I love this book too (read it at the library while getting books for kids), and was thinking of ref’ing it here before you beat me to it. A bit dated now: I loved the gag where the people wanting to “unbuild” the Empire State sealed the deal by offering to throw in the twin towers for free…
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You just gave me a great business plan for these vertical shit-sticks: pay terminally ill people to buy your crappy leaning tower of millennials. As soon as they become the owners of record, walk away.
The new owners will use the money to pay for their medical bills and to live comfortably as possible under the circumstances, do absolutely nothing about the building for the next few months, maybe get served a few warrants that they ignore, and then die. Their wills go into probate, where their heirs are not responsible for the debts of their ancestors. The cities are then forced to take ownership of the towering disasters and clean them up at their own expense.
Meanwhile, you remain free to start your own libertarian radio show about freedom and the suckers of the commons.
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Anything by David Macaulay is worth reading over and over again.
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- Don’t wear your wedding ring.
(No, not for that reason. Get your mind out of the gutter. Hey, who turned on that cheesy music?)
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I bet they are waiting on the Big One to do the deed for them.
Then they can claim it fell over because of an AoG & walk away.
The Mysterious Ways of the Lord will take care of their little problem… they hope.
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They can always throw the poo into the street seeing how much human feces is on the average San Francisco street
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that is… a very good point. especially for a building never meant to lean
i assume the business model in general is set up as an llc or other corporation, pay yourselves a bajillion ( technical term for all the wealth of the company ), and bankrupt the company whenever it stops being profitable
the owners of the flats are probably somewhat more on the hook - though there’s probably several levels of incorporation for the most expensive apartments already. the real losers are probably the want to be wealthy tenants who don’t own any piece of it - and of course the city who will be left on the hook for the costs of demolition
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I’ve seen several buildings around the world being demolished by lifting JCB equipment onto the roof and letting them destroy the building from the top down. The rubble normally gets pushed down the lift shaft and taken away by truck.
I’ve seen the implosion method on TV but doesn’t seem to be practical in a big city (which is typically the places that I live).
By coincidence, I’ve stayed in that Tokyo hotel that was in the video - it’s long gone now.
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Username checks out. I’m sure it’s being looked at too.
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I remember seeing an episode of tomorrow’s world in the late seventies. On the problem of demolishing skyscrapers. My memory of such things is dim. Apparently, AFAICR, as you build it, something in the basement (waves hand) must be tensioned gently to support the weight. Demolishing it from the top will reach a point where this tension is explosively released. His demonstration was the memorable bit. Where on removing one more block his pile of blocks exploded showering him with blocks. It was, I believe, Michael Rodd. He wouldn’t have lied, now, would he?
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Hell’s Bells, that shrinking building is amazing and weird looking.
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That happens with ultra-expensive apartments in London. Ownership is hidden behind shell companies in tax havens. When they are sold, no stamp duty is paid because the asset changing hands is not the property but the shell company that owns it.
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Hopefully this is better considered than mines. Historically mines would promise to clean up the mine after its operational life was over. In practice the mine would just go bankrupt after it was done making money, but before cleanup. To make it work states had to require the cost of cleanup be paid in advance.
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Not a single direct plan, but it is an established practice. For the really tall buildings they basically build in reverse. Remove the finishing, plumbing walls and cladding, then start cutting the beams down from the top. The largest intentional owner controlled demolition actually finished this year 270 Park Place at 52 stories. The most famous was probably the Singer Tower, demolished in 1969 and held that title until the 21st century (2001 for tallest destroyed, 2019 for tallest intentional demolition). The loss of the Singer is particularly sad because they destroyed a beautiful Beaux Arts tower for another glass cube.
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Drawing in breath between clenched teeth with a pained inpression, mumbling something along the lines of “Ohdearohdear, that won’t come cheap…”
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“It was like that when we got here!”
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“Do you actually need a receipt?”
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“We’ll be back tomorrow to finish up.”
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too soon?
…
nah. You get a pass. Super dark, but still funny.
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Ooof!
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I can’t tell if it’s worse to work/live in that doomed tower or to work/live in the building it’s leaning towards. Talk about a real life sword of damocles…
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Does the building have a tuned mass dampener ? That will need some looking at.
Also, if you have to adjust the slope for every plumbing fixture because of building lean… the problem isn’t the pipes !
There will come a point where heads gotta come out of the sand. Hold the builder’s feet to the fire while there’s still a viable company to pursue.
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