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Future of steel is still bright

The main theme of the new Steel Gallery is ‘Harmony’ which represents that steel will be together with humanity for the next generation. The gallery is mainly composed with future advanced technology that gives incredible experiences of high class technology in POSCO’s world premium products.

One of the technologies we can proudly recommend to feel in our gallery is electric vehicle section. POSCO recognized that future vehicle trend will be dramatically changed with renewable energy such as electrically fueled vehicles. In the Gallery, POSCO introduced its own technology that plays a crucial part for future generation of vehicles such as lightweight frame and various solutions.

VR technology allows giving vivid experience about steel

Steel will be still with us

Another theme of the gallery is close to human life. One specific feature that the gallery makes so impressive is smart system, an interactive wall that helps better understanding of steel to the people who are not familiar with steel. Animated images of steel processing and VR Virtual Reality) are the good examples of smart POSCO. These advanced elements describes important role of steel for our future life.

Collaboration of visual art and steel expressing the steel in our life

‘Kinetic Steel’, Harmony with kinetic art

Finally, Steel Gallery shows fabulous collaborations of art work and steel in terms of kinetic art (also may refer to kinetic steel). For instance, shattered pieces of steel gathered and shape several objects that we can easily see in our life, such as vehicles, buildings and so on. POSCO expects that this incredible artistic feature may bring positive inspiration about steel.

Convenient access to POSCO’s premium products at Steel Gallery on the 2nd floor

As it mentioned above, the ultimate purpose of the Steel Gallery is to get closer to all generations by showing diverse technologies and visual impacts so that general population understand that steel is one of the fundamental elements of our current and even for the future life. POSCO will continue to make efforts for ‘better life for humanity’. The clips below represents that we also hope our achievements bring positive inspiration in global scale.

For the International Broadcasting Center (IBC) completed last April, builders used POSCO’s Pos-H steel. Building parts were made by precisely cutting and welding the hot-rolled steel plates and thick plates. Pos-H is custom-made for structures and does not produce any waste unlike existing hot-rolled shape steel with fixed dimensions. In addition, POSCO’s dry fire-resistant cladding technique was applied to all the pillars of the IBC. The dry fire-resistant cladding technique eliminates the process of applying fire-resistant paint to pillars for fire prevention, and instead, fire-resistant materials are wrapped around the pillars.

The Media Residence that will house reporters during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics resembles a steel showroom due to its impressive design. PosMAC, which is over 5 times more corrosion-resistant than general galvanized steel sheets as it is coated with zinc, magnesium and aluminum, was specially printed to bring to life the fiber texture. PosMAC was used for the exterior of the bathrooms and walls for durability as well as artistic value. The surface steel plates plated with aluminum and zinc, called ALZASTA was treated to achieve a glittering spangle pattern texture and applied to the residence fire doors, valve enclosures and hallways. PossSD, stainless steel with a level of reflectivity equal to that of a mirror, was used inside the bathrooms.

The Media Residence was completed on December 15, after 8 months of construction. All of the 300 rooms were prefabricated in a factory and assembled at the site. This is known as modular construction. It reduced the construction period by 18 months compared to building with general concrete. More than anything else, modular construction makes it possible to move the structure to another location and reuse it. In this respect, modular construction is regarded as the best choice for the facilities that will be removed after the Winter Olympics. The Media Residence will be reused as a hotel or dormitory.

Finally, the Kwandong Hockey Center’s exterior walls are made of 329LD POSCO stainless steel, which is highly corrosion-resistant and robust. POSCO provided the structural analysis by calculating the optimal thickness for the walls and reduced the thickness by 25 percent.  

After the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Paralympics, POSCO will continue to provide construction solutions through is WPP and technologies for its partners.  

Cover photo courtesy of Heerim.

For some artists, steel can be heavy and difficult to work with. In addition, considerations for ductility, corrosion resistance, and price must also be taken into account. Working to address these issues, POSCO has partnered with many artists, architects, and designers to provide the right steel to match their artistic vision.

In the three pieces below, POSCO’s World Premium Products were used to offer unique solutions for each design concept. See how these three pieces of art utilized steel to not only make them stronger and longer-lasting, but also to make them more beautiful.

POSCO’s Solar Pine – Art that Generates Energy

The Solar Pine sculpture is located at POSCO Energy’s headquarters in Incheon, South Korea. POSCO Energy wanted to install a structure in its Green Park that utilized solar power, could be mass-produced, and displayed an aesthetic beauty that could be used in parks and green spaces around the globe. Its pattern resembles the geometric shape of a pine cone with an angled roof with solar panels. During the day, its unique pattern casts a beautiful shadow on the ground below, and at night the energy absorbed by the solar panels is used to power lighting on the Solar Pine and also within the park.

