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Architecture vocabulary · Materials and Construction

Steel frame

Meaning in architecture, with examples

nounCommon term

In architecture, steel frame means: A structure of steel columns and beams joined together, which carries the floors and roof and makes large open spaces and tall buildings possible.

In Turkish: çelik karkas, çelik taşıyıcı sistem

How it is used

Common for offices, industrial buildings and towers. Steel frames are fabricated off site and erected quickly, but they need fire protection. The steel frame helped make the first skyscrapers possible in late 19th-century Chicago.

Example sentences

  1. A steel frame lets us span 18 metres without any internal columns.

  2. The steel frame went up in six weeks.

Common collocations

  • steel frame building
  • erect a steel frame
  • steel frame structure
  • fire protection
  • structural systemThe set of connected elements, such as foundations, columns, beams, walls and slabs, that carries a building's loads safely down to the ground.
  • reinforced concreteConcrete with steel bars or mesh cast inside it; the concrete resists compression and the steel resists tension, which makes strong beams, slabs and columns possible.
  • beamA horizontal structural member that carries loads across an opening or between supports and transfers them to columns or walls.
  • columnA vertical structural member, usually of concrete, steel or timber, that carries loads from beams and slabs down to the foundations.
  • curtain wallA thin outer wall, usually of glass and aluminium, that hangs from the building's structure and keeps out the weather but carries no floor or roof loads.

More terms: Materials and Construction

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