Miserly Atilius
We often like to repeat: “This is how they built it before!”, of course, meaning quality, reliability, “for centuries!” and all that stuff. So, the ancient architects, too, sometimes made mistakes, as happened with the amphitheater in the city of Fidena.
True, in this situation it is not the architect who is to blame, but elementary greed. It was like this: in 27 AD, a certain Atilius decided to build in Fidenae, a suburb of Rome, an amphitheater for gladiator fights and other spectacles.
And since the main goal of Atilius was not at all the desire to entertain the venerable Romans, but, as it was later indicated when drawing up the police report, “dirty profit”, the entrepreneur tried to save as much as possible both on materials and on a preliminary study of the soil at the construction site. Simply put, he built something seemingly grandiose in the form of an amphitheater from nothing in some swamp. Gathered gladiators there and hung enticing posters all over the great city.
It all ended very sadly. When 30 thousand spectators crowded into the building of Atilius, the amphitheater collapsed and more than 20 thousand remained under the rubble.
After this tragedy, the Roman Senate decided that henceforth, before any construction, it is necessary to carry out soil surveys where the foundation of the building is planned. And in order to avoid saving money on the construction of entertainment venues, a ban was introduced on holding games by those whose fortune was estimated at less than 400,000 sesterces (this is about a million dollars at the current exchange rate).
Of course, no one began to restore the building of Atilius. The fate of his own is unknown, most likely, he was executed and rightly so.
The same tower
During the construction of the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa in the same Italy, which, in fact, is the bell tower of the Catholic Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, the lessons of the ancestors were clearly forgotten. The tower began to lean during the construction process, and all because its prohibitively small foundation was placed on extremely swampy soil.
The Pisans suspected for a long time that the author of the unsuccessful project was their countryman, the sculptor Bonnano Pisano. At first, Pisano was not against such fame, and when he saw the tower completed and already crooked to the point of impossibility, he declared that guest workers were to blame for everything, and in general it was intended that way.
But the Pisans, not yet realizing their future benefits from the flow of tourists, demanded that the bell tower stand straight, as it should be. Pisano touched the masonry, estimated the height and declared that he had nothing to do with this architectural nonsense. After that, no matter how hard the Pisans tried to find the person responsible for such a clear violation of the rules of construction, no one was recognized as the author.
Having suffered in obscurity, the Pisans waited for Bonnano's death, attributed all architectural miscalculations to him and buried the sculptor next to the tower, which still stands, constantly surrounded by crowds of posing tourists, who, judging by their own photographs, take the most ridiculous poses.
St. Francis didn't help
Dam St. Francis was part of a whole system of dams and reservoirs designed to provide water to such a metropolis as Los Angeles. It was built for two years - from 1924 to 1926. And in March 1928, the dam collapsed, releasing 45 billion liters of water, which flooded several towns and claimed the lives of at least 600 people. Later, corpses were found even on the Mexican border. The last remains of the victims of this disaster were discovered in the desert in 1992.
An investigation carried out by a government commission showed that: the standard dimensions of the dam correspond to the norms; the concrete used for construction was of high quality; no earthquakes occurred during this period; the foundation is excellent. But the place on which this foundation was placed clearly let us down. It turns out that the lower right edge of the dam rested on the outcrop of mica, a rather unstable material in terms of the base. As a result, the building collapsed.
Later research showed that the dam stood on an ancient fault. Due to the seepage of water, the fault began to move, which led to the tragedy.
The chief engineer and builder of the dam, William Mulholland, was not punished by the court. After all, no technology of that time could not determine the presence of a fault. However, Mulholland sincerely considered himself guilty, since he personally examined suspicious cracks in the dam several hours before the disaster, but came to the conclusion that everything was normal. After the trial, the engineer retired from business and lived the rest of his life as a recluse. The dam was not restored.
"Galloping Gertie"
The Tacoma Bridge, or the Tacoma-Narrows Suspension Bridge, built across the strait of the same name in the state of Washington, was nicknamed "Galloping Gertie" by builders because the bridge's roadbed began to sway dangerously in strong winds.
