The Architectkidd team is currently working on a project that involves designing with steel in construction and detailing. So during a review of a full-scale mockup that is in progress, several Architectkidd designers visited a steel fabrication factory in Pathum Thani, on the northern outskirts of Bangkok.
The type of projects this factory seemed to be involved in are large civil and infrastructural projects. Looking around at the massive pieces of steel in various states of cutting, welding and finishing, we were clearly able to see the fabricating techniques that we usually understand from steel construction. But we also discovered some surprising and unexpected techniques as well.
For example, a large and thick steel plate was in the process of being perforated with a dense pattern consisting of hundreds of round holes. But in this case, the perforations were being made by hand, one by one, by first measuring, then penciling and welding the hole on the steel plate. As an unintended consequence of all the welding, the overall plate was warped with gentle undulations along the surface.
The by products of cutting, welding and processing large plates of steel into various functions are the leftover steel pieces. We came across some inventive ways to use this leftover steel, such as a very minimalist and elegant three-legged stool. Again we were inspired by the resourcefulness of fabricators and workers in factories here.
Courtesy of JST Industry
