The prowess of Chinese engineers has resulted in another Middle Kingdom marvel, in the form of this spectacular building collapse; so expert was the construction of the structure’s foundations that the collapse occurred cleanly and without much damage to the structure, breaking neatly at the base.
The structure itself was a 13-storey Shanghai apartment building, still under construction, built alongside a number of identical developments, the owners of which are likely eyeing their own foundations with no small trepidation.
Investigations into cause of the collapse are ongoing, though it hardly takes much insight to realise the likely reason.
Only one worker was horribly crushed when the structure fell, as nobody had yet moved in.
Such innovative construction techniques are said to be typical throughout China, a nation whose superficially impressive economic foundations also at times look as unstable and ephemeral as some of the buildings…
Via Itai News.
Hey, it is still habitable. The new “top floor” apartments now have skylights.
extreme engineering, discovery channel. china style
While the article is old, some comments are new, so i think a better explanation is in order. I think the explanation of the following article is the best among the internet http://simonteefb.blogspot.com/2009/08/shanghai-building-collapse.html
Basically, on one side of the building they dug 15 feet to build an underground garage, while on the other they piled the dug material. The soil creeped from the heavy side to the dug side. Piles are not meant to work that way, though a pile containment wall on the dug side would have prevented this. The piles failed by shearing and the building tilted toward the dug side
It IS impressive that it did not disintegrate upon falling though.
they probably didn’t construct the building straight enough with piling not reaching the hard bedrocks.
Reading through the comments, i can tell someone here is hiding that he is chinese.. yes indeed.