Twin Towers, New York City, USA
I think it’s fair to say that the collapse of the Twin Towers during the September 11 attacks is by far the most traumatizing of all building collapses.
The Twin Towers were built by a mastermind: their structure comprised lightweight steel, a central core, and a structured system that was meant to sustain itself even if one of the columns failed.
The number of victims adds up to 2,966 deaths. It collapsed on 9/11 (hence the name) because it was struck by two hijacked commercial airliners.
The building was so well-built, it took a while before it collapsed. That’s mainly because the towers were meant to bear 5,000 tons of lateral wind load, which is far more than the jets’ weight.
Even so, the 90,000 gallons of burning jet fuel is what eventually made the building fall, causing the floors to fall one after another.
Sampoong Department Store, Seoul, South Korea
This one is exactly the opposite of the masterfully engineered Twin Towers. All the people that were killed and injured in this tragic event were the victims of criminal negligence and disrespect to anything related to ethical engineering practices.
The Sampoong Department Store made the switch from an office building to a department store…DURING CONSTRUCTION! As you can imagine, it ignored all industrial design requirements that were linked to structural engineering.
The negligence eventually led to multiple cracks, that were still noticed but fully neglected. Eventually, the building popped and cracked, then collapsed with no less than 1,500 employees inside it.
Lotus Riverside Compound, Shanghai, China
On June 27, 2009, Block 7, one of eleven 13-story apartment buildings that made up the Lotus Riverside compound in Shanghai, simply fell flat.
The building was still under construction when it collapsed, but luckily, most of the workers managed to escape the site when they felt that the building is about to fall apart.
The compound site proved to be unstable, as another 272 feet-nearby riverbank collapsed. As it turned out, the development company that took care of its construction had been working illegally for over five years, which raised enormous concerns over building practices all over China.
