Disaster in the history of architecture. Bashny.Net

In this post I will tell you about some of the disasters in the history of architecture



Cinema "Knickerbocker", Washington, DC, January 28, 1922


The roof of the building, which was only five years old, suddenly collapsed January 28, 1922 under the weight of snow. The fact is that during the two days before the tragedy raging blizzard and the roof covered an unusually thick layer of snow. At the time of the collapse went evening session, the theater was full. 98 people died and 133 were seriously injured.

Bridge Yarmouth, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, May 2, 1845


May 2, 1845 suspension bridge collapsed Yarmouth, unable to bear the weight of hundreds of children and their parents who gathered to watch the clown floating on the river. Clown sitting in the barrel, and the barrel pulled goose. Weight of people displaced when the barrel floated under the bridge. People abruptly changed sides, the chain on the south side of the bridge torn platform capsized.


Factory "Pemberton Mill", Lawrence, MA, January 10, 1860


This five-storey building was only seven years old when it suddenly staggered and collapsed.

145 people were killed and 166 were injured. As it turned out, were used in the construction of cheap steel columns that could not stand the weight of a plurality of heavy machines that were installed on the upper floors.

South Fork Dam on Lake Konemog, Pennsylvania, May 31, 1889


After breaking the old South Fork dam, which has long been in need of repair, 20 million tons of water rushed over the city of Johnstown, sweeping away everything in its path. As a result of the floods killed 2,209 people.

By the way, the previous owner of the dam removed and sold three branch pipes, cast iron, which allows adjustment of water discharge.






Bridge Quebec City, Canada


The longest cantilever bridge in the world (987 meters) collapsed twice: August 29, 1907 and September 11, 1916.

Four years after the start of construction of the central section of the southern part of the bridge collapsed for some 15 minutes. During this accident 75 people were killed and 11 were injured.

Nine years later, after the central section was restored, she fell into the water, killing 13 more people.




Tower Ronan Point, London, England, May 16, 1968


Brand new 22-storey tower in East London (completed March 11, 1968) partially collapsed after a gas explosion, resulting in a load bearing wall was completely destroyed. 4 people were killed and 17 were injured.




John Hancock Tower, Massachusetts


Using blue reflective glass for the construction of this tower was not the best solution. New windows could not stand the load, microcracks appear under pressure wind window crumbled into the street. As a result, during strong wind police had to block the approaches to the building. Five years after the 1973 construction of the tower was completed, each of the windows of the building (there are 10 344) has been replaced.


Dam Teton, Idaho, June 5, 1976


Breakthrough of the dam on the river in Idaho Teton occurred due to construction errors. 11 people were killed, 13,000 were injured.










General Store Sampoong, Seoul, South Korea, June 29, 1995


Prior to 9/11 is considered the most catastrophic collapse. 502 people died and 937 were injured.




Building collapse Viale Giotto in the province of Foggia, Italy, November 11, 1999


A six-story apartment complex was destroyed to the ground for fifteen minutes. The building has lived 71 people, and only four of them survived. Cause of the tragedy became cheaper building materials and builders errors.

Wedding hall, Jerusalem, Israel, May 24, 2001


23 people died and 380 were injured due to the fact that the designers at the last minute and made a number of changes have not calculated the load - such as crowd dancing guests, for example.

Lotus complex, Shanghai, China, in 2009


One of eleven 13-storey buildings fell 27 June 2009






Building collapse in Savar, Bangladesh, April 24, 2013


Eight-story building called Rana Plaza, which houses a bank, several shops and offices were closed when crawling on walls cracked. The evacuation. By the time collapsed on the upper floors were working sewing shops. As a result of the disaster killed 1,127 people.