Page 117 - THE FIRE STATION

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STABILITY
A modular structure, based on facade rectangles 3.00m wide and
1.98m high, dictates the building’s design.
Each floor of the tower (3.96m) corresponds to two rectangles and
to 24 steps, each 16.5cm high.
Bedded in concrete, the four corners of the metal tower are made
up of four L profiles (120 x 120mm and 15mm thick), spaced at
3.00m from each other and stiffened by a horizontal plate welded to
the inside of the L every 1.98m (1).This plate is duplicated halfway steel sheeting in a structural role. For instance, the staircases in
up the tower to allow the superimposed metal frame section (2) to
be bolted on. On each facade, horizontal bars with a cross-section
of 90 x 10mm link the vertical corner profiles, again every 1.98m.
The tower is fully braced by the facade, made up of steel frames
inset with perforated steel sheeting (5). 2mm thick, the S235 steel
sheeting is perforated diagonally with 16mm holes every 20mm
(abbreviated: R16T20).The frames are bolted to the vertical L cor-
ner profiles and to the horizontal bars.The only exceptions are the
two lowest modules on the south face which have to be kept free
to give access to the sloping roof of the “house”. Here, the open
facade is braced by an X-shaped cross.
The concrete panels making up the West facade are connected to
the L corner profiles by means of lugs bolted to anchoring rails set
in the concrete (3).These concrete panels thus have the same func-
tion as the perforated steel ones.
To check the stability of the perforated steel sheeting, a 2,000kg
traction test was carried out in the factory.
Staircase for the Council of Europe building. (Ref. 01 | 494)
The anchoring of the staircase landings, subject to torsion, was
also factory-tested.
When one of a panel’s dimensions exceeds the standard manufac-
turing width, sheets are welded together usingTIG (Tungsten Inert
Gas) welding, a form of welding using no extra metal. After grind-
ing and electroplating, the “seam” is absolutely invisible.
This is not the first time Samyn and Partners have used perforated
the Europa building, the new headquarters for the Council of Eu-
rope, are suspended from walls made of perforated steel sheeting.
Similarly, in the house of Alain Hubert, the staircase railings consti-
tute the weight-bearing beam.
THE STAIRCASES
The lower staircase is fixed to the concrete wall via a wall-facing
stringer, onto which the cantilevered steps are bolted.The treads of
the prefabricated steps were replaced by a thicker material to take
up the bending stress.
To improve rigidity, an outer stringer has been added.This rests
on brackets at the corner of each landing, which act as risers.
Turning to the upper staircase, here the inside stringers are bolted
to the vertical corner profiles by means of plates welded onto the
latter and whose thickness is equal to half of that of the stringer,
which is thinner at this point so that these joints do not stick out (4).
Staircase for the house of Alain Hubert. (Ref. 01 | 584)