Talk:Steel building

Purpose of article?

Not at all sure this article knows what its subject is. As a passing outsider (and architecture graduate) it seems to me it is about buildings (such as sheds, shelters and hangars) made predominantly from steel. If that is the case it certainly needs to have more info about hisrorical usage, sheet metal, temporary buildings, advantages (I notice the uncited advantages were understandably deleted recently).

Steel frame buildings are a different subject and I see there is an article about these already. Steel frame buildings are very common but the remainder of the building - walls, floors, envelope - tend to be made from something else. In my view, steel frame buildings should be mentioned briefly but not expanded upon here. Sionk (talk) 18:34, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

This is a good discussion to have. I have changed the hatnote to reflect your comments, and created Steel building (disambiguation) to match. SchuminWeb (Talk) 01:55, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

Glad to know we're at one on this, the disambiguation page is a good idea :) Actually I worked on projects recently re-using WW2 aircraft hangars, which are not "smaller" at all - c80m x c40m ! Do these have a place in this article?

Seems that we need to define the scope of this article a bit better, determining exactly what we're discussing and how to define it, and then saying as much. Obviously a steel-framed skyscraper is out, but "smaller" may not quite be the right term... SchuminWeb (Talk) 00:08, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

This could become a very intense discussion leading to a complicated project which may require a leader. The article is written in terms of a broad class of buildings with various names but are, typically, manufactured buildings (e.g. manufacturer developed standard designs, components and assemblies) that form a complete structure and, usually, the building envelope. They can be small (e.g. 3mx3mx3m) to large (e.g. 100mx300mx20m) and heavy (e.g. supporting 100 tonne crane systems). They may have discrete steel frames or they may be frameless (e.g. rely on panel diaphragm action for structural performance). They tend to be basic shade and shelter but have evolved to more complex and custom configurations directly as a result of advanced computer design capabilities which has permitted rapid custom design and manufacturing. A building and its elements are generally designed by a single manufacturer and are known by names such as metal building systems, steel building systems, pre-engineered metal buildings, PEMB or PEB, tension fabric buildings. In some cases, industry proxy names have been taken from the manufacturer (e.g. Butler Building) or other attributable origins (e.g. Quonset Hut). There is a balance that the industry treads between Steel Buildings and Steel Frame Buildings (which may perform exactly the same function but which tend to be designed and manufactured by multiple parties ... although, even this distinction is changing). The single photo does not do justice to the broad range of types that are known as Steel Buildings. Perhaps a more appropriate title is Steel Building (verb) Systems or Steel System Buildings (noun). Or possibly go the other way and partition the article to the single type depicted in the photo - Frameless Cold Formed Metal Panel Arch Building (very generic and descriptively specific but not popular terminology; this will overlap with the Quonset page, which is more historical than a current product description). Each form would then have a separate page (this already exists to some extent). The US Metal Building Manufacturers Association now refers to Engineered Metal Buildings. The Canadian Sheet Steel Building Institute prefers Steel Building System. Now, where do we start? Extraordinary Spaces (talk) 05:58, 16 December 2011 (UTC)