AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.09.2004, Qupperneq 52

Steel-frame buildings without a
steel-frame and unit-buildings
without a unit factory.
Óli Jóhann Ásmundsson, Architect and Designer
Steel-frame buildings are usually
clad with fairly thin corrugated steel
og trapizoid steel, often 0,6 mm
thick. By strengthening the steel
and increasing the size, the trapizoid
steel plate can change from being
an outdoor cladding to becoming
a load bearing building unit. This
building unit can be used for a
number of purposes. It can serve
as a floor unit, external wall unit and
rood unit: i.e. the steel-frame is no
longer necessary.
Most unit-buildings are built of
units, produced in a factory, special-
ly designed to produce the appro-
priate units. The production of units
has to pay for the capital investment
in the factory. In the production of
trapizoid steel it is not necessary
to build a factory in lceland as a
number of factories abroad already
produce trapizoid steel as a build-
ing material and one can order steel
from a roll up to 1,5 mm thick and
have it formed into trapizes up to 20
cm high. The steel can also be fin-
bolted onto the floorbeams and the
vertical wall units are connected to
the floor units by a specially made
edge profile. When the foundations
are made of concrete, the external
wall units are bolted directly onto
the foundations. The floor unit rests
on the foundations with the possibil-
ity of a basement below.
The external wall is made of a
wall unit (trapizoid steel), a usual
internal wall skeleton of steel and
mineral wall placed between. The
thickness of the insulation can be
adjusted by the positioning of the
internal wall frame. The roof unit is
connected to the wall unit by a spe-
cially made edge profile. The exter-
nal walls are finished on the inside
with a damp proof course and
gypsum board and the internal walls
are made of an internal wall frame of
steel, clad with gypsum (a dry wall).
ADVANTAG ES
1) The construction of the house is
simple.
2) It is made of traditional materials.
3) The building materials are non-
combustible.
4) When the units have been erect-
ed the enclosure is finished.
5) The external walls can be adjust-
ished in various colours and desired
lengths.
DESCRIPTION
The house is built of trapizoid steel,
mineral wool and gypsum. These
are all traditional building materials
that have been used for many dec-
ades and are in addition inorganic
and non-combustible. In connecting
steel to steel and gypsum to steel,
self-tapping screws are used but
bolts are used
when fixing steel
to concrete.
Foundations
can be either
floorbeams on
columns as is
usual in the con-
struction of sum-
mer houses and
in situ strip foun-
dations. In the
former case the
floor units are
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