This year, more skyscrapers will fill the skylines of cities, mostly in Asia. Continuing on from previous years, cities, architects and the general public alike are favoring low-energy, sustainable buildings and showing a tendency to renovate existing buildings with reinforcements where possible.

Take a look at 2 of the tallest skyscrapers built in 2017, and some of the most exciting building projects coming scheduled for completion in 2018.

2017: Ping An Finance Center

The Ping An Finance Center is located in the city of Shenzhen, and is the second tallest building in China and fourth tallest building in the world. The entire structure measures 599.1 meters, or 1,965 feet, offering 119 floors of office and retail space.

Stainless steel keeps the Ping An Finance Center protected against the strong winds and salty climate of Shenzhen. (Source: Kohn Pedersen Fox)

The Ping An Finance Center is classified as a composite building, meaning both steel and concrete materials are used to make up the main structural parts of the skyscraper. This can apply to any of the following combinations – steel columns with concrete beam floors, steel structure with a concrete core, steel columns encased in concrete or a system of steel tubes filled with concrete. The exterior is outfitted with a sculpted stainless steel facade for maximum corrosion resistance to coastal climate.

2017: Lotte World Tower

Korea’s Lotte World Tower is the tallest building in Korea and the fifth tallest building in the world measuring 555.7 meters and 1,823 feet from the ground to the very top. Construction began in Seoul back in 2011 and took 7 years to complete. The 129-story building is made of a reinforced concrete core, concrete encased steel columns and steel floor spanning.

Seoul’s Lotte World Tower was built with 40,000 tons of steel. (Source: Arch Daily)

POSCO supplied the 40,000 tons of steel to build the Lotte World Tower, consisting of both regular and thermomechanical control processed (TMCP) steel. As part of POSCO’s solutions marketing, the company proposed using 120 mm thick high-performance grade steel (SM490TMC) instead of welding 40 mm and 80 mm thick plates together for better performance and cost efficiency. The steelmaker also proposed the use of a steel column flat plate structure and steel piping for enhanced shock, high-wind and fire resistance.

Lotte World Tower also features solar panels, wind turbines and water harvesting systems as part of a sustainable, eco-friendly design.

SEE ALSO: Steel Wonders of the World: POSCO Steel Builds the World

2018: Hanking Center Tower

The Hanking Center Tower scheduled for completion in March of 2018, will set a new world record as the tallest all-steel building in all of Asia. Most skyscrapers are made of a mixture of concrete and steel, but the Hanking Center Tower is composed of a unique, all-steel structural system. The main body is also detached from the core by about 9 meters, held together by a series of sky bridges and steel braces to allow the building flexibility to withstand seismic activity and maximum exposure to natural light.  

The Hanking Center Tower is the tallest all-steel building in Asia. (Source: Curbed)

At 350 meters, or 1,148 feet, the Hanking Center Tower will be classified as a super tall building when completed in west Shenzhen, China. The building underwent extensive seismic and wind tunnel tests for performance verification, and residents and visitors alike will be able to enjoy the sky gardens and spacious open spaces in the heart of the city.

2018: Salesforce Tower

San Francisco has a new tallest building with the opening of the Salesforce Tower in January of this year. Standing at 326.1 meters, or 1,070 feet, the skyscraper also made extensive use of steel for its columns and floor spanning and features a reinforced concrete core. The Salesforce Tower is also one of San Francisco’s most-expensive buildings at USD 1.1 billion.

The Salesforce Tower is the tallest building in San Francisco. (Source: Curbed)

Not only is the 65-story building San Francisco’s tallest building, it is the city’s first commercial building to use a water recycling system. The city government, Boston Properties and Salesforce teamed up to support blackwater reuse that will give tenants of the building access to recycled water. The skyscraper also has net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

2018: Comcast Technology Center

The 341.7 meters, or 1,121 feet tall Comcast Technology Center opened early this year, and stands as Philadelphia’s tallest skyscraper. The USD 1.6 billion building also has smart features, including a central plant that acts as the brain of the building, using artificial intelligence to learn human patterns.

