Life 5 Shocking Architectural Failures - Page 3

ForeverChiefs58 · 09-08-2011, 10:25 PM

Was surprised Kemper made it and the Hyatt Regency callapse didn't make the list

5 Shocking Architectural Failures

People make mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes happen on the job. Usually, the incident is corrected and the whole thing is forgotten within minutes. However, the workplace mistake is harder to ignore when the person who makes it is an architect.

After all, when the teenager working the drive-thru window gives you a Quarter Pounder instead of a Big Mac, it causes a lot less trauma than when a 3,000-foot-long suspension bridge collapses into the Puget Sound.

In "The Yale Book of Quotations," the legendary American architect Frank Lloyd Wright is quoted as saying, “The physician can bury his mistakes, but the architect can only advise his client to plant vines.” While this statement from 1954 is still true today, it doesn’t take into account the architectural, design, and engineering errors that became possible in the decades after his death. Those mistakes have been bigger, costlier, and more spectacular than Wright could have imagined, and there are not enough vines in the world to hide them.

What are some of the more notable architectural failures in modern history? Here are five that impressed us:

Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Tacoma, WA

Amazingly, the whole collapse was captured on video.

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge was a suspension bridge that connected the port city of Tacoma, WA, with the Kitsap Peninsula. It was the third-longest suspension bridge in the world when it opened to the public on July 1, 1940, but it closed four months later after a spectacular collapse.

The cause of the collapse was inadequate girders that were used to keep construction costs low. They failed to keep the bridge deck in place, allowing it to sway violently whenever a strong enough wind blew.

This situation was already noticeable to construction workers, who nicknamed it “Galloping Gertie.” The name stuck when the general public crossed the bridge and noticed its similarity to a bucking bronco. It finally collapsed on Nov. 7, 1940, under the stress of a 40 mile-per-hour wind.

Lotus Riverside, Shanghai, China

Tenants had yet to move in, but one worker died in the incident.

The Lotus Riverside is a residential apartment complex in Shanghai consisting of eleven 13-story buildings. On the morning of June 27, 2009, one of them toppled over, just barely missing an adjacent building. Had it not missed, it might have caused one toppled building to topple into the next, creating a horrifying domino effect that, thankfully, did not come to pass.

The cause of the collapse was attributed to excavation that was in progress to create an underground garage. The earth removed from beneath the building was dumped into a landfill near a creek, and its weight caused the river bank to collapse. Water from the creek then seeped into the ground, turning the building’s foundation into mud.

Vdara Hotel & Spa, Las Vegas, NV

Fortunately, singed hair was the only human casualty of the unintended death ray.

When researching hotels for an upcoming trip, many potential guests hope to find certain amenities, such as a mini-bar, a gym, or close proximity to sightseeing. However, the Vdara Hotel & Spa in Las Vegas offers a unique accoutrement that neither its guests nor its architect anticipated—a death ray.

The hotel opened in December 2009 and featured a unique, curved structure. However, its design collected solar rays and beamed them to the hotel swimming pool area. Guests sunning themselves nearby were regularly singed, such as Bill Pintas, who claimed that the hotel’s impromptu death ray had burned his hair and melted the plastic bag he had with him.

Playground at Pier One, Brooklyn Bridge Park, NY

The offending domes have since been removed from the play area.

Most parents who take their children to the playground know the drill. Before putting their kids into a swing, they touch it first to make sure the seat, which has been sitting in the sun all day, isn’t too hot. However, the designers of the playground at Pier One in New York’s Brooklyn Bridge Park managed to overlook this principle when they designed three play structures for children to climb on, and built them out of steel.

The domed structures regularly became too hot to touch, much less climb. Geoffrey Croft, president of New York City Park Advocates, measured their temperature at more than 127 degrees, and parent Roula Fokas observed, “You can fry an egg on them." In July 2010, The New York Post reported the domes would be replaced with new equipment which, presumably, could be touched by anyone, at any time of year.

Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO

About an acre of the roof collapsed from excess water.

Kemper Arena is an indoor stadium in Kansas City, MO, that opened in 1974. It had been the site of the 1976 Republican National Convention and it won raves for its unique design. Rather than employ view-obstructing columns, the roof was suspended from trusses on its exterior.

On June 4, 1979, the roof collapsed when a heavy storm battered the city. Fortunately, it wasn’t being used at the time, so there were no injuries or fatalities, but it was a shock to the city nonetheless.

The roof had been designed to release rainwater slowly, in order to avoid flooding the nearby West Bottoms area. This caused rainwater to collect on top and pool anywhere the roof sagged, creating excess weight. Worse yet, the roof was suspended from hangers, and the strength of their bolts had been miscalculated. Once a single bolt gave way, many of the neighboring ones followed suit, ultimately leading to the roof’s collapse.

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/5-...-failures.html

epitome1170 · 09-09-2011, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdcox

Let me elaborate on what epitome1170 has said.

