Tag Archives: Mark D. Hagel

Designing for efficiency: Slimming down shelf angles

By Mark D. Hagel, PhD, P.Eng.

The invention of skeleton frame construction, which creates the building’s primary load-bearing role using a concrete or steel frame “skeleton,” led to the removal of the load-bearing function of masonry in the late 19th century. The first building to use a steel-frame skeleton in North America was the Home Insurance Building in Chicago, completed in 1885. It is also considered the world’s first skyscraper (Figure 1).

The removal of …

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Reinventing Canadian masonry

For thousands of years, masonry has been the building material of choice in many regions, with an infinite number of possibilities of pattern and form. Brick and stone are durable materials that never go out of fashion; they have been used to construct castles and cathedrals, pyramids and great walls, schools and museums, hospitals and high-rises, bridges, roads, and fences.

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