ERTEK BUILDING SYSTEM
RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY ON CONSTRUCTION
PRESENTATION AND PROPAGATION OF BUILDING TECHNOLOGY
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Description of the attributes of the structural skeleton
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Example case study of the ERTEK system
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What is the ERTEK system The construction method in a glance
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The ERTEK system is a building system based on the idea of the "Sizable Structural Stone" introduced by Dimitris Papanikolaou, within the general notion of the "Integrated Building". The basic tenets of this approach are the consideration of the building project, as well as its relation with the environment, as a unified system where the functionality of each part supports the functionality of the other parts. The particular consideration, which pervades the threefold "design – construction – use" opposes the conventional separation of the project in autonomous subjects and activities which, as being in conflict to each other, increase the cost of both construction and use, delay the production process, undermine the structural and anti-earthquake behavior, while degrade the quality of the building.
An important feature of the aforementioned approach is that the construction system does not require production in a factory, or specialized resources (machinery or infrastructure) of other kind, consequently can be practically implemented by everyone. Another important feature is that the cost reduction resulting from this approach does not presuppose a massive production of built space, but also occurs in small scale projects. |
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The ERTEK building system in a glance
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Figure 1 |
The ERTEK building system includes structural elements made of reinforced concrete and equipped with steel joints (Figure 1). The structural elements are connected through the joints by screwing, formatting a "structural skeleton" (Figure 2) . The structural elements are either foundation units (Figure 3),or pre-slabs (i.e. part of a slab which also works as a mold) (Figure 4) where concrete is cast after they are assembled in the structural skeleton, or columns (Figure 5). The structural elements are produced in situ. Their steel parts (armature, joints) are common industrial products, the combination of which provides to the structural elements the high precision of a metallic construction. However, the completion of the construction is performed by concrete casting, which makes possible a low-cost production. The structural skeleton that results as the structural elements' assembly includes channels where pipework installation is performed before the floor concrete casting (Figure 6). The building can be completed with any building method—including the conventional one—which makes possible adaptation to different technical or aesthetic demands.
The selective use of conventional and industrial building methods results in a construction having both low cost and high quality. The production program is parallel. i.e. allows the execution of many different building activities at the same time, which makes possible the completion of the building project in a very short time. The specifications of the structural skeletonas well as the assembly method, ensure the quality and the "clarity" of the product of each work, eliminating defects or incompatibilities which cause a cycle of additional work in conventional building. As a consequence, the accurate estimation of both the cost and the duration of the building project, as well as the reliability of the product with respect to the quality specifications, becomes possible. The ERTEK technology outperforms prefabrication in the following points:
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Figure 4 |
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Figure 5 |
Figure 6 |
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