Entire High-Rise Building Tips Over
A newly built and unoccupied 13-story apartment building in Shanghai fell over with no apparent provocation. Miraculously, only one person died in the near-catastrophe.
The building fell over in one piece. Footage of the collapse on Hong Kong’s Cable Television showed the structure in a muddy construction site, pilings still visible at its base.
Construction was nearly complete on the luxury high-rise, situated fashionably near the Dianpu River on the outskirts of Shanghai.
No cause of the crash was immediately obvious. Some have speculated that the crash was the result of issues with nearby flood prevention from the Dianpu River.
Other observers claim that the collapse is indicative of widespread use of sub-par building materials and shoddy construction in China, a major concern in the rapidly urbanizing country. Last year, a steel arch on a bridge collapsed and killed seven, and a crane fell and killed five kindergartners.
By RMJ on 04-07-2009
Comment by Yel
July 5th, 2009 at 6:49 am
haha… Made in China.
Comment by gary
July 5th, 2009 at 11:31 am
And who would now want to live in any of the other apartments on the same development? It can only be the piled foundations at fault… I can't see the others being 'snapped up' any time soon…..
Comment by pacat
July 5th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
must be built of legos…..Should have studied ground conditions a little more.Don't think I would want to live in a two story house if it was built on mud.
Comment by So Sick
July 6th, 2009 at 2:13 am
Well, not too surprising, huh? I mean, here in the U.S. we have steel framed, 110 story high-rise buildings falling through themselves, at free-fall speed – even though it never happened before, or since, throughout the history of humanity – and all in the same day – completely defying the laws of physics. Isaac Newton would be shocked! What was it again, 9/11, 2001?
Comment by Dremacon
July 6th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Happened at 5am I believe they news said, and there were like 15 decorators indoor. Threw out the paper already and I´m too tired to look it up online, but it would explain how only one person died.
Comment by pacat
July 6th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Think they will try to prop it up again?? It is a shame to waste the building,It has to say something about the builder,after all it stayed in one piece is in one piece.
Comment by tanmikel
July 7th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
the building material must have been very good , its the foundation that is the problem . the building is still relatively intact albeit lying sideways
is ot possible
Comment by pacat
July 7th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Look at the apartment building next to it in the upper right.Looks like that one is leaning too.
Comment by Anon
July 8th, 2009 at 1:58 am
They could make a rather good tourist attraction out of that. Or even the only sideways hotel in the world.
You couldn't build something like that if you tried.
Comment by pserine
July 8th, 2009 at 2:51 am
15 foot pylons in mud for a 13 story structure??? At a minimum, the pylons needed to be down to bedrock. You can't just "float " a building on mud and expect anything less than what happened.
Comment by pacat
July 8th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Yeah, Something like "The Leaning Buildings of China".It has worked for Italy for lo these many years.
Then there is always : Welcome to Mud Flats,The worlds only reclining Condos.
Comment by Gabriel Silverstein
July 8th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Welcome to new construction, it's not much better in the US or anywhere else. Look at the very minimal, skinny pilings and the fact that they are hollow (in addition to the above comment that they are not sunk into anything)?! This has little to do with soil conditions because even if those were fine a good stiff wind would have probably done the same thing later on…with a lot more people inside.
Comment by Jeff Louie
July 11th, 2009 at 3:24 am
You can't make this up. Lucky there was enough space for it to clear or it would be a domino effect. I thing they are boot legging their own products.
Comment by Jeff Louie
July 11th, 2009 at 3:26 am
They should tear down the rest of the development. For safety sake.
Comment by Jeff Louie
July 11th, 2009 at 3:27 am
You must be a Engineer.
Comment by Jeff Louie
July 11th, 2009 at 3:29 am
Strong foundation is a good start for anything.
Comment by Jeff Louie
July 11th, 2009 at 3:30 am
Maybe they can build a big crane and raise the building again.
Comment by Jeff Louie
July 11th, 2009 at 3:31 am
If I was a buyer. I would want my money back!!!
Comment by Jeff Louie
July 11th, 2009 at 3:32 am
So real that it is not funny.
Comment by Jeff Louie
July 11th, 2009 at 3:33 am
Well you have a good point but that was cause by outside forces.
Comment by Marla
November 7th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
The fact that it failed in that manner was due to the fires… the material failed. It's kind of interesting, look at the research
Comment by John
December 21st, 2009 at 5:34 pm
no, i dont believe it was due to fires. it was due to demolition that caused the world trade centers to fall. fires cant cause steel to weaken to that point. WHY DOESNT YOUR CAR'S ENGINE MELT?
Comment by Greg
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:54 am
Well for one reason, your engine has a cooling system…