Design Thinking is a methodology that can be traced back to the mid-20th century, when designers and scholars started to explore interdisciplinary approaches to problem solving.
Fast forward to 2024 and the practice is becoming more and more prominent in architecture and building design with a view to developing innovative solutions for clients by getting to know their needs and points of view in more detail.
At Clearspan, we put particular emphasis on a “client focused approach”. Our ethos is to collaborate with our clients and find material and design solutions that will improve efficiency, safety and productivity across the projects that we build.
A great example of client collaboration to industrial construction is our recent project for an agricultural client.
This particular client holds and distributes highly corrosive materials and therefore had very specific needs in terms of their design brief.
Their new building needed to maximise safety for staff and be built with longevity in mind.
In collaboration with our client, our team created an industrial building design that was specific to their needs and utilised innovative materials that would best meet the unique operating conditions of the company.
To address the issues associated with the highly corrosive products the client stored, Clearspan utilised a series of specific design elements:
- Wagners CFT purlins along with full fiberglass roof and wall sheeting, stainless steel fixings and flashings. These products were selected as typical steel building products would corrode and rust out in a short timeframe.
- A specific paint system for the building’s structural steel tailored to protect against specific stored products. Again, traditional options such as hot dip galvanizing would not stand up to the high corrosive environment.
- Tilt panels to hold product with force from front end loaders incorporated into the design
The resulting design presented the client with a building that would not only meet their safety requirements but would also minimise corrosion to the building over time – improving the lifespan of the structure.
The project is an excellent example of how innovative design and understanding the operations of our client’s achieves better value outcomes for all involved.
You can take a video tour of this project and read more about what Clearspan delivered, here.