SUMMARY

EDITORIAL

PRECAST CONCRETE ART

• Brooklyn systems
• Cité de la Musique et des Beaux Arts in Chambéry

INNOVATIONS

• Anti-seismic connections
• The patented ECO ventilated cladding system

NEW HORIZONS

• Sustainability and precast concrete
• PCI
• Knots

ANTIQUE THOUGHTS

• Raw material for remembrance

GLOBAL VILLAGE

• Tilt-Up Achievement Awards
• Quality walls made from blocks of compacted prestressed concrete
• 10th International Show of Architecture
• 16th AATH Technical Meeting
• The Green House
• ACI Fall 2006 Convention
• 51° Beton Tage
• The MAXXI construction site

MAIN ARTICLES

Brooklyn System
A look at the latest buildings using the innovative structural precast system for multistorey buildings produced by Styl-Comp. Especially topical in view of the soon-to-come-into-force new Technical Building Standards.
Just a few months from the envisaged completion of the law-making process for the Technical Building Standards (originally called the Consolidation Act) that will regulate all aspects of the Italian building discipline, one of the burning questions will concern the design of buildings in seismic areas.
The world of precasting, of course, must adapt to the application of these Technical Standards. Those who have been involved in the OPCM 3274 project will be only too well aware that, once the current transitional stage is over (whereby one can still use the "old" seismic standards), it will become necessary to design and produce structures capable of withstanding far stricter horizontal action limits. The explicit concept of “Damage Threshold” and the stringent shifting limits introduced by the new Order have led to design engineers having to re-consider the global behaviour of precast structures...

Anti-seismic connections
The B.S.Italia product family has been extended with a new patented system of continuous connections/joints for reinforced concrete.
Column/foundation, column/column, column/beam, bearing wall/beam... These are the basic types of connections between the various types of reinforced concrete elements - both precast and otherwise - even if the most common example is that between the column and the foundation of the building.
There are presently two schools of thought among design engineers concerning this structural node: one supporting the concept of continuous reinforcement (whereby the connection tends to emulate the structural continuity of cast-in-place), the other favouring the concept of joints, meaning a loss in continuity and a transfer of the forces involved via concentrated mechanical connections (thanks to typically metal structural construction techniques, such as plates and tie-rods to secure the column to the foundation).
Two different approaches to the problem, each having its own set of pros and cons...

The patented ECO ventilated cladding system

Technological innovation and beauty: intelligent and innovative dressing of buildings.

The result of important integrated research that has involved all the companies belonging to the Styl-Comp Group and typical of the innovation that has always been the distinction of this specialist in concrete elements for evolved construction, the ECO ventilated cladding breaks new ground in the world of construction and, especially, design. Conceived for diversified applications - both new and old buildings - this system offers a simple and intelligent solution to the problems faced until now when opting for a ventilated facade (linked, for instance, to the duration of the materials used, the weight of each component, the poor levels of versatility and/or modularity of many solutions, the unacceptable cost of finishes or tailoring), without forgetting the crucial factor of architectural aesthetics.
Not mere buffering, but a real cladding, i.e. a skin, a precast shell with both functional qualities - ventilation first and foremost, of course - and aesthetics. A facade system using concrete elements supported by a steel structure - tied just the to floors of the building – that produces a form of casing that’s the sum of three levels of precise performance (heat insulation and soundproofing, a naturally ventilated air gap to control heat and moisture levels and architectural surfaces)...

PCI Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute

After the French and British associations, presented in previous issues of Elite, here's the new rebranding program from the US association - the PCI - a project with eye-catching graphics and great contents, aimed at spreading and developing the precast concrete sector.

The PCI (Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, based in Chicago, Illinois) celebrated its half century in 2003. The association felt the need to give a strong message for the next fifty years, in order to look ahead without resting on its laurels. A message capable of showing the strength and capacity of this internationally renowned institution. Hence the PCI has started its Rebranding Initiative, a program that goes way beyond a mere new look. A rich and wide-ranging rebranding project, presented in November 2005 during the Palm Spring Convention, the initial results of which can now be seen: a modern, evocative logo and a carefully prepared, refined brochure for design engineers. However these are only the first of many initiatives in the pipeline planned for the next few years: the PCI intends to stimulate expansion of the precast concrete industry in the USA. In fact, the rebranding initiative has been accompanied right from the start by a broader repositioning of the role of precasting within America's huge construction industry...

City, Architecture and Society
10th International Show of Architecture

“More than half the world's population lives in a city. A century ago this figure was less than 10%. The Twenty-first Century is, therefore, the first truly urban age, where more than 75% of the world's population lives in urban areas, many of them in mega-cities with more than twenty million inhabitants, concentrated in the rapidly developing countries of Asia, Africa and South America. In the meantime, many Western and European cities are becoming smaller or are being forced to change their nature to adapt to the "post-industrial" conditions.” These, the words of Richard Burdett, director of the 10th International Show of Architecture in Venice, form the basis for the project of this biennial event whose main goal is to “inform and bring about a debate on how the future of urban society will be forged, at this precise moment when cities are today a critical issue for global consideration.” As if it were a census between the current and future editions, a moment to stop and reflect on the urban habitat that we all experience on a daily basis...