I am the lead academic advisor in our department. A few students every year do a dual degree in architecture and civil engineering. We give architects credit for about 5 hours of structural engineering. Our undergrads that do not specialize in structural engineering take least 3 additional hours in structures. So an engineer who has no interest at all in structures will know more about what makes a building stand up or fall down than an architect. Students who graduate with some specialization in structural engineering at the BS level will take at least 9 more hours than an architecture student. But to really know structural engineering, you would get an MS degree and take additional 30 hours of structural engineering classes, beyond the BS level. At that point you are comparing a lawyer to someone who has take a business law class.

Well explained. Thank you.

Otter · 09-09-2011, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Setsuna

Wow this is great. Architecture is my major. I never thought to look at failures to learn from. That's learning 101 I know. I'm special at times. Thanks for this. If anyone can post some more I'd be obliged.

Is anyone here a marine biologist?

Stewie · 09-09-2011, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdcox

Someone needs to learn the difference between an engineer and an architect.

An architect draws a pretty picture of a bridge or a building. It's up to the engineer to make it work or to tell the architect to get real. These are all engineering failures. But cutting edge designs and the resulting failures is one of the ways that engineering knowledge advances.

How is designing a curved hotel that focuses the sun on the swimming pool area an engineering failure?

epitome1170 · 09-09-2011, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stewie

How is designing a curved hotel that focuses the sun on the swimming pool area an engineering failure?

How is a swaying bridge an architectural failure?

See my post #22

Setsuna · 09-09-2011, 08:37 AM

I know I have to take physics I & II w/ Calculus. And Structures, so I think we do need to learn something.

ForeverChiefs58 · 09-09-2011, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jenson71

I gotta say, there is often nothing more inspiring than a monumental building symbolizing the achievements of human industrial and commercial aptitude.

And I'm amazed at some of the road systems people put together. The clover highways, underpasses, ramps, molding together to create the grid we rely on for transportation in commerce and leisure.

Yes, the Grandview triangle was always a head scratcher. Amazing that someone looked at that on paper and thought that would be a good idea and not a total cluster ****.

epitome1170 · 09-09-2011, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Setsuna

I know I have to take physics I & II w/ Calculus. And Structures, so I think we do need to learn something.

No one is saying that you don't learn something... or aren't important to society for that matter.

As cdcox put before, you are taking A structure class... not years of it so there is no way that you will know enough of it to be a competent structural engineer... and you don't need to be that's why you hire guys like me for your design team.

**loochy** · 09-09-2011, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ForeverChiefs58

Yes, the Grandview triangle was always a head scratcher. Amazing that someone looked at that on paper and thought that would be a good idea and not a total cluster ****.

Setsuna · 09-09-2011, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by epitome1170

No one is saying that you don't learn something... or aren't important to society for that matter.

As cdcox put before, you are taking A structure class... not years of it so there is no way that you will know enough of it to be a competent structural engineer... and you don't need to be that's why you hire guys like me for your design team.

Haha alright. I bet you make a lot. How much did you make starting out?

epitome1170 · 09-09-2011, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Setsuna

Haha alright. I bet you make a lot. How much did you make starting out?

Not enough. And still not enough... structural engineers don't make crap compared to what others make and for the amount of liability they have on their design.

But I love what I do and love going to work so that counts for something.

rageeumr · 09-09-2011, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Setsuna

Haha alright. I bet you make a lot. How much did you make starting out?

About tree fiddy.

**Donger** · 09-09-2011, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frankie

These are ENGINEERING failures, not Architectural ones.

Not all of them.

**mikeyis4dcats.** · 09-09-2011, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdcox

Someone needs to learn the difference between an engineer and an architect.

An architect draws a pretty picture of a bridge or a building. It's up to the engineer to make it work or to tell the architect to get real. These are all engineering failures. But cutting edge designs and the resulting failures is one of the ways that engineering knowledge advances.

+1

Frankie · 09-09-2011, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amnorix

errr....no. Architects need to understand load capacity and all that sciency-building stuff too.

EDIT: Let me qualify my statement -- I understand that architects are not PEs and do not have the same degree of knowledge as, say, a Civil Engineer would have for building materials, etc. But they are supposed to have some knowledge on these matters as well in order to create realistic designs. Some of the examples given -- in particular the bridge in Tacoma, would seem to be more of an engineer failing than an architectural one, definitely.

This is exactly right. The architect who does only "pretty designs" is not a real architect. The Architect does have to have reasonable knowledge of loads and dead and live loads, strength of materials, etc. It helps him/her to avoid creating unreasonably unfeasible designs. But the seeing to the structural integrity of the work is the engineer's role.

In most cases both the Architect and the Engineer sign off to the final product.

Frankie · 09-09-2011, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by epitome1170

Just trying to teach the world the finer points of my industry.

Engineers suck!

