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Paul McMullin, Jonathan Price, Richard Seelos - Steel Design (Architect's Guidebooks to Structures)
Routledge, 2018
epub, 312 pages, english
ISBN: 978-1-138-83106-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-73680-8 (ebk)
The advent of structural steel has profoundly changed building and bridge design across the globe. Rising from cast iron technology, steel makes possible skyscrapers and long-spanning bridges, informing our cityscapes. It is found in homes, warehouses, civic buildings, and industrial facilities, and is one of the basic building blocks of today’s infrastructure. This guide is designed to give the student and budding architect a foundation for successfully understanding and incorporating steel in their designs. It builds on Introduction to Structures in this series, presenting the essence of what structural engineers use most for steel design. If you are looking for the latest steel trends, or to plumb the depths of technology, you’re in the wrong place. If you want a book devoid of equations and legitimate engineering principles, return this book immediately and invest your money elsewhere. However, if you want a book that holds architects and engineers as intellectual equals, opening the door of steel design, you are very much in the right place. Yes, this book has equations. They are the language of engineering. They provide a picture of how structure changes when a variable is modified. To disregard equations is like dancing with our feet tied together. This book is full of in-depth design examples, written the way practicing engineers design. These can be built upon by reworking examples in class with different variables. Better yet, assign small groups of students to rework the example, each with new variables. Afterward, have them present their results and discuss the trends and differences. For learning assessment, consider assigning a design project. Students can use a past studio project, or a building that interests them. The project can start with determining structural loads, continue with designing key members, and end with consideration of connection and seismic design. They can submit design calculations and sketches summarizing their work and present their designs to the class. This approach requires a basic level of performance, while allowing students to dig deeper into areas of interest. Most importantly it places calculations in context; providing an opportunity to wrestle with the iterative nature of design, and experience the discomfort of learning a new language. Our great desire is to bridge the gap between structural engineering and architecture. A gap that historically didn’t exist, and is unnecessarily wide today. This book is authored by practicing engineers, who understand the technical nuances and the big picture of how a steel project goes together. We hope it opens the door for you. |