39 / 48
February 2017
•
MechChem Africa
¦
37
⎪
Products and industry news
⎪
A growing number of architects, materials manufacturers and builders are embracing new construction
technologies such as light steel frame building.
world’s most expensive paperweight.” At
a timewhenmost peoplewere still battling
to set the time on a VCR, they concluded
and recommended to Apple that the
world’s first palm-held, portable computer
“was too far ahead of its time”.
Doonesbury’scartoonistcreator,Garry
Trudeau, made fun of it. But, Newton
had an enemy much bigger than Garry
Trudeau. Steve Jobs hated it. He raged
against the device for its poor perfor-
mance and novel input mechanism. “God
gave us ten styluses,” he said, waving his
fingers. “Let’s not invent another.”
So, when Jobs wrested back control
of his company, he scuttled it. As he ex-
plained: “My gut was that there was some
really good technology, but it was messed
up by mismanagement. By shutting it
down, I freedup somegoodengineerswho
could work on new mobile devices. And
eventually we got it right whenwemoved
on to iPhones and the iPad.”
Despite its relatively short life, the
Newton and the thinking that went into it
still resonate, existing in the devices you
use today.
New approaches to disciplines
In the 6 June 2012 Princeton Alumni
Weekly, the university stated that it “has
long held that the study of engineering
should be firmly embedded in a liberal
education and that prospective engineers
shouldhavebroadexposure to thehuman-
ities and social science disciplines before
theygraduate.AtPrinceton,weexpectour
undergraduates to think deeply, but we
also want them to roam widely, exploring
a broad range of questions and approach-
ing themfromasmany angles as possible.”
In the words of Dean Vince Poor, “The
most inventive and effective solutions
often come fromunexpected interactions
between disciplines. Today, the engineer-
ing school is more likely to frame its work
in terms of four broad areas of social need
– energy, the environment, health, and
security – than to define its mission using
departmental metrics.”
‘Blurring’ is not isolated to engineering
alone. The phenomenon is increasingly
impacting on virtually everything in our
business and social lives. ‘Renaissance’
thinking is gaining strength in the con-
struction industry. Take, for example, the
building of a typical middle-class South
African residence.
Trench foundations are dug and filled
with concrete. Two-brick thick walls are
built, with apertures for doors and win-
dows being ‘bridged’ by reinforced lintels.
Thereafter, a roof structure is erected,
followed by awaterproof covering of tiles
or sheeting. Commonly, doorframes and
window frames are of wood, the latter fit-
ted with single glazing. Composite board
ceilings are installed and painted.
Walls are plastered then painted or
tiled. A floor screed is laid, with a final
surface finish of tiles, wood or carpet.
When I returned to South Africa in
1994, after a stay ofmore than a decade in
the United States, I paid a visit to the then
head of a steel construction association. I
asked about the type of home he owned.
His reply was something like “a typical
brick andmortar buildingwitha tiled roof.”
I posed thequestionwhyhedidnot live
in a building with a steel structure; seeing
that hemanaged an industry groupwhose
major objective was the increased use of
steel as the major structural component.
I never received a satisfactory answer.
However, there are, thankfully a grow-
ing number of architects, materialsmanu-
facturers and builderswho are embracing
new construction technologies such as
light steel frame building. Not to be con-
fusedwith ‘prefabricated’ or ‘kit’ building,
it canbedescribedas ‘off-site’ building as a
gooddeal ofmanufacturing takes placeoff
site. Structural wall panels and trusses are
assembled from cold formed, light gauge
steel sections, which are taken to site for
erection, typicallyon raft foundations, and
claddingwithweatherproofmaterials.The
final result is an environmentally friendly
and structurally sound building.
From being virtually non-existent in
2012,lightsteelframebuildingtechnology
is fast finding favour. It is now the fastest
growing sector of the South African steel
construction industry.
And, it was heartening to note that the
previous steel association head I visited
nowlivesinabespokesteelandglasshome
using light steel frame technology.
Many other advanced construction
materials and techniques are currently
being researched or applied, with univer-
sities such as University of Johannesburg
and University of Pretoria leading the
way.Materials range frommembranes for
buildingenvelopes toaerated light-weight
concrete, fibre-reinforcedconcrete,multi-
use conduit, wall construction methods
and virtually every product with potential
to offer structural integrity, environmen-
tal friendliness, ease of construction and
economy for the life cycle.
Interest is so fast-growing that an
industry association has been planned
to promote and guide development of
this strategically important movement.
And, as in most cases involving modern
physical products, advances being made
incorporatemulti-disciplinaryengineering
components.
Gary i. Crawford.
In the words of Dean Vince Poor, “The most inventive and effective solutions
often come from unexpected interactions between disciplines. Today, the
engineering school is more likely to frame its work in terms of four broad areas
of social need – energy, the environment, health, and security – than to define
its mission using departmental metrics.”