The bridge was opened to traffic in July 1940, but already in November of the same year, traffic was closed by itself due to the collapse of the central span. The cause of the accident, according to the official version: “The phenomenon of forced mechanical resonance, when the oscillation frequency of the wind flow coincides with the natural oscillation frequency of the bridge structures. And the main reason for the destruction is the aeroelastic flutter (dynamic torsional vibrations) due to the underestimation of dynamic wind loads in the design of the structure.” Simply put, the wind that day was too strong (up to 65 kilometers per hour), and the bridge was not designed for the fact that the air flow would twist its steel structures like washed laundry.
After the collapse of the Tacoma Bridge (fortunately, there were no casualties), all the basics of designing any structures from the point of view of aerodynamics were re-examined. In 1950, the bridge was rebuilt, already taking into account new trends, and at that time it became the third longest suspension bridge in the world. From 2002 to 2007, another similar bridge was built nearby to increase traffic capacity.
Everyone makes mistakes. No one is safe from them. But if some mistakes will lead to the usual censure or reprimand, then others will cost the lives of many innocent people their mistake. We have compiled a list of the most massive architectural failures that took human lives and left a bloody trail in history.
1. Bridge collapse in Quebec
The bridge in Quebec, at 987 meters long, is the longest cantilever bridge in the world. However, in its entire history it collapsed twice. The first case occurred on August 29, 1907. As a result of the incident, 79 workers died, including 33 residents of the reservation (Mohawk Indians). The American engineer Theodore Cooper, who incorrectly calculated the weight of the bridge, was blamed for the tragedy, due to which the central part turned out to be heavier than the others. A year later, the construction of the bridge resumed, but in 1916 there was another collapse of the same central part. As a result of the second incident, 13 people died, and the bridge was put into operation only three years later.
2. The collapse of the building "Pemberton Mill"
On January 10, 1860, the Pemberton Mill building collapsed. As a result of the tragedy, 149 people died. Surprisingly, the building was only 7 years old. The reason for the destruction was the columns made of cheap steel, which on that ill-fated day simply could not withstand the load and suddenly fell apart.
3 Ronan Point Gas Leak
On May 16, 1968, a couple of months after the building was commissioned, there was a gas leak. As a result of the explosion, one of the load-bearing walls collapsed. The accident resulted in 4 deaths, many people were seriously injured.
4. John Hancock tower design
The John Hancock Tower is Boston's tallest building and the first all-glass skyscraper in the United States. The entire facade of the tower was sheathed with blue reflective glass plates, which made the building unique.
The authors of the project, Yo Ming Pei and Henry Cobb, received awards from the American Institute of Architects in 1977 for their creation, but the tower began to collapse as soon as the building was commissioned. Giant double-glazed windows weighing 250 kilograms each, with a strong wind, began to fall to the ground, presenting a mortal danger to anyone who was near the tower. Later, when the wind increased, the police began to close the streets near the skyscraper. The experts found that the material and method of soldering the windows was not suitable for this type of construction. It was decided to replace all double-glazed windows, which cost the owners $ 7 million.
5 Sampoong Mall Destruction
Prior to the infamous September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, the collapse of a shopping center in Seoul was considered the largest disaster in terms of the number of victims. The tragedy occurred on June 29, 1995. That day, 502 people died and many were injured. Wake-up calls about construction problems were received as early as 1994. At that time, the financial center, which had previously been located on the second floor near the sports sector, moved to the first floor, and a bookstore took its place. Due to the weight of the huge amount of books, cracks began to appear in the lobby of the sports center. To stop the destruction, the bookstore was closed on March 3, 1995, but the cracks continued to widen.In April, cracks appeared over the north wing restaurants, sand began to pour out of them, and half of the fifth floor began to slowly sag. On June 29, the director of the shopping center called an emergency meeting regarding the condition of the building, the 5th floor was closed, but the situation developed rapidly. At 17:40 on the same day, the management received a call that the destruction was continuing rapidly and they had to immediately leave the building, which they did. Within 10 minutes, the roof collapsed, destroying the supporting columns and the entire southern wing. Employees and visitors to the shopping center remained under the rubble, who did not wait for the order to evacuate.
