Multifunctional commercial buildings in steel and composite construction

A relatively high vacancy rate of office buildings can be found in Germany and in many other Euro- pean countries. The building of the future should be planned in a way that the consequences of social and sociological changes within its life cycle can be incorporated with low monetary re- sources to avoid the vacancy of the property and to achieve a higher profitability. For this, it is necessary to allow for the suitability for different uses, which is variability, in addition to the flexi- bility for the same use. Steel and composite construction provides advantages over conventional reinforced concrete construction because, besides large spans and fewer columns, a reduction of building materials can be achieved. In the following, results of the FOSTA AIF research projects P881 and P1118 are presented. Contents are the definition of design parameters and the structur- al design of multi-storey buildings for establishing multifunctionality.