June 29, 2009: Timberrrrr

[xoxoxoBruce]

At around 5:30am on June 27, an unoccupied building still under construction at Lianhuanan Road in the Minxing district of Shanghai city toppled over.

That's it... a brand new, almost completed, 13 story building, just fell over.





We've seen plenty of pictures of buildings that collapsed during construction, because somebody was rushing, or screwed up somehow.
But this sucker just fell over. I wonder how the people in the adjacent, identical buildings, feel about that?

link

PS, scroll down below the building pictures for a story about ethnic violence between Hans and Uighurs, in Guangdong.

[ZenGum]

OMG.... Haggis! The pics at the link are strangely beautiful.


I'm impressed by how well the building stayed together during the fall. I'm more impressed (in a bad way) by what appears to be a 13 story building with foundations about 50cm deep! WTF? You have to go down before you go up. Okay, they have some piles too, but obviously not enough!

Eh, its probably for the best. They probably used lead based paint, and put milk in the plastics.

[Bullitt]

You couldn't drag me anywhere NEAR the shadow of it's twin building next door..

[SPUCK]

Timmy!
Dinner Time!
Oh TimmMMMMMMY!!

Timmy?
????

OH MY GAWD!! TIMMY!!

[SPUCK]

And here, ladies and gentlemen, we have a new earthquake strengthened apartment to replace your recently collapsed schools and homes. Over here is the last one having the finishing tCREEEEEEEEEEAKKK - RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!

[TheMercenary]

Pretty good construction otherwise. In the US the thing would have cumbled into bits. If you were inside of that you may have survived. It would have been a hell of a ride and more hell of a stop.

[ZenGum]

In Japan, they'd still be digging the foundations....

[Griff]

We still do good concrete work in the US, maybe things are different in boomtowns.

[sweetwater]

One the bright side, now every apartment will have a skylight. And think of the money they can save on elevators!

[spudcon]

They probably used materials scheduled for export to the US in the foundation.

[classicman]

Looks like they need better engineers. Unless the beancounters were in charge.

[Alluvial]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

I'm more impressed (in a bad way) by what appears to be a 13 story building with foundations about 50cm deep! WTF? You have to go down before you go up. Okay, they have some piles too, but obviously not enough!

The pilings are the main support system. Looking at the photos in the link, they are broken off - so would have been embedded much deeper.

Also from the article: According to information, a 70 meter section of the flood prevention wall in nearby Dianpu River and that may have something to do with this building collapse.

[Alluvial]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

In the US the thing would have cumbled into bits.

That's an odd thing to say.

Sounds like poor construction practices:

Originally Posted by WSJ

The disaster could reveal some uncomfortable facts about lax construction practices in China, where buildings are put up in a hurry by largely unskilled migrant workers, and developers may be tempted to take shortcuts.

According to Shanghai Daily, initial investigations attribute the accident to the excavations for the construction of a garage under the collapsed building. Large quantities of earth were removed and dumped in a landfill next to a nearby creek; the weight of the earth caused the river bank to collapse, which, in turn, allowed water to seep into the ground, creating a muddy foundation for the building that toppled.

The South China Morning Post noted that the pilings used in the Lotus Riverside development, made of prestressed, precast concrete piles, are outlawed in Hong Kong because they aren’t strong enough to support the kind of ultra-high buildings that are common in Hong Kong. But in mainland China, they are often used because buildings there are typically much shorter

From here.

[Sheldonrs]

If only the government could topple so easily.

[spudcon]

No matter what the excuse, hollow pilings with hardly any re-rod wouldn't fly in anything I built. As an amateur even I know better.