Comparative design of industrial buildings

Industrial buildings are developing because of the development of industry in general. Large building that can contain a large number of workers with big machineries. This study is to provide the best choice when it comes to decide the needed industrial buildings type to be constructed. Two types of industrial building are commonly used, steel structure and composite structure. This study contains a full comprehensive study for these two types. Starting from designing two types of buildings which are identical in architectural design but different from the used material. SAP2000 was the computational tool that to be used for simulating the designs and to obtain the optimum design for each type in terms of safety standards, quality, loads and cost. Primavera P6 computational tool used to clarify the cost-time estimation for each building type. Material cost and construction cost have been obtained from local companies' price offers. Results of this study showed that both type of industrial buildings are safe and can handle the standards and the loads assigned to it. However, when it comes to industry sector, cost is an important factor. Based on the results of this study, steel industrial building is more expensive than composite buildings but it takes less time of construction. Key Words: Industrial Buildings, Steel Structure, Composite Structure, Cost Estimation, Time Estimation, Comparison, SAP2000, Primavera P6.