The Comcast Technology Center is a green building with smart features. (Source: The Skyscraper Center)

The skyscraper can track the number of people inside, predict weather patterns and will only generate just enough energy required for any given time. The building also makes use of water running through all parts of the building to cool temperatures and has a special, silver coated glass which can repel heat from the sun. As such, the Comcast Technology Center is one of the most technologically advanced and green buildings in the U.S.

Continuing on from a strong year of construction in 2017, the new skyscrapers of 2018 and beyond will continue to strive for environmental sustainability, incorporate newer technologies and make extensive use of steel for cost efficiency and safety.

The budget for the entire event was estimated to be around USD 10 to 13 billion to get PyeongChang in prime shape to host more than 6000 athletes and officials from all over the world. As a result, the winter games will take place in 13 different venues, 6 of which have been newly built and the remaining 7 were renovated specifically for use during these games.

The Olympic flame lands in PyeongChang during the flame lighting ceremony. (Source: Sputnik News)

As the biggest steelmaker in Korea, POSCO played a crucial part in building the International Broadcast Center (IBC), Media Residence Hotel and the Kwandong Hockey Center with its World Premium Products and innovative construction solutions.

SEE ALSO: POSCO Steel Shines at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics

International Broadcast Center

This year’s Winter Olympics will set a new record as the first Olympics to be broadcast live in all U.S. time zones, and all of this will be coordinated through the IBC. POSCO custom-made H-beams for the center’s pillars and columns using Pos-H, a type of steel produced by precisely cutting and welding POSCO’s hot-rolled steel plates and thick plates together.

The HSA5-based Pos-H is seismic wave resistant and can be customized to fit specific height and thickness requirements for different parts of a building. Plus, compared to existing hot-rolled steel which only comes in a standard size, manufacturers have the added benefit of reducing the amount of steel used, thus saving costs.

For the first time ever, all time zones in the U.S. can watch live coverage of the Olympics. (Source: Heerim)

POSCO also applied GI-Ace steel and fire-resistant cladding to the IBC’s columns to not only increase fire resistance but reduce construction time. POSCO’s dry fire-resistant cladding is different from traditional methods that require numerous layers of fire-resistant paint to be applied, requiring additional manpower and hours to complete. Dry-cladding can be wrapped around the surface of the columns in a one-time process.

Finally, the 5-story IBC is now capable of supporting a much larger load thanks to a new composite beam with concrete integrated into POSCO’s SM490 steel. Overall, POSCO supplied 8,218 tons of steel for the IBC.

Media Residence Hotel

The Media Residence Hotel is another important facility POSCO’s materials and construction solutions played a vital role in. POSCO wrapped the exterior walls of the 300-room, 4-story building with PosMAC, a magnesium alloy coating, that is 10 times more corrosion resistant than standard galvanized steel.

The interior walls are also lined with steel. Instead of wallpaper, the Media Residence Hotel is lined with a special type of printed steel that feels like fabric to the touch. POSCO also applied PosMAC to the modular bathroom floors instead of traditional tiles. PosMac is 5 times more corrosion-resistant than zinc plating, and has an aesthetically-pleasing finish. POSCO’s stainless steel, PossSD, made up other parts of the bathroom as it is also highly corrosion-resistant and workable. In addition, each entrance was made with POSCO’s high-strength and corrosion-resistant 329LD duplex stainless steel with surface treatment and color processing.

Media Residence Hotel was constructed off-site, then put together at the venue. (Source: The Korea Herald)

What’s noteworthy about this construction project is that 100 percent of the building was constructed off-site via modular construction. Compared to the time it would take to build a traditional concrete building of the same scope, the construction period for the Media Residence Hotel was 18 months shorter. Since each room is a relocatable building unit, it will be moved to a different venue and recycled as another hotel or dormitory. All in all, POSCO supplied 1,405 tons of steel for the entire construction project.

Kwandong Hockey Center

Kwandong Hockey Center will be home to some of the most exciting action of the winter games, and the facility was built on the “ice wave” concept to reflect the dynamics of ice hockey, waves of the nearby East Sea and the region’s strong winds.

