Architecture: stainless steel for the construction and building industry

Whether for small construction applications of a few square metres or building projects with several tens of thousands of square metres, whether in nearby Bavaria, Germany or in distant Branson, USA, our know-how and great experience in stainless steel surface finishing will help you in the selection of the material, the design and planning.

Together with our partners, we will also be delighted to help with the construction, assembly and installation.

mirrorINOX is your partner for individual solutions using stainless steel in construction and architecture!

Stainless steel: a popular material in architecture and art

Very early in the history of mankind, architecture took on an important role not only in culture and art but also in economics, politics and religion.

Several millennia have passed since then and, more than ever before, architecture is present in many areas of public life.

In recent decades, stainless steel has become the favourite material of many internationally renowned architects such as:

• William Van Alen
• Frank O. Gehry
• Norman Foster
• Zaha Hadid
• Jean Nouvel
• Daniel Libeskind
• Coop Himmelblau
• and numerous others

Even artists like Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Anish Kapoor, Olafur Eliasson, Arik Levy and others have discovered inox steel as a material and use it for their successful, impressive construction works.

Stainless steel and building construction: modern architecture applications

Experts in the fields of architecture, design and stainless steel are familiar with the already legendary Chrysler Building in New York, whose roof forms a pyramid-like tapering tower crown made of stainless steel and which has been demonstrating its beauty and durability since 1930.

At the time, this spectacular building was an absolute novelty as far as the use of stainless steel sheets on roofs and facades was concerned.

Nowadays, stainless steel is an extremely popular material in building construction that is increasingly used by architects, designers and fabricators due to:

• Its outstanding properties
• Its high-quality aesthetics
• The multitude of processing options
• A wide range of finishes
• Its affordability
• Its high recyclability and the resulting sustainability.

Inox metal surfaces offer an almost limitless choice of shape, finish, colour and design.

It is impossible to imagine modern architecture without stainless steel and the material can be found in many areas of today’s architectural and structural applications:

• Facade cladding
• Roof applications
• Ceiling elements
• Wall cladding
• Sun protection
• Lifts and escalators
• Door and gate cladding
• Interior fittings
• Shopfitting and furniture
• Street furniture
• Building exhibition stands
• Ship, yacht and cruise ship construction
• Staircase construction and railings
• Outdoor installations
• Works of art

Why is stainless steel used in construction – properties for indoor and outdoor use

The reasons why stainless steel is used in building construction so frequently are as numerous as its architectural applications:

• Aesthetic quality – visually and haptically
• Durability
• Corrosion resistance
• Chemical resistance
• UV resistance
• Available in a wide range of grades, dimensions and thicknesses
• Very good workability when it comes to cutting, forming, welding, etc.
• Large number of treatment and finishing options for surfaces
• Affordability
• High recyclability
• Sustainability

The different types of inox steel used for structural applications

mirrorINOX selects the following stainless steel grades from selected suppliers as the basic material for the production of the architectural surfaces:

• AISI 430 (1.4016)
• AISI 304 (1.4301)
• AISI 316/316L (1.4401, 1.4404, 1.4435)

We are also able to treat special inox steel grades such as Hastelloy, Duplex or even Super Duplex.

Based on these raw materials, mirrorINOX produces a diverse and comprehensive range of high-quality surfaces in which the stainless steel undergoes, amongst others, the following processes:

• Polishing/mirror polishing
• PVD/TiN coating
• nanoINOX® AFP/ETC (AntiFingerPrint/Easy-To-Clean) coating
• Bead blasting
• Grit polishing
• Vibration polishing
• Fluid forming
• Pattern rolling and embossed rolling
• and others

Examples of our stainless steel building and art projects

As a leading surface treatment expert and manufacturer of surfaces based on stainless steel and other metals, mirrorINOX can refer to a number of construction and architectural projects by internationally well-known and ambitious architects, designers and artists:

• The façade of the RMK headquarters in Yekaterinburg
• The St. Giles Circus project in London
• The Paneum in Asten
• The "Octopus" in Missouri
• "The Rock" in Moscow

These are only a few of the many outstanding examples of stainless steel construction and structural applications which were designed and built applying mirrorINOX high-quality surface finishes.

You can find more projects and applications of inox and other metal finishes on this page.