Frames
Architectural treatment
An architectural design approach for high rise buildings gradually developed. Sullivan explored the treatment of high rise buildings such as theWainwright Building, St. Louis (1890-91).
Beams and girders
Before deep broad flange rollings became available there was a number of different methods used to get the desired properties from beams. Including the Deep beam in the Cooper Union building.
Bracing
It took some time for designers to recognise the need for frame structures to be properly braced and at first many simply took for granted the ability of walls within the building to provide stability.
Columns
Wrought iron columns were at first detailed rather like cast iron columns with end caps for each length of column to bear against the one below. Eventually, however, this method was replaced.
Floor construction
The floors in early mill buildings had it’s disadvantages. Later, other floor systems were introduced including arched construction and flat concrete floors.
Frames
With a complete frame building the height of construction was no longer limited by the ability of the wall to carry its own weight.
The development of the steel frame
Like most stories of evolution and innovation, the ancestry of the modern steel framed building is the source of contention. The major points of debate centre around why it took so long for the steel framed building to be adopted in Britain.
Material developments
It took some time for the rolling technology to be capable of producing I sections with wide flanges that we are familiar with today, so that the history of early column design reveals the development of techniques such as riveted assemblies to provide the sections required.
Other UK buildings of interest
Featuring The Midland Hotel, Manchester, The Scotsman Building in Edinburgh and The Guinness Brewery, Dublin
The birth of the tall steel framed building in the UK
In 1890 Sir William Arrol's Forth bridge proved the tremendous capabilities of steel as a structural material. In fact Arrol also built 143 steel framed workshops between 1894 and 1907.
The birth of the tall steel framed building in the USA
The development of today's skyscraper depended upon a number of separate factors, each of which can be considered individually. These are: material developments, floor construction, beams and girders, columns, frames, bracing, architectural treatment.
The move from iron to steel
Cast iron had become the standard material of construction for mill and warehouse buildings by the mid-nineteenth century, although with iron and steel production increasing rapidly demand for steel grew from 1870 onwards.
