The Beijing National Stadium, China
Known also as the Bird’s Nest stadium, the Beijing National Stadium took five years to build and was China’s centrepiece for the 2008 Olympic Games. It is an architectural wonder constructed with more than 42,000 tonnes of steel. It is the largest steel structure in the world.
The Empire State Building, New York
For 1931 when it was constructed the Empire State Building was outlandishly audacious. Even now, however, it remains a wonder of the construction world: a spell-binding amalgam of history, art, science and 57,000 tonnes of steel. Beneath its art deco exterior is also10,730 tonnes of aluminium and stainless steel. And, thanks to structural steel, it took only 13 months to build.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge
It is one of the world’s largest steel arch bridges and Australia’s most renowned international symbol. The total steelwork weighs 52,800 tonnes, with 39,000 in the arch. Its 49-metre-wide deck carries an astonishing eight lanes of traffic, two train lines, a footpath and a cycle-path.
Burj Khalifa, Dubai
Soaring almost a kilometre into the sky, the 163-floor Burj dwarfs every skyscraper in the world with its sheer size. Its bundled tube design uses 31,400 metric tonnes of steel. It includes an 11hectare park and a 275-metre long fountain that shoots water 150metre into the air.
The Brooklyn Bridge, New York
Though this 1869 construction took a decade to build owing to the technologies available then, this New York icon has to figure in any list of great steel structures. It was the very first steel-wire suspension bridge ever built in the world, a feat that changed the face of engineering and construction for ever.
Taipei 101 Tower in Taiwan
The magnificent, half-a-kilometre tall Taipei 101 Tower, one of Discovery Channel’s Seven Wonders of Engineering, is a spectacular testament to the strength and durability of steel. Boxes of 80 mm thick steel-plate are stacked up to form 16 giant columns, all wrapped with a web of a ductile steel framework designed to bend during earthquakes.
Shun Hing Square Tower, Shenzen
Currently holding the record for China’s largest all-steel building, the 384-metre-tall Shun Hing Square Tower in Shenzhen, Guangdong was constructed at an amazing pace of four floors every nine days. Impossible without the power of the latest structural steel solutions. In all 24,000 tonnes of structural steel went into accomplishing this engineering feat.
The Wills Tower, Chicago
Earlier known as Sears Tower this remarkable structure is a tightly wound stack of several structures, each of a different height—all bolted together for added strength against the city’s famous gale force winds. Steel plays a pivotal part in Willis Tower, as the steel frame binds each segment of the building together.