Grand designs using equal angle, SHS, beams and channels to create an architectural masterpiece

An intricate and complex design

Dion is passionate about art, design and architecture, and was determined to bring these loves into his home design.

The steel framed house design features cruciform columns, reminiscent of Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion, which offers a stunning contrast of light and shadows on the columns’ opposing faces.

But in order to bring this intricate and complex design to life, Dion required an expert steel provider and fabricator to construct the steel frame.

Edcon Steel

The builder, Peter Schwarts, and owner-builder Dion commissioned Edcon Steel to not only provide detailed workshop drawings for the structure, but to also supply, fabricate, paint, deliver and install the structural steelworks to the architectural and engineering design they provided.

Without a completed and detailed set of architectural drawings, Dion, Peter and the team at Edcon worked together to produce the final detailed design.

Using a range of rolled steel products, including steel tube, square hollow sections (SHS), hot rolled steel equal angle and hot rolled structural steel beams and channels, Edcon Steel fabricated the structure in our purpose built Structural Steel fabrication facility on the Northern Beaches of Sydney.

One of the features Dion was unwavering in his commitment to was steel cruciform columns. To achieve the desired aesthetic, hot rolled steel equal angle beams were welded to form the unique cruciform columns, emulating the famous Barcelona Pavilion, as Dion had hoped.

Project considerations

While the fabrication was a relatively straightforward task for the experienced Edcon Steel team, there were a variety of other project considerations that required careful attention.

The sheer size of some of the key elements within the structure required the review of crane lift weights, doorway sizes and the load width and height restrictions on roads in the Sydney metropolitan area.

We had to offset these logistical issues and challenges against the site assembly time required to place and join individual pieces together on site.

The result

After careful planning and consideration, the team at Edcon Steel delivered the structure to the site in one full frame, allowing for fast and safe installation. Without the need to erect, assemble and site weld the frame and its components, we were able to deliver and install the whole structure in just half a day.

And, more importantly, we completed the job on budget.

Edcon Steel has worked closely with hundreds of builders over the past four decades to deliver structural steel solutions for thousands of structural steel projects, but this was a particularly exciting project to be a part of and we are proud of the results.