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[MZZ52-02] Steel and the Origin of Modern Building Mode
Keywords:Building Mode, Habitat Building History, Modern City and Buildings
The development and consumption of steel as a building material led to the creation of the modern, high-rise, dense cities that characterize Modern Building Mode. This article explores the role of steel in the development of Modern Building Mode focusing on (1) the origin of Modern Building Mode, (2) spacial expansion and changes in social practice during the Building Mode, and (3) temporal expansion—the reorganization of human society and Earth activities.
The origin of the Industrial Revolution is linked to developments in metallurgy. The simultaneous development of iron manufacturing and steam engines was the core of the Industrial Revolution. Iron manufacturing required mining iron ore and plenty of fuel—such as charcoal, coal, and coke—to process it. The steam engine required the same materials. Steam engines made it possible to mine these materials at greater depths because they could pump out underground water. In time, steam engine production became more efficient and expanded to meet demand. Soon after, in addition to waterway transport, steam locomotives were invented to transport iron resources to areas where iron was in demand. Iron production was driven by the premise that iron consumption and infrastructure construction would lead to further iron production. In order to accelerate this consumption and construction, a great infusion of capital was essential. In the end, the Industrial Revolution caused a fusion of technological development, faster consumption of natural resources, and large financial investments.
Second, steel allowed for the expansion of physical space, especially in North America. The first steel suspension bridge was the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. Built in 1883 this bridge is 1,800 meters in length. The following year, the first steel structure skyscraper, the ten-story Home Insurance Building, was constructed in Chicago. These two events demonstrate that both horizontal and vertical steel construction emerged almost simultaneously in the eastern United States. The establishment of steel transportation systems like steel bridges and steel railway tracks were as important as the construction of skyscrapers. An integrated transportation system was necessary in order for iron ore to be transformed into large scale buildings because iron had to be transported from iron mines to steel factories and then construction sites. Chicago and New York were conveniently located, being close to the center of American iron mining, banded iron formations of the Precambrian age, located near the largest of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior.
Third, there was another essential condition for steel manufacturing to emerge during the Industrial Revolution, the surprising encounter with the historical event of past earth activities, Earth. It was an unexpected juxtaposition of these two events in time and space, like a work of surrealism. Banded iron formations, sources of high quality iron that formed about 1.9 billion years ago, were found in the areas which became major iron production regions by the end of the 19th century: the Scandinavian Peninsula, northern Europe, the United Kingdom, the east coast of the United States, and the Great Lakes. Even though these places are now separated by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, they used to be in close proximity to each other about 400 million years ago when they formed as a single mountain range due to a collision of tectonic plates. In other words, the geographical conditions that determined the Industrial Revolution were already stipulated by Earth's activity a long time ago, specifically by the creation of banded iron deposits about 1.9 billion years ago and the formation of the Caledonian belt about 400 million years ago.
Thus, the reason for the emergence of steel as a mass-produced building material can be explained by connecting geophysical history and the architectural history of the creation of high-rise, dense cities. When the events of the Industrial Revolution encountered geological events that happened 400 million years ago, the steel foundation of Modern Building Mode was created.
The origin of the Industrial Revolution is linked to developments in metallurgy. The simultaneous development of iron manufacturing and steam engines was the core of the Industrial Revolution. Iron manufacturing required mining iron ore and plenty of fuel—such as charcoal, coal, and coke—to process it. The steam engine required the same materials. Steam engines made it possible to mine these materials at greater depths because they could pump out underground water. In time, steam engine production became more efficient and expanded to meet demand. Soon after, in addition to waterway transport, steam locomotives were invented to transport iron resources to areas where iron was in demand. Iron production was driven by the premise that iron consumption and infrastructure construction would lead to further iron production. In order to accelerate this consumption and construction, a great infusion of capital was essential. In the end, the Industrial Revolution caused a fusion of technological development, faster consumption of natural resources, and large financial investments.
Second, steel allowed for the expansion of physical space, especially in North America. The first steel suspension bridge was the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. Built in 1883 this bridge is 1,800 meters in length. The following year, the first steel structure skyscraper, the ten-story Home Insurance Building, was constructed in Chicago. These two events demonstrate that both horizontal and vertical steel construction emerged almost simultaneously in the eastern United States. The establishment of steel transportation systems like steel bridges and steel railway tracks were as important as the construction of skyscrapers. An integrated transportation system was necessary in order for iron ore to be transformed into large scale buildings because iron had to be transported from iron mines to steel factories and then construction sites. Chicago and New York were conveniently located, being close to the center of American iron mining, banded iron formations of the Precambrian age, located near the largest of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior.
Third, there was another essential condition for steel manufacturing to emerge during the Industrial Revolution, the surprising encounter with the historical event of past earth activities, Earth. It was an unexpected juxtaposition of these two events in time and space, like a work of surrealism. Banded iron formations, sources of high quality iron that formed about 1.9 billion years ago, were found in the areas which became major iron production regions by the end of the 19th century: the Scandinavian Peninsula, northern Europe, the United Kingdom, the east coast of the United States, and the Great Lakes. Even though these places are now separated by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, they used to be in close proximity to each other about 400 million years ago when they formed as a single mountain range due to a collision of tectonic plates. In other words, the geographical conditions that determined the Industrial Revolution were already stipulated by Earth's activity a long time ago, specifically by the creation of banded iron deposits about 1.9 billion years ago and the formation of the Caledonian belt about 400 million years ago.
Thus, the reason for the emergence of steel as a mass-produced building material can be explained by connecting geophysical history and the architectural history of the creation of high-rise, dense cities. When the events of the Industrial Revolution encountered geological events that happened 400 million years ago, the steel foundation of Modern Building Mode was created.