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  • gorjusborg · 1 days ago

    Does anyone here have any knowledge of how something like this gets resolved?

    • SilverElfin · 1 days ago

      Given all the bad press around things like the millennium tower, I think once you have an issue like this, the building is done. No one will want to live there. And given structural problems with load bearing beams, I would expect the building has to be demolished. But maybe they can demolish it top down partially and rebuild up from the compromised area if the city and engineers deem that safe.

      • fiatpandas · 1 days ago

        Knocking down a building like this will be a huge pain, extremely expensive, and very dangerous. I think you can assume the developers will try desperately to retrofit the building before demo. There’s good precedence for this even in New York City. Look into the Citicorp case study.

      • ErroneousBosh · 1 days ago

        Tie every helicopter you can find to the roof, gas the bent bit off, haul it away and drop it somewhere?

        They'll likely shore it up with hydraulic props - probably going through the floor and ceiling to floor slabs above and below - to stabilise it, and then start demolishing the building bit by bit.

        • kylehotchkiss · 1 days ago

          When you run the mental model of picking up a building with a bunch of surplus Hueys, do they not all collide together once they start bearing weight?

          • ErroneousBosh · 1 days ago

            Not if you make the strings different lengths.

            • hagbard_c · 1 days ago

              In that case the helicopters lower in the pecking order will chop off the strings for the higher ones. I thing seagulls is a better idea, if it worked for a giant peach it should work for a building. Plenty of those around and they'll work for peanuts.

              • tonyedgecombe · 1 days ago

                Balloons should do it.

            • singleshot_ · 1 days ago

              “spreader bar”

              • ErroneousBosh · 1 days ago

                But not one made out of the same stuff as those beams, they're like chocolate.

          • Anon1096 · 1 days ago

            Most likely the building gets stabilized and then anyone involved gets embroiled in lawsuits and it stays standing half finished for years. One Seaport is a famous recent example of an under construction skyscraper getting halted for structural issues. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/161_Maiden_Lane

          • onlypassingthru · 1 days ago

            Yes, sometimes gravity resolves the problem for you.

          • danofsteel32 · 1 days ago

            This is a little pedantic but the pictures seem to show failing support columns not beams.

            Beams are horizontal and columns are vertical.

            • pram · 1 days ago

              I'm not an expert but those look like pretty wimpy columns? Kind of surprising, when I worked in a tower it had exposed concrete columns that were very thick in comparison

              • rcxdude · 1 days ago

                I think the first picture is not showing structural columns: they're more a symptom (buckling as the building is moving) as opposed to the cause.

                • mrguyorama · 1 days ago

                  As the sibling says, that first picture shows essentially interior wall framing. They shouldn't really be seeing any load!

                  They are buckling because the floors and ceilings are bending!

                  Scroll down and there is a picture of a much thicker support pillar, though still seems thin? Maybe just the context in frame doesn't do it justice.

                • kylehotchkiss · 1 days ago

                  The USA is mostly empty space. Trying to force upwards in such an already dense area just doesn't make sense. We are not constrained the way singapore is.

                  • DHPersonal · 1 days ago

                    Spreading out requires more non-foot travel to get places. Density means things can be closer.

                    • hagbard_c · 1 days ago

                      Seeing how elevators are akin to vertical subways I think that problem goes both ways.

                      • olyjohn · 1 days ago

                        Definitely had to factor in elevator time for my commute when I worked on the 38th floor.

                    • ChrisLTD · 20 hours ago

                      It's illegal to build dense cities like Manhattan in most of the United States. And while most people want to live in a Manhattan'esque area, plenty (like me) do.

                      • comrade1234 · 1 days ago

                        They're adding a hunch of floors to an existing building - it was the old Pfizer headquarters and they want to turn it into apartments. Someone either didn't do the proper engineering study, or the original specs weren't accurate.

                        Figuring out who to blame will probably take years in court.

                        • dlcarrier · 1 days ago

                          More often than a faulty initial design, it's because of a something not being followed, e.g. the design called for one type of material or process and another was used during construction, either on accident or on purpose but without correctly doing the math to verify that it will work.

                          • dehrmann · 18 hours ago

                            This makes a case for engineering margins, maybe even running the numbers assuming a worse grade of steel or bolts than specified. Also worth remembering this building wasn't special. If this was a design or construction flaw that surfaced with added load, a lot of other buildings from that era probably have a similar issue.

                          • asdefghyk · 1 days ago

                            Could also be incorrect materials used. than specified? Fake parts? or construction , used that not obvious

                          • cromka · 1 days ago

                            Having seen the photos, I simply can't imagine how can they recover from that.

                            • archonis · 1 days ago

                              I wonder if Metroloft cut corners on structural engineering practices given that they also exploit non-union workers.

                              • Krypto26 · 1 days ago

                                You mean they are buckling even without the benefit of being struck with an aircraft or thousands of gallons of burning jet fuel?