6Lotus Riverside Fallen House
In June 2009, a 13-story building that was part of the Lotus Riverside residential complex collapsed in Shanghai. The fall of the house happened just a few days before the commissioning of the facility. Fortunately, no one was hurt. As it turned out later, the bearing supports were much thinner than those that are commonly used in seismically active China, and besides, they were hollow inside. In addition, the builders used poor quality cement. All this was the reason that the foundation could not stand it and the building collapsed without standing even for a year.
7 Rana Plaza Textile Factory Collapse
On the morning of April 24, 2013, a large-scale tragedy occurred in the city of Savar - an 8-storey building of a textile factory collapsed. As a result of the disaster, 1,129 people died and about 2,500 were injured. It is known that the day before the tragedy, cracks were discovered on the facade of the building and an order was received to evacuate people. However, only the shops and the bank located on the lower floors obeyed the order, while work continued on the upper floors. It is known that at the time of the collapse of the building there were 3122 people.
8. Breaking the dam
The South Fork Dam was once a large earthen dam designed to contain the waters of the largest man-made lake in the world. It is noteworthy that when the construction of the structure was completed, it was already outdated. So Pennsylvania sold the dam to businessman Benjamin F. Ruff. The new owner turned the area near the dam into an elite fishing club, made cosmetic repairs to the collapsing structure, as a result of which important elements of the functioning of the dam were repaired. The first alarms about the state of the South Fork came to Ruff as early as 1880 after her inspection by an engineer. However, he ignored the remarks, telling everyone that there was no threat.
In May 1889, a strong storm contributed to an increase in the water level in reservoirs, which were already filled to the brim after the snow melted. Tons of water began to put pressure on the spillway, which was partially blocked during the repair, and after a few days the dam could not stand it. As a result of the breakthrough, 20 million tons of water escaped towards Jonestown, destroying everything in its path. As a result of the tragedy, 2209 people died.
Video bonus:
In order not to end the material on such a sad note, we made a humorous selection.
Architecture is a branch, perhaps no less precise than surgery. In any case, not only comfort, but also human life directly depends on the quality work of architects and builders. Our review collected 15 cases where architectural errors cost people their lives.
1. Highway 19 Overpass, Laval, Quebec, 2006
Five people died and six were seriously injured when a 66-foot section of the roadway collapsed.
2. Residential building Ronan Point, London, 1968
An explosion in one of the apartments of the 22-storey Ronan Point building in London, where all building codes and regulations were met, led to a progressive collapse. The accident occurred due to the fact that the design scheme was similar to a house of cards. This tragedy claimed the lives of four people.
3. Pier One Playground, Brooklyn, New York, 2010
The engineers who designed this playground focused on its futuristic design and completely forgot to think about the materials. Most of the structures were made of pure steel, which heated up to 50 degrees during the summer months.
4. Camper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri, 1979
The roof of the Camper Arena consisted of several large-span coverings that were supposed to protect from rain and wind, but the strength of the bolts that supported it was calculated incorrectly. The roof collapsed in 1979. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
5. Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, 2005
The strikingly beautiful Walt Disney Concert Hall has become another attraction in Los Angeles. The design of the building was carried out by the famous architect Frank Gehry, and according to his plan, the outer walls of the building were sheathed with steel panels. However, already in 2005, the builders had to change the facade of the building somewhat, as the metal became a powerful reflector of the sun's rays and all the inhabitants of the nearby houses suffered from excessively high temperatures.
6. I-35W Bridge, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2007
Due to outdated construction, part of the freeway bridge collapsed during rush hour, causing several vehicles to slide into the Mississippi River. 13 people were killed and another 145 were injured.
7. Seongsu Tegyo Bridge, Seoul, South Korea, 1994
On October 21, 1994, part of the bridge collapsed in Seoul, which had been repaired shortly before. From a height of 20 meters, parts of the bridge collapsed into the river along with buses and cars. The tragedy claimed the lives of 32 people, most of whom were children.
