Sagrada Familia
In the beginning of the 20th century the architects did not have enough information regarding the corrosion resistance and longevity of the structures made with reinforced concrete. Nowadays, it is well known that with time a steel rebar in concrete rusts, expands, and damages concrete. Thus, reinforced concrete structures have a limited service life. BS5400 standard, for example, sets it to 120 years for monumental construction and bridges. Basically, it means that everything that is built nowadays will be gone in a few hundred years.
In comparison, the Second Gateway Bridge in Australia was designed to have a 300-year service life. Engineers used stainless steel for reinforcement and at least a 75 mm concrete layer to cover the stainless steel rebar from environmental elements. It is estimated that these measures will prevent corrosion initiation for 280 years.
Hagia Sophia has been standing for 1500 years, Pantheon (non-reinforced concrete) for 2000 years, Les Ferreres Aqueduct for 2000 years, Notre-Dame de Paris for 700 years.
Now, let’s have a look at the modern monumental construction. For example, Sagrada Familia – the best of best. Guess, what will happen when the ordinary (non-stainless) steel rebar in the load bearing column of Sagrada Familia rusts in 100-200 years? They indeed use the stainless steel rebar at Sagrada Familia, but, as far as I know, it was not used for the load bearing columns!
Gaudi did not have access to scientific studies regarding longevity and the corrosion resistance of the reinforced concrete. Knowing about these problems now, would it not be better to have coated steel or stainless steel load bearing columns without any concrete covering them?
I am afraid that nothing will remain from the contemporary fast food architecture*’s* era in a 500 years time. I am calling it a fast food architecture because it is fast, cheap, and unhealthy (not sustainable) for the environment.
What do you think?
