Windows Keep Falling Out of Skyscrapers - Why [video]

[jar546]

I found this to be very interesting and, of course, very concerning. Luckily none of the 53 high-rises in my jurisdiction are set up like this and all glazing meets the Florida Building Code.

 

[bill1952]

I like his calling each building prototype. Clearly some exceptions - military housing and some spec housing - but I'd agree the majority are one ofs.

 

[Mark K]

Very likely that the cause of the problem is somebody did not coordinate the expected drift with the window details, or the workmen did not follow the construction documents. Other possibilities could be the actual wind speeds were in excess of what the code required, birds impacting the windows, or wind debris.

Code compliance does not explain all problems.

 

[jar546]

Code compliance does not explain all problems.

I completely agree.

 

[ICE]