8. Sampoong Shopping Center, Seoul, South Korea, 1995
On July 9, 1995, as a result of gross violations of building codes, one of the largest buildings in South Korea, the Sampoong shopping center, collapsed. Under the rubble of the building, 502 people died, 937 were injured and seriously injured.
9. Big Boston Tunnel, Boston, 2006
On July 10, 2006, a ceiling weighing about 25 tons collapsed in the tunnel through which cars were moving. A woman died under the rubble.
10. Bridge over the Tuo River - Fenghuang, China, 2007
In August 2007, a newly built 268-meter bridge across the Tuo River collapsed in the Chinese province of Hanan. The accident occurred during the dismantling of scaffolding. As a result of the accident, 30 people died, 60 were injured, more than 10 were missing.
11. Ville Marie Tunnel, Montreal, Canada, 2011
An outdated structure in the Ville Marie tunnel caused a concrete slab to fall onto the road, which was part of a concrete structure installed to help drivers' eyes adjust more quickly to the darkness in the tunnel. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the accident.
12. Val di Stave, Italy, 1985
The Stave dam burst in 1985 killed 248 people and destroyed 62 buildings.
3. Hyatt Regency Hotel, Kansas City, Missouri, 1981
On July 17, 1981, during a party in the atrium of the hotel, two suspended galleries, located one above the other, collapsed. As a result of this incident, 114 people died and 216 were seriously injured.
14. Railroad Bridge, Jefferson City, Missouri, 1855
Due to the inattention of the builders, the first passenger train that drove along the new railway provoked its collapse. This tragedy claimed the lives of 30 people.
15. Banqiao Dam, Henan Province, People's Republic of China, 1975
Banqiao is an earthen dam built in 1952 to protect against floods. Gross mistakes were made during the construction of the dam, and it became covered with cracks, and subsequently could not withstand the pressure of tropical typhoon Nina. The flooding killed 26,000 people.
Architecture is a branch, perhaps no less precise than surgery. In any case, not only comfort, but also human life directly depends on the quality work of architects and builders. Our review collected 15 facts when architectural mistakes cost people their lives.
1. Highway 19 Overpass, Laval, Quebec, 2006
2. Residential building Ronan Point, London, 1968
3. Pier One Playground, Brooklyn, New York, 2010
4. Camper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri, 1979
5. Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, 2005
6. I-35W-Bridge, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2007
7. Seongsu Tegyo Bridge, Seoul, South Korea, 1994
8. Sampoong Shopping Center, Seoul, South Korea, 1995
9. Big Boston Tunnel, Boston, 2006
10. Bridge over the Tuo River - Fenghuang, China, 2007
11. Tunnel Ville Marie, Montreal, Canada, 2011
12. Val di Stave, Italy, 1985
Banqiao is an earthen dam built in 1952 to protect against floods. During the construction of the dam, gross mistakes were made and it became covered with cracks, and later it could not withstand the pressure of tropical typhoon Nina. The flooding killed 26,000 people.
But sometimes architects present pleasant surprises. For example, such as . This must be seen at least in the photo.
When designing a house, it is important to take into account not only the customer's wishes for the layout and appearance of the house, but also to provide for many issues related to design features and construction technology. To take into account all the issues, a well-coordinated team of an architect, designer and engineer should work on the project of the house. If only the architect works on the project, then several critical errors may be revealed during construction.
Let's take a closer look at 7 common mistakes
1. Construction according to sketches
On architectural sketches, the concept of the house can be worked out in detail, facades, plans with numerous architectural elements are drawn. According to the ideas of the customer and the architect, such a house will turn out to be noble and decorate the surrounding buildings.
At first glance, everything is worked out, only missing: the thickness of external walls and partitions, chimneys, ventilation ducts, the thickness of interfloor ceilings in high-rise calculations.
These are signs that the structure was designed without an engineer, and construction technology is not taken into account. During the construction of such a house, changes are made that transform the original appearance and architecture of the structure. And as a result, the customer will receive another house, while losing a huge amount of resources for its construction.
