Tiles used at stations

[mojo]

 

Stations, and in fact many buildings in Japan, seem to make extensive use of tiles.

 

In the example above, from Seibu-Tachikawa station, we can see that the cladding appears to have been cut where it joins the bottom of the staircase. It all aligns perfectly.

 

What are these tiles? Who makes them and what are they made of? And what is underneath them? Unfortunately whenever they do construction work in Japan they cover it all up so you don't get to see how it's done.

 

I know most buildings in Japan are steel or wood frame, rather than brick like in Europe, for Earthquake resistance. Are these bolted to the frame? How about insulation, do they bother?

[bill937ca]

I don't have any specific information, but you could try Skyscraper City and the Japan Urban Transport Compilation thread. Its not as active as it used to  be but there are lots of station construction threads.

 

https://www.skyscrapercity.com/threads/japan-urban-transport-compilation.828904/page-392

[railsquid]

I'm not a construction expert or anything, but I'd bet money the structure in the photo is a steel girder framework, probably with some sort of struts to mount the cladding on. No point in insulating that kind of structure as it's open to the elements and it's unlikely to be either heated or cooled. I'd guess the cladding itself is some kind of composite material (fibreglass? plywood?) with some sort of coating.

[Tony Galiani]

This is only slightly related but you might find it interesting

 

I showed this to some of the people I worked with on our clinic construction and they were floored by the planning and preparation - precutting the wallboard and expecting to fit correctly when installed was beyond belief for them.

Construction practices in the USA seem really shoddy in comparison.  And even though I am no longer responsible for clinic projects, it drives me crazy to visit one of our sites and seen the mediocre workmanship.

Ciao,

Tony