images of post-modern architectonic marvels like Santiago Calatrava’s Turning Torso in Sweden, Zaha Hadid’s Dancing Towers in Dubai, Rem Koolhas’ CCTV Headquarters in Beijing and the world’s largest steel structure, Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Stadium – among other iconic buildings that dot the international landscape.

Closer home, we have the airports in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi; Rajiv Gandhi National Stadium in Delhi, Patni Computers’ corporate office in Chennai, Infosys in Mysore and Pune, Turbhe Railway Station in Navi Mumbai.
These all-steel structures constitute some of the most futuristic compositions grounded in elemental and conformist theories of construction and design. Steel structures expound a vocabulary that not only pushes the architectural envelope in terms of formal design, but is commemorative of the socio-cultural and technological renaissance of the ‘tall’ building.

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This beatific vision is partially challenged by the distressing 26/11 collapse of the World Trade Centre, New York. The twin towers were the first super-tall buildings designed without any masonry, made wholly in tube-frame steel structural system.

Of course, it’s highly debatable whether the towers finally buckled due to the tremendous heat generated from the extensive raging fire inside the upper floors. (While the fire would not have been hot enough to melt any of the steel, the strength of steel drops markedly with prolonged exposure to fire and the elastic modulus of the steel reduces, increasing deflections.)  Yet, structural steel has managed to establish a distinct dialect with the urban skyline.

In the Beginning: It was in the late 1700s, when iron supports were first used in a British mill, that metal began to be used in building construction. After almost a century, steel technology that was a known solution for industrial, agricultural and automobile sheds, bridges, dams and other infrastructural projects, began to be used in high-rise applications based on engineering developments of the 1880s.

The 285 foot (87 m)-tall Flatiron Building in New York was one of the first to use a steel skeleton in 1902. This was furthered by Mies van der Rohe, an influential and world-renowned architect who played a leading role in the new glass and steel architecture of the time. Significantly, structural steel was used in the historic Esplanade Hotel in Mumbai in 1869 as well as for the steel and stone edifices of the Victoria Terminus Railway station in Mumbai in 1887.

A rapid expansion of the steel building industry was observed in the early 1940s when the military began using aircraft hangars constructed from 100% steel. Quonset huts (a take-off from the portable Nissen huts used largely during World War I) also became standard during this period.

The Armed Forces acquired these curved roof shelters to serve as barracks and shops, while the general public used them as storage. Thousands of these structures were built, as their assembly called for just a few workers and hand tools. Besides, they could easily be taken apart and relocated later if necessary.

Following World War II, quick construction and bargain purchase prices of pre-fabricated steel structure systems were emphasised with no regard for visual appeal. So, while industrial-use sheds were cost-effective options, architects like Mies van der Rohe’s steel skeleton extravaganzas with large-scale glass curtain walls such as the Seagram Building in New York (1958) or the National Gallery in Berlin (1968) became icons of modern architecture.
 

Pre-engineered steel buildings dramatically improved over time in terms of quality, weather resistance and aesthetic appeal; and gradually the techno fad caught on across the globe. Lord Foster’s St Mary Axe in London (2004), also known as the Gherkin and Swiss Re Building, was a statement that redefined high-rise construction and gave an impetus to a new vocabulary in multi-storey buildings.