At night the Solar Pine lights up using the energy absorbed through its solar panels. (Photo courtesy of Kyungsub Shin)

The upper structure is 7.2m in diameter and contains nine separate modules with 54 solar panels that can generate 1200W per hour. Also, because it is made for mass production, each piece is made in the factory and bolt-assembled on location – making construction simpler while also lowering costs.

The Solar Pine roof is tilted to provide maximum energy absorption for the 54 solar panels. (Photo courtesy of Kyungsub Shin)

POSCO’s Solar Pine is built with PosMAC steel, an advanced, high-strength steel that is lighter and thinner than galvanized steel and more resistant to corrosion. PosMAC is ideal for structures like the Solar Pine, which require strong, lightweight steel that can withstand the elements. PosMAC has also been used in other designs requiring this combination including POSCO Humans’ floating solar power system, high-durability homes, auto parts, and several new green energy projects in India.

During the day, the light shines through the roof of the Solar Pine, replicating its geometric design in shadows on the ground. (Photo courtesy of Kyungsub Shin)

POSCO’s Steel Igloo

Steel is typically used as structural support; however, when designing the Steel Igloo, architect Kim Chan-joong decided to use POSCO’s World Premium Product PossSD, an advanced steel that offers superior strength and ductility.

The reflective surface of the Steel Igloo combined with the punctured surface creates a unique viewing experience. First constructed for an exhibition at Kumho Art Museum, it was later moved to a forest near Suwon, Korea.

The Steel Igloo is made from 177 steel sheets, each punctured with holes allowing light to break through. The combination of the holes and the reflective surface of the steel create a very unique experience for those lucky enough to see it in person.

POSCO worked with Kim during the manufacturing process, helping with the polishing, bending and reflective effect that was requested in the original blueprint.

PossSD, which stands for Super Ductile Duplex, was used because of its notable characteristics that make it suitable for an outdoor art display like the Steel Igloo.

The punctured holes of the Steel Igloo allow light to come through and create shadows on the surrounding walls.

PossSD combines austenitic and ferritic steels to maximize the strength of each while minimizing the weaknesses. Austenitic and ferritic steels are both considered fairly easy to produce, but both have certain drawbacks. Austenitic steels are low-strength and but also offer high resistance to corrosion. Ferritic steel, on the other hand, is stronger but less resistance to corrosion. They also use less nickel than austenitic steel, making it slightly more economical.

By combining those two types of steel in PossSD, POSCO was able to create a unique product that is stronger and more ductile than most ferritic grades, while also being twice as strong as both types of steel by themselves. It also offers stronger corrosion resistance while also being more cost effective.

Stepping inside the Steel Igloo allows viewers a completely different experience with light shining inward.

Pangdolane – Resting in a Rock Made of Steel

Pangdolane is a wordplay on the Korean words pang-dol, a type of volcanic rock found on Jeju Island and an-ae, meaning inside. POSCO worked with multiple artists, scientists, and architects to create this public art piece that also provides a small shelter for those visiting Jeju Island.

Pangdolane sits near a beach on Jeju Island. (Photo courtesy of Scale.kr)

With its gray color and holes of varying sizes, the exterior of Pangdolane resembles the basaltic rock for which it is named. Inside Pangdolane, visitors can rest while enjoying the shadows created by the design of the structure.

Sitting inside Pangdolane lets visitors see a completely different view. (Photo courtesy of Scale.kr)

Located on a beach on Jeju Island, designers were faced with issues of corrosion. The air in coastal regions typically has a higher saline density, which causes metals, including steel, to corrode much more quickly. Therefore, POSCO’s World Premium Product PosMAC was used to construct Pangdolane. PosMAC is specifically designed to be both more resistant to corrosion and self-healing. When designing Pangdolane, PosMAC was the obvious choice as its special properties ensure that it will stand the test of time – even on the beach.

Steel is often used in buildings to make them stronger and long-lasting. But steel does not have to be behind walls and floors; it can also be used on the exterior. In each of the art pieces above, POSCO’s World Premium Products were used in order to provide specific benefits that fit each situation’s needs. Whether it is having a higher resistance to corrosion or providing a lighter solution that can be mass-produced and bolted on site – POSCO’s World Premium Products have been able to overcome many of the problems that come with working in steel to make sure that these pieces of art can be enjoyed for decades to come.

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The Steel Wire recently spoke with Bruvel about his Flow Series of sculptures. With ribbons of stainless steel, Bruvel has created stunning representations of life, its dualities, and its binding contradictions.

