The competition between Structural Steelwork and Reinforced Concrete in the realm of building construction can be likened to the rivalry between the Springboks and the All Blacks, in the sense that each continually attempts to better the other. The rivalries both on the construction site and on the rugby field have been going for nigh on 100 years and both have their die-hard fans. Fortunately the competition has largely been a healthy one bringing out the best in both.
Structural steelwork had a head start as it took over the design methods, connection and fabrication techniques, previously used for wrought iron, i.e. when steel was made readily available in the 1870s it was used as a one for one substitute for wrought iron. Steelwork is a dry method of construction as it is fabricated in the workshop (off-site) and transported to site, where it is erected. On the other hand reinforced concrete is a wet method of construction, as concrete is poured insitu into temporary shutters, in which steel reinforcement bars have been fixed.
At the beginning of the 20th Century reinforced concrete represented a new technology (patented in France) and was empirically based and lacked an adequate theory for the design of building frames. Plain concrete (cement, sand, stone aggregate and water) was known to the Egyptians and the Romans used it for the dome of the Pantheon in Rome (c. 123 AD), which had a span of 43.4m and still stands to this day.
Frank Lloyd Wright, the...
