high-rise buildign materials

[BrownTown]

So, my college is building a bunch of new buildings right now, and they are all reinforced concrete structures 10-14 stories tall, and also, all the new high-rise buildings I see around town and on the discovery channel are reinforced concrete. However, when you look back at old buildings alot of them were steel frame construction. I am wondering, has steel frame lost its appeal, and why? It seems to me like steel buildings would weight alot less than ones made of concrete, and it seems equally amazing that you can build a 100 story building with nothing but concrete given how much that must weight. Anyone know why it is that concrete is taking over since it seems like steel frame would be the more modern technique?

 

[jhayx7]

It is cheaper and is easier to work with. Also, they can pre-fab walls and put them up very quickly.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: jhayx7
It is cheaper and is easier to work with. Also, they can pre-fab walls and put them up very quickly.

it is also more fire-resistant. Steel has a nasty problem of sudden failure in a fire.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Weight doesn't matter that much unless you want to AutoX your building, and they know how small a market that is.

 

[BlueWeasel]

By the time you take into account the special moment-resisting connections and other lateral resisting (ie, wind and earthquake) requirements for steel, steel frame buildings aren't necessarily much cheaper than concrete buildings.