Architect

09-08-2011, 10:25 PM
ForeverChiefs58 MVP Join Date: Mar 2009 Casino cash: $765326	5 Shocking Architectural Failures Was surprised Kemper made it and the Hyatt Regency callapse didn't make the list 5 Shocking Architectural Failures People make mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes happen on the job. Usually, the incident is corrected and the whole thing is forgotten within minutes. However, the workplace mistake is harder to ignore when the person who makes it is an architect. After all, when the teenager working the drive-thru window gives you a Quarter Pounder instead of a Big Mac, it causes a lot less trauma than when a 3,000-foot-long suspension bridge collapses into the Puget Sound. In "The Yale Book of Quotations," the legendary American architect Frank Lloyd Wright is quoted as saying, “The physician can bury his mistakes, but the architect can only advise his client to plant vines.” While this statement from 1954 is still true today, it doesn’t take into account the architectural, design, and engineering errors that became possible in the decades after his death. Those mistakes have been bigger, costlier, and more spectacular than Wright could have imagined, and there are not enough vines in the world to hide them. What are some of the more notable architectural failures in modern history? Here are five that impressed us: Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Tacoma, WA Amazingly, the whole collapse was captured on video. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge was a suspension bridge that connected the port city of Tacoma, WA, with the Kitsap Peninsula. It was the third-longest suspension bridge in the world when it opened to the public on July 1, 1940, but it closed four months later after a spectacular collapse. The cause of the collapse was inadequate girders that were used to keep construction costs low. They failed to keep the bridge deck in place, allowing it to sway violently whenever a strong enough wind blew. This situation was already noticeable to construction workers, who nicknamed it “Galloping Gertie.” The name stuck when the general public crossed the bridge and noticed its similarity to a bucking bronco. It finally collapsed on Nov. 7, 1940, under the stress of a 40 mile-per-hour wind. Lotus Riverside, Shanghai, China Tenants had yet to move in, but one worker died in the incident. The Lotus Riverside is a residential apartment complex in Shanghai consisting of eleven 13-story buildings. On the morning of June 27, 2009, one of them toppled over, just barely missing an adjacent building. Had it not missed, it might have caused one toppled building to topple into the next, creating a horrifying domino effect that, thankfully, did not come to pass. The cause of the collapse was attributed to excavation that was in progress to create an underground garage. The earth removed from beneath the building was dumped into a landfill near a creek, and its weight caused the river bank to collapse. Water from the creek then seeped into the ground, turning the building’s foundation into mud. Vdara Hotel & Spa, Las Vegas, NV Fortunately, singed hair was the only human casualty of the unintended death ray. When researching hotels for an upcoming trip, many potential guests hope to find certain amenities, such as a mini-bar, a gym, or close proximity to sightseeing. However, the Vdara Hotel & Spa in Las Vegas offers a unique accoutrement that neither its guests nor its architect anticipated—a death ray. The hotel opened in December 2009 and featured a unique, curved structure. However, its design collected solar rays and beamed them to the hotel swimming pool area. Guests sunning themselves nearby were regularly singed, such as Bill Pintas, who claimed that the hotel’s impromptu death ray had burned his hair and melted the plastic bag he had with him. Playground at Pier One, Brooklyn Bridge Park, NY The offending domes have since been removed from the play area. Most parents who take their children to the playground know the drill. Before putting their kids into a swing, they touch it first to make sure the seat, which has been sitting in the sun all day, isn’t too hot. However, the designers of the playground at Pier One in New York’s Brooklyn Bridge Park managed to overlook this principle when they designed three play structures for children to climb on, and built them out of steel. The domed structures regularly became too hot to touch, much less climb. Geoffrey Croft, president of New York City Park Advocates, measured their temperature at more than 127 degrees, and parent Roula Fokas observed, “You can fry an egg on them." In July 2010, The New York Post reported the domes would be replaced with new equipment which, presumably, could be touched by anyone, at any time of year. Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO About an acre of the roof collapsed from excess water. Kemper Arena is an indoor stadium in Kansas City, MO, that opened in 1974. It had been the site of the 1976 Republican National Convention and it won raves for its unique design. Rather than employ view-obstructing columns, the roof was suspended from trusses on its exterior. On June 4, 1979, the roof collapsed when a heavy storm battered the city. Fortunately, it wasn’t being used at the time, so there were no injuries or fatalities, but it was a shock to the city nonetheless. The roof had been designed to release rainwater slowly, in order to avoid flooding the nearby West Bottoms area. This caused rainwater to collect on top and pool anywhere the roof sagged, creating excess weight. Worse yet, the roof was suspended from hangers, and the strength of their bolts had been miscalculated. Once a single bolt gave way, many of the neighboring ones followed suit, ultimately leading to the roof’s collapse. http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/5-...-failures.html
Posts: 10,677

09-09-2011, 08:37 AM	#35
Setsuna Paladin Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Gator Country Casino cash: $10008487	I know I have to take physics I & II w/ Calculus. And Structures, so I think we do need to learn something.
Posts: 13,215