Steel and Stones

Architectural & Environmental-Friendly Applications of

Maccaferri Wire Meshes

Contents

Introduction

Environmental aspects of steel wire mesh products

Architectural and aesthetic aspects of steel wire mesh products

Concluding remarks

Gabions and steel wire meshes products

Gabions and Mattresses are steel wire mesh boxes filled with rock in use since the early

1900s.

Shaped into retaining walls, foundations, and various forms, they are an ancient

environmentally friendly building method still in use worldwide.

Both functional and eye-catching.

Steel meshes modular units are typically used to form flexible, permeable and

monolithic structures such as retaining walls, river linings and erosion control structures.

Gabions and steel wire meshes products

They are also widely used

as landslide risk

mitigation solution.

Concept of Steel Reinforced Soil

Potential landslide

Concept of Steel Reinforced Soil

N

T

W

Concept of Steel Reinforced Soil

Concept of Steel Reinforced Soil

The intimate collaboration between

the compacted soil and the reinforcing

elements results in a “new” medium

identified as “reinforced soil” or

“reinforced earth”.

Steel meshes and Environment

Double twist steel wire products have shown an extraordinary capability to accommodate

the regeneration of the natural environment.

Gabions and Mattresses are filled with stones, which eventually provide favourable

conditions for the development of the vegetation.

Steel meshes and Environment

Gabions and Mattresses naturally blend in with the surrounding environment.

2000s1984

1994 2000s

Steel meshes and Environment

Wire mesh products have shown their suitability to restore natural ecosystems by

providing, at the same time, the engineering functions required to guarantee that

designed structures perform under safe conditions.

Carbon footprint of wire mesh products

A recent study demonstrates how the use of Gabions and Mattresses is a valid solution to

reduce the impact on climate change, having a lower carbon footprint than the one of the

equivalent traditional engineering solutions such as concrete walls or riprap revetments.

AT LEAST

80 % LESS

EMISSIONS

THAN

CONCRETE

Steel meshes and Architecture

Gabions and steel mesh products have also a rich

worldwide history for their use as architectural

elements.

They have been selected by landscape architects

and other professionals demanding a high-quality

construction finishing.

Steel meshes and Architecture

Architects of residential and urban constructions make increasing use of Gabions as a way

of cladding facades.

Coimbra Forum Building (Portugal)

Gabions are here used as landscaping walls, either retaining or part retaining / part free

standing or totally free standing.

Besides the aesthetic values, isolating properties and small scale natural habitat function

are assets of Gabions facades.

Coimbra Forum (Portugal)

The multi-purpose Gabion wall:

A well-constructed Gabion wall can provide an intimate and reflective area offering sound

proofing, privacy and beauty.

Hotel Chaves (Portugal)

A Gabion made facade was suspended from the insulated and sealed shell as a non-load-

bearing structure.

Hotel Chaves (Portugal)

Rock filled Gabion units are popular as cladding on buildings and other structures, to

provide a natural looking aesthetic feature.

Hotel Chaves (Portugal)

Main reason for the use of Gabions in facades and cladding is of course, the aesthetics.

It can truly be a piece of art. It is a fantastic way for an architect to make name for himself.

Other projects

Private College building (France)

Other projects

Public and recreation areas projects

The only limit is the imagination:

The applications for landscape structures is

endless and is only limited by the

landscape architects creativity in the use of

the mesh or Gabions.

Public and recreation areas projects

Parc Dondaines (France)

Public and recreation areas projects

Escota Manosque (France)

Other projects

Gabions can be used also as non-structural lining for cut slope and soil nailing facing.

Other projects

Earth Center Conference building (Spain)

The building that Grows (France)

The Building that Grows is a rare encounter between architect and developer in the field of

desires.

The desire was for something different, material, purposeful, pleasurable, ephemeral and

meaningful.

The concept of living skin merging rocks, steel wire and concrete has been created with

this project.

The building that Grows (France)

The building grows. Slowly. Its skin has become a kind of mini-ecosystem. The water

collects in the interstices, algae forms and then dies, mosses grow and herbs colonize the

resulting compost.

The Building that Grows (France)

The project was used in a campaign for architectural quality by the French Ministry of

Culture and Communication.

Concluding remarks

• Gabions and steel mesh products are historically used for civil and environmental

engineering purposes as retaining structures and landslides risk remedial solution

• Gabions and steel mesh products have an extraordinary capability for regenerating

the natural environment and can easily blend in with the surroundings

• Rock filled Gabion units are popular as cladding on buildings and other structures, to

provide a natural looking aesthetic feature

• Gabions and steel mesh products can be used by designers and architects as

landscaping walls, either retaining or totally free standing

• The use of wire mesh solutions leads to reductions in terms of CO2 emissions if

compared to traditional solutions (e.g. concrete walls)

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Matteo Lelli – matteo.lelli@maccaferri.co.id

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