The Architect and Master in Civil Engineering, Nina Casas Guzik, accompanies us in this lesson to help us know the background of design and construction in steel structures, as well as the evolution in the management of these projects.

Iron-which had its origins around 1000 BC-played an important role in the history of architecture; however, it was not until the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries that a radical transformation of the steel industry took place. With the arrival of the Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth century, cities grew demographically, new means of transport, greater productive forces, machinery and industries never seen before emerged. The construction activity in industrial cities intensified, existing architectural models were used to the limit of their possibilities, and it became necessary to generate an enormous amount of work that would require unprecedented forms and construction techniques.

At first, iron elements remained in the interior of the buildings, but soon they were used on the facades as expressive elements. Steel replaced cast iron and wrought iron due to reduced manufacturing costs. One of the most emblematic buildings of the time was the Eiffel Tower, completed in 1889, with a height of 300 meters and built entirely in steel. So then, for the time, steel was transformed into the new construction material, used in coatings, to later become what it is today, a material used in all types of construction.

The conference will be held in Spanish.