The Use of Steel in Architecture

Since 2016

Institutions:

* Harvard Graduate School of Design | Teaching Fellow 2016-2018

* Wentworth Institute of Technology | Adjunct Professor 2018-2021

Professor / Lecturer:

* Ignacio Cardona

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The board shows an excerpt from a lecture about the use of STEEL as a construction system in architecture.

 

The lecture starts with a brief historical review of the system. Then, it continues with the basic rules and terminology of the system. Specifically, this lecture seeks to provide a general but diaphanous understanding of the systematic construction of a tectonic building through standardized rolled steel elements and the difference between bolted and welded connections to integrate those elements. Finally, the lecture uses Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House to explain the system’s construction phases while showing typical steel details.

In addition to serving as teaching material on construction systems, this lecture has become an exercise in comparative research between different construction systems, specifically: wood, concrete, and steel.