Again, POSCO’s duplex stainless steel 329LD was used to cover the stadium’s exterior to protect against rapid corrosion that is prevalent in coastal areas. Aside from protection against corrosion, the stainless steel is extremely high in strength, allowing the builders to reduce the thickness of the steel plates by 25 percent compared to standard types of stainless steel.

POSCO’s duplex stainless steel keeps the Kwandong Hockey Center strong and corrosion-free. (Source: Curbed)

POSCO also aided the construction process by providing additional support such as internal wind pressure structural analysis, surface treatment and a panel processability evaluation to maximize the benefits of POSCO’s products.

With these new and upgraded facilities completed, PyeongChang is now equipped and ready to host the 23rd Winter Olympics. The only thing left to do now is to witness history as the best athletes from all over the world compete for gold. Best of luck to all the Olympic and Paralympic athletes!  

Cover photo courtesy of Snow Best.

Scientists predict 2018 may be a tumultuous year for earthquakes. (Source: Take Two)

As structural damage is the leading cause of injury and deaths during an earthquake, architects, engineers and builders need to make sure buildings are built with the right materials and design.  

SEE ALSO: What it Takes to Build a Natural-Disaster-Proof House

The Materials

The most dangerous type of earthquakes are ones that trigger horizontal movements, because tall buildings are better at resisting vertical loads than horizontal ones. These ground motions can damage building foundations in a matter of minutes, causing severe injuries and deaths. Building a structure to withstand seismic waves starts with the right materials with the right properties, and steel is by far the most widely used material for building earthquake-resistant buildings.

According to the World Steel Association, ductile buildings are safer as they dissipate energy from seismic waves. A building will typically have ductile parts that can undergo plastic deformations without complete structural failure during an earthquake. Steel is the most common type of material for such parts.

Moreover, due to the law of inertia, the lighter the building, the less force seismic waves will exert on the building. That’s why it’s important, especially for taller buildings, to be made of light and flexible materials such as steel that can “bend” with the movement of earthquakes. On average, multi-story steel buildings are 60 to 70 percent lighter and 10 times stronger than concrete-framed buildings of the same size.

The Design

With steel, builders can add vital designs and reinforcements to keep the structure standing through an earthquake. Here’s some of the most widely-used measures.

Cross braces transfer the force of an earthquake to the ground. (Source: Earthquakes in India)

The structural integrity of buildings can be reinforced with steel cross braces that frame the exterior of a building in an x-shape. Ultimately cross braces can transfer the force of seismic waves back down to the ground, instead of letting the building take the hit. Builders can also reinforce the walls of buildings with additional vertical walls, or shear walls, that add stiffness to the frame of the building, allowing it to resist swaying or horizontal movements.

Base isolators absorb much of the shock of seismic waves. (Source: Embelton)

Base isolation involves separating the building from the foundation so that the isolators to absorb shock from the earthquake. The isolators allow the building to move at a slower pace because they dissolve a large part of the shock. Moment-resisting frames also effectively dissipate energy from floors and roofs to the building’s foundation and the stiff yet flexible frames can change shape during an earthquake. Although more costly, moment-resisting frames enable buildings to withstand an earthquake with excessive horizontal movement.

Putting it into practice with POSCO’s Steel House

In September 2017, Young Bae Kim’s home in Gyeongju province, Korea was hit with a 5.8 magnitude earthquake, just 8.9 km from where the earthquake started. Surprisingly, Kim’s home was unscathed. “I could feel the ground shake, but the house was completely under control.” Kim expressed.

Kim lives in one of the Steel Houses built by POSCO employees who volunteer to build homes and bridges for communities in need. Each Steel House is made with POSCO’s lightweight structural steel known for its durability, fire resistance and vibration resistance. The homes also incorporate PosMAC, a specialized galvanized steel that is 5 to 10 times more corrosion-resistant than standard steel and is more durable and affordable.

POSCO Employees volunteer their time to build steel houses in rural communities.

Because all the Steel Houses survived the Gyeongju earthquake while other homes were damaged, more and more people in Korea are choosing steel for their homes over traditional building materials such as wood and concrete. The same trend can be observed in Japan, where earthquakes are much more frequent. In order to build more earthquake-resistant buildings, steel is still the best solution available.

Cover photo courtesy of CNN.