Look at the project and compare it with what happened.
| PROJECT | IMPLEMENTATION |
 |
2. Design without taking into account construction technology
Neglect in sketch drawings of the thickness of external and internal walls directly affects the cost of building a cottage. For example, consider a two-story house with dimensions in terms of 10x10 m and a fixed construction budget of 6,000,000 rubles. Let's calculate the cost of 1 m2 for 6 options:
- A sketch of a 200 m2 house with zero wall thickness.
- A house made of timber with a wall thickness of 205 mm, while the area is reduced to 176 m2.
- House made of SIP-panels, external walls 270 mm thick, internal - 225 mm, partitions - 125 mm, area - 172.4 m2.
- Frame house BAKO, the outer walls of which are 325 mm, the inner walls and partitions are 200 mm, the area is 167.2 m2.
- Brick house: external walls - 650 mm, internal - 520 mm, partitions - 200 mm, area - 101.9 m2.
- A brick house with the same wall thickness, but a second light is additionally arranged.
As a result, we get such a dependence, which is important to consider when building a house:
|
Sketch |
bar |
SIP |
frame |
Brick |
Brick + second light |
|
|
House area |
200 |
176 |
172,4 |
167,2 |
138,8 |
101,9 |
|
For example: house price, rub. |
6 000 000 |
6 000 000 |
6 000 000 |
6 000 000 |
6 000 000 |
6 000 000 |
|
The price of 1 m2 of construction |
30 000 rub. |
34 091 rub. |
34 802.8 rub. |
35 885.2 rub. |
43,227.6 rubles |
58 881 rub. |
|
Increased cost by reducing the area from the sketch |
0,0% |
13,6% |
16,0% |
19,6% |
44,1% |
96,3% |
It is also important to understand that the cost of technologies for building a house is different. So the price of a two-story house made of SIP panels is 2 times different from the price of a brick house of the same area.
3. Distortion of the thickness of the roof structure
The real building structure of the roof, taking into account the lathing, ventilation gaps, body and waterproofing, interior decoration, is 0.48 m. Instead, the project shows a size of 0.15 m. During construction, this will lead to overlapping of part of the ceiling on window and door openings.
4. Lack of technological access to the roof junctions
For the connection of the roof to the wall, the joining of two levels of the roof, the cornice overhang, it is necessary to observe the technological dimensions and gaps. The lack of a competent engineering assessment of the architectural solution will not allow the workers to perform the roof installation with high quality, which will affect further operation.
5. Incorrect image of the thickness of the interfloor overlap
The thickness of the floor does not only consist of the thickness of the floor slab. This value is affected, for example, by the laying of engineering communications. The thickness of the screed must take into account the size of the pipe, taking into account the heat-insulating layer, as well as the slope from each plumbing fixture to the sewer riser. Therefore, the overlap size of 30 cm is incorrect. In addition, an increase in elevation changes the appearance of the facade, which is important to consider when making adjustments.
6. Implementation of risky decisions
For example, the bottom of the interfloor overlap is located exactly at the height of the door block. Any error in the construction of the house will lead to the fact that it will be impossible to mount a standard-sized fire door, which means that it is necessary to order an individual production, which is 4 times more expensive.
Such risks are not justified and affect the cost of construction. They also entail downtime, the search for individual solutions and the necessary materials, so you should apply for projects immediately to construction companies that will undertake to build the whole house: from the project to the settlement of the customer.
7. Lack of a chimney system in the project
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The project has not worked out a solution for the location of the heater, fireplace, wood-burning stove. During construction, the chimney is mounted in an inappropriate place, for example, in the inner corner of the roof of the house. During rain, water flows down the valley and rests against the chimney, which is categorically wrong. This will be a weak point from which the destruction of both pipes and roofs will begin.
There are also cases when chimneys are not designed at all and a place is found for them after the house is built.
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When choosing an architectural project, remember that this is just a picture. It will become a home only after a detailed study, not only by an architect, but also by a professional designer and engineer. The most reliable solution will be if the architect, designer, engineer and builder represent one construction company, which will be responsible to you for the construction of a ready-to-live-in house. Only in this case you will be able to estimate the cost of building a house at a very early stage and be sure that it will not change during the construction process.
You can see examples of projects in which all design and engineering solutions have been worked out, as well as the total cost of turnkey construction has been calculated.
