By Sara Sandock
Recently, I took a short trip to Shanghai, China on a last-minute
request. I didn't know what to think or expect from this country,
but was very interested to see what the architecture and cityscape
was like so far away from home. Though it wasn't my favorite trip I
have ever taken, the city of Shanghai boasted some of the most
interesting metal buildings I have ever seen in person.
One side of the city consists of very, old traditional buildings
while the other "financial district" side has new, modern
buildings. I was blown away by the many of the new, large
structures that were erected along the riverfront, more
specifically, the newly finished Shanghai World Financial
Center.
This 101-story skyscraper opened in August 2008, and was created
in an attempt to be the world's tallest building for a
split-second. Architects of this building faced a unique challenge
because of the high winds in the area (along with the substantial
height of the structure) and decided to add a rectangular cut-out
at the building's apex to reduce the stresses of wind
pressure. And of course, steel was an important material used
in facilitating the building's unique design:
"The supporting structure of the skyscraper consists of a central
reinforced concrete core and a massive framework of steel columns
and girders. For the first time in China, the steel elements making
up the mighty structural skeleton were put together from special
steel profiles: the Jumbo profiles (W 14"×16"), made from Histar
grade steel (ASTM A913-Grade 50), guaranteeing high strength and
the possibility of using smaller sections equal in performance to
the traditional grade of steel. The total tonnage used for this
project was in excess of 13,000, of which 10,000 tons was the
special Histar steel supplied by ArcelorMittal."
-www.constrctalia.com