You’ve worked with a variety of media including oils, pencils, pastels, wood, and bronze. With the Flow Series you began using stainless steel. What inspired you to start working with steel?

Among all the different material I use for my artwork, stainless steel or inox steel has the qualities I needed to materialize the sculptures of the Flow Series. I wanted to create different variations of reflectivity for the surface of my artwork to fuse with its environment by simply reflecting it. The reflections can be made from grained surfaces up to a highly reflective mirror polish surfaces. If I want to represent the feeling of water or the sensation of the wind pressing on the skin like in the sculpture of the Wind, I can play with these variations to further the feeling of flow and my personal interpretations of patterns inspired by nature.

“Bringing stainless steel to this new platform was to bring the paradox of the sense of permanence that stainless-steel gives, its natural resistance to rusting over time and stability in harsh environment…”
– Gil Bruvel

Steel seems like it would be a difficult medium to work with. How has steel allowed you to express your creativity, compared to other media?

Stainless steel is indeed a rigorous material needing very structured methods to work with. But at the same time, it allows this illusory notion of opposite between the rigidity of steel and this sense of fluidity and movement I can infuse it with. It momentarily freezes the ephemeral, the constant motion of nature, permanence and impermanence.

Gil Bruvel works on My Mirror Remains (Photo courtesy of Gil Bruvel)

It is impressive to see you create such elaborate pieces using steel. Can you describe your work process? How do you go from idea to steel sculpture? How long does it take? What tools do you use to mold your sculptures?

I start with various sketches and a considerable amount of time figuring out what my intentions are about a specific piece. This represents multiple iterations with sketches whether it is inspired by, as examples, erosions carved by the wind or water, dunes formations, ripples in the sand, physical sensations, motions, emotions, the grass or leaves in trees pushed by the wind and the infinite myriads of patterns small or large nature is made of.

Then I start to model the concepts until I think it is ready to receive a silicon mold. With this mold, we pull a wax for the lost wax process at the foundry and to finally do the casting. After removing the sprues and chasing the surface of the steel, I start to play with the reflectivity of the surface up to the most polished parts of the final sculpture.

It takes many months to create a sculpture from the original concept to the final cast.

Gil Bruvel’s Dichotomy sculpture that “meditates on and celebrates the dual nature of existence.” (Photo courtesy of Gil Bruvel)

Which steel sculpture would you consider to be your best, or favorite? And why?

My favorite sculpture of the Flow Series is of course the next one I am about to do with the renewed excitement to apply the new skills and knowledge I gathered from the previous works with the integration of new ideas and concepts as well as continuing to explore and studying new patterns.

“Among all the different material I use for my artwork, stainless steel or inox steel has the qualities I needed to materialize the sculptures… -Gil Bruvel

I like the sculpture of Dichotomy for the simplicity of its message about the human condition. The vertical lines in opposition with the horizontal lines contained within this same bust, whatever contradictions or oppositions we experience are simply part of who we are.

The sculpture of Rain is also one of my favorite for its meditative aspect. The sculpture entitled River with its metaphor of the river flow carrying our memories and experiences.

The Wind, the euphoric awareness of being alive, feeling the wind against our skin. And many other sculptures.

Offering a variation on the theme of human frailty, My Mirror Remains explores what it means to be fully human. (Photo courtesy of Gil Bruvel)

What message are you ultimately trying to convey through the Flow Series? How does using steel help you communicate that?

All the above might contribute to this question, but mainly I see art as a platform, an opportunity to experiment with my own perspective, in the form of artwork to show and share the results of these experimentations. To keep building a universal language we can all relate to. I think the universality of steel lends itself to this idea. Our planet is shrinking with the way we communicate and art can be what binds us together.

How is your artistic vision embodied through your use of steel in the Flow Series? How is it connected (or different) from your other work?

The many different material and methods I use to create my artwork goes in parallel with my passionate pursuit of knowledge. The Flow Series has been a centerpiece to my creative process, and I see it as a continuum to my previous experiments with other materials. Bringing stainless steel to this new platform was to bring the paradox of the sense of permanence that stainless-steel gives, its natural resistance to rusting over time and stability in harsh environment comparatively to other material; and at the opposite, the artistic expression of fleeting moments and ephemeral nature of our experiences we have, the constant changes and impermanence of life.

The Steel Wire is excited to have had the opportunity to talk with Gil Bruvel. His artistry and expertise surpass expectations and his exquisite sculptures show us the beauty that can be found in steel.

Watch the video below to see some of Gil Bruvel’s favorite pieces and hear more about his work process and inspiration. You can find out more about the artist and his exhibitions by visiting his website or following him on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

BRUVEL from One Story Productions on Vimeo.