What is Horizontal Construction?
If you’re planning to take up construction project work in a commercial or residential area, considering horizontal design construction is ideal. Horizontal design in construction is the method practice for building structures for the building that focuses on low, long, and extended layouts across a flat plane.
The horizontal construction approach emphasizes creating expansive space and planning outward design that smoothly complements the environment. Such a construction approach is highly useful to make a place more spacious and productive.
Some of the examples of horizontal construction could be –
- Roads and Highways
- Tunnels
- Dams
- Pipelines
photo of a horizontal construction site. There’s a wide road being built, with heavy machinery like excavators and bulldozers. There are also tunnels being constructed, with one partially completed. A dam is being built, with the foundation already laid. Pipelines are being installed, with the pipes lying on the ground. The background contains trees and a body of water.
Typically, horizontal construction is all about being wider than vertical construction. Read our comprehensive blog on “Comparative Analysis of Horizontal & Vertical Construction” to get a full understanding on the subject.
Additionally, horizontal space planning often complements the natural landscape, offering aesthetically pleasing results that enhance the overall appeal of the construction. So, now that you have a fine understanding of why and where it is used in construction, let us study it in further detail below!
Key Factors that Help Horizontal Design in Construction Achieve Stability
The horizontal design in construction is the pillar of increasing the periphery of the space, making it infuse flawlessly with the surroundings. However, in construction, planning to increase the area of a space blatantly can have severe consequences.
Therefore, to ensure optimal functionality, safety, stability, and visually appealing structure, there are several factors responsible. These elements together help the structure stand strong, offering maximum support and balance. Below we have mentioned the crucial elements in detail.
Foundation for the construction
The foundation is a critical aspect that provides maximum support to any structure, thereby ensuring the stability of the layout of the building. It has horizontal construction that provides for firm footing as well as overall strength.
A shallow and wide slab-on-grade foundation spreads horizontally allows a building to sit directly on it. Consequently, a strong sub-base prevents lateral movement in buildings, especially those of larger footprints.
Structural Framework for the building
Just like our human skeleton gives us our shape, this also does the same thing to buildings. It is responsible for giving shape to a building, thereby bestowing upon it strength that cannot be broken easily. The establishment of columns and beam networks using materials like reinforced concrete, steel, or timber ensures an equal and widespread support system. These materials help in distributing loads across large spans in structures, ensuring that the frame can carry the distributed load.
Facade Design for the structure
The facade design element in horizontal structure plays a vital role in helping maintain the integrity and aesthetically defining the building. Such a design is widely popular in highlighting uninterrupted lines, large windows, and low profiles that smoothly blend with the landscape.
Using this design, you can help benefit and boost the aesthetic appeal of the building, allowing natural light to flow through the space without any restriction. Moreover, the facade acts as a bridge between the interior and exterior. It ensures the structure complements its setting while providing protection and comfort.
Different Types of Design for Horizontal Structure
When it comes to horizontal structure, there are many designs at play, each having its role to perform. Different structures are tailored to cater to the different environmental needs. Below, we have talked about such designs briefly. Let’s have a look!
Low-Rise Buildings
Low-rise buildings are one of the most used horizontal structures and horizontal building design to build commercial and residential areas. Such horizontal buildings are usually made of a maximum of three stories high, ensuring a widespread footprint.
Low-rise building structures are ideal for smoothly allowing a building to blend into the environment, offering ease of movement and accessibility. Low-rise buildings often feature open floor plans, allowing for flexible interior layouts that can be easily adapted to different functions.
Expansive Infrastructure
Apart from catering to construct commercial and residential space, horizontal design concepts are also broadly used in developing infrastructure projects. Some examples could be railways, highways, and bridges. Now, you know the importance and delicacy of these structures. To ensure the safety of the public, these structures are carefully planned using horizontal designs to cover vast distances, ensuring long-term stability.
Such designs focus on establishing level and continuous surfaces that help in providing support to heavy loads. Horizontal infrastructure plays a crucial role in connecting communities, facilitating transportation, and supporting economic growth. Therefore, they are ensured to withstand environmental conditions.
Sprawling Campuses
Another important example of horizontal layouting that is used in construction is a sprawling campus. Such a design is broadly used to establish corporate offices, educational institutions, and industrial parks. These campuses are characterized by multiple buildings spread across a large area, connected by walkways, courtyards, and open spaces. The horizontal layout of campuses encourages interaction and collaboration creating an environment conducive to learning, working, and innovation.
Each horizontal structure contributes to the welfare of constructing different types of buildings, serving unique purposes. However, they all share a common emphasis on spreading outwards, helping to expand land use, and finely incorporating with the environment.
Benefits of Horizontal Design in Construction
Horizontal design has a bundle of benefits to offer in the realm of construction. The benefits significantly influence the overall factors of horizontal design construction, highlighting the significant role of each element involved. These benefits are as follows:
Better structural stability in comparison to vertical design
Horizontal structures initiate a broader and finely distributed foundation, allowing a heavy building to get support from the bottom to the top. This stability helps the building endure many environmental consequences that cause uneven shifting, promoting the longevity of the building. Moreover, because these structures appear closer to the ground, they are less likely to be vulnerable to any sudden wrath of nature or atmospheric consequences. These characteristics make them more resilient to adverse weather conditions.
Greater design and cost flexibility
Another major advantage of having horizontal design in construction is that it provides utmost support to open, large spaces. This offers high adaptability and flexibility to the building, allowing easy reconfiguration of interior spaces. Also, helping meet changing needs with time and requirements.
Horizontal structures often have lower construction costs compared to taller buildings, when it is about engineering required to support vertical loads are reduced. This simplicity of the structural frame design can lead to quicker construction timelines and more efficient use of resources.
Felicitates necessary amenities with robust infrastructure
Horizontal design construction also constitutes necessary infrastructural assets too. Infrastructure plays a crucial role in economic development by increasing productivity, encouraging investment, and generating linkages in production.
It also encourages investment by providing a conducive environment for investment. Infrastructure facilitates the cost-effective movement of raw materials and finished goods in bulk. Further, enabling producers to sell their products across national and international borders.
Final Thoughts
There’s no doubt that horizontal design in construction provides the utmost sustainability and versatility to buildings, helping structures get stability. With time, construction has modified a lot, recognizing the needs of different buildings. However, there are a plethora of growth scopes, filling the void in the current construction field. As construction trends evolve, the integration of advanced materials and technology will enhance the efficiency and adaptability of these designs.
