Here in Brazil, steel construction has great space for development and shows great promise for rational building construction, attending the needs for human confort, energy conservation and adequate overall performance. However, in this type of construction, converntional closing systems are still are used, which is not always convenient because they have problematict execution cronograms and interface solutions. Studied here was the School of Mines building, which is part of the Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto-MG. This building is structured in steel with the closing system being convensionally that of masonry and glass. Evaluated were its structural conception, its pathologies and the causes of the same. Exploratory investigation in situ using photography and optical observation provided the data for the evaluation. Also, a thermal perforamce analysis was made of the building using measurements obtained in situ. The data collected provided the basis for a quality analysis of the construction, its conservation and the cause of the pathologies which have occurred. With the results, it was possible to propose solutions for better maintenance and pathology control.
Steel construction; project process; building maintenance; pathologies
