Industrial Steel Deck Design
This Industrial inspired steel deck was a fun project that unfortunately didn’t get past initial designs. The client approached us about doing something unique and funky in a local downtown. They wanted to build something that would stand out, but not necessarily annoy their neighbors. They also wanted more outdoor space and to possibly enjoy views of the downtown from up high.
The first unique challenge was the material. The client wanted to build the structure out of Corten Steel. This is a relatively new material that is an alloy of steel and copper. Steel is a great building material because it is very strong, however, when it oxidizes (rusts) the oxidized layer does not protect the metal beneath it. Iron will rust until all of the material is compromised. Copper, however, forms a protective patina. This is why copper turns from brown to green. Brown is unoxidized copper, while the green color is it’s version of rust. However, once the “rust” forms, it protects the copper beneath. This is why copper can be a very popular material for exterior items like roofs, gutters and downspouts, statues, etc. When you put the two together, the steel does get a bit weaker, but no longer rusts completely away. Corten started as a utility metal, used for utility poles and other items that provide infrastructure exposed to the environment for long periods of time with minimal maintenance. It has found some popularity as a cladding and even structural material architecturally in the past couple of decades.
The client wanted to use this industrial material and wanted a structure that referenced the detailing of a cable stayed bridge, like the Indian River Inlet Bridge or Senator William V. Roth Jr. Bridge. Luckily, we’re not afraid of unique structural detailing. Translating structural cabling into something residential scaled presents it’s own challenges, and our initial designs approached it a couple of different ways. One was to detail it more like a railing which would be a little safer and more likely not to raise code official concerns. The other was more like a structural cable, that would be simpler, possibly more aesthetic, but could have caused some problems with the building inspector.
The client’s last request was that we consider a simple single story design and a two story design where the top level cantilevered over the roof to provide 360 degree views of the downtown while not being all that visible from the street. When combined with the structural challenges posed by the high water table at the site, the sectional challenges posed by existing doors and windows and client requests about keeping the decks as high as possible, and the difficulty of tying into century old brick walls, the detailing on this job was going to be challenging.
Unfortunately, we never got past the initial design phase. Client priorities shifted, and while we were proud of what we had come up with as a starting point, we didn’t get to pursue the challenge of turning these ideas about industrial structures into actual, functional residential decks. That is a key difference between architecture and art. In the end, Architecture absolutely has to function in some form. We hope to someday take some of the lessons we learned researching the initial concepts into practice.
