After the
video “A 30 story building in 15 days” he got famous as the responsible of this
big achievement. In an interview, when asked by Lauren Hilgers, if he had
decided to start a construction company, apart from his air condition business,
Zhang Yue said: “It’s not a construction company. It’s a structural
revolution.”
And I
agree.
His success
is based on redeveloping the three phases of constructing a building:
Engineering, Manufacturing and Erection.
I could
explain it as follows:
1- Engineering: Design concerned about construction
Traditional
structural design leads to use the minimum amount of materials, as well as the
cheapest, because the owners always are looking for saving money. So, structural
and facilities designers are not concerned for construction process, that is
why they deliver only a basic engineering (drawings, schemes, etc.) enough to
complete the analysis of the building but insufficient in order to carry it
out. If during construction process an issue that involves design shows up, it
is solved on the road and, depending on how important modifications are, a well
performed building could turn into a behind of schedule project.
In regards
to cost of materials, concrete has become the cheapest many decades ago. Concrete
offers several advantages but is a very slow-placing material: before placing
concrete you need to place steel rebars, to erect the formwork and, finally, to
pour the concrete, which is usually limited to a certain volume for several
reason but mainly geometry. In addition, it is mostly required to wait some
more days, until it gets the design strength, to remove the formwork and to
work on its surface. Precast concrete is more useful to construction process but has disadvantages too.
The new
designers are involved in construction process too. They are aware that any
failure in alignment of holes for bolts would delay the erection process, this
is avoided when engineering has got a high detailed level, and fortunately that
precision could be achieved nowadays by using 3D Design Systems or BIM which
allow them to make drawings ready to manufacturing and 3D models if required in
complex cases. With these new methods, designers apart from checking the
structural performance of the building, are able to run a simulation of the
erection process, making sure this way there won’t be any interference or
defect that can paralyze the construction. You can see it on this video:
On the
other hand steel is more expensive than concrete but offers many advantages
over, specially when thinking about a fast erection. Steel pieces can be mass
produced, easily connected whether by welding or by bolts during the erection
process and start to work immediately after fixed.
Zhang’s
building was mainly made from steel, a little of wood but not any concrete, and
In sum,
while traditional design is made to save money by reducing materials, on the
other hand this new engineering is leading to save money by reducing manufacturing
and erection times.
I bet on
the second one.
2- Manufacturing: Mass production
The most
efficient way of production continues to be the assembly line invented by Henry
Ford almost 100 years ago. In this industrial process, materials and
consumables are carried by conveyor belts through several work stations until
obtaining the final product. Physically we could describe this as a Horizontal
Production Process.
On the
other hand a building is constructed from the basement or first level up to the
top, it means if you haven’t finished the first floor you can’t start the second
one or if you haven’t finished the second level you can’t start the third one
and so forth. Physically we could describe this as a Vertical Production
Process.
It is easy
to realize that Horizontal Production Process is more efficient than Vertical
Production Process because it doesn’t have constrains involved in the last one.
Zhang Yue
has realized this perfectly and performs Horizontal Production Process in
manufacturing of buildings pieces, and keeps Vertical Production Process only
when it can’t be avoided, it means during erecting process. Comparing with
traditional way of construction, we could say he builds 90% of the building in
assembly line and keeps the 10% left over to be erected as usual.
Charles
Chaplin realized better than anyone, and his film Modern Times shows
comically how fast assembly line works.
Well played
again.
3- Erection: Continuous process
Actually
changes in Engineering and Manufacturing come from redeveloping Erection
process, in order to make it a continuous process.
Only a
perfect design can leads us to a non-interruptions erection process. On these
times, times of 3D models and BIM, good is not enough, it is required to be perfect.
The proof is there, his design was as perfect that they didn’t have any
interruption during those revolutionary 15 days.
Planning is
important too, because while in an usual building the most of the stores is
typical and are divided into sectors, which run in parallel up to the last
level; he has divided the stores into pieces, it means finished blocks which
only have to be placed and well connected to get the building. Organizing day-night
shifts, hiring suitable equipments, coordinating transport from factory to site
and keeping safety and quality high patterns were important as well.
In sum,
when Engineering and Manufacturing have been made under Zhang’s philosophy,
Erection process is the easiest thing in the world, don´t waste your time on
that, no more than 15 days.
For example
these Indians took only 48 hours in a 10 story building.
Thanks
Zhang it doesn’t sound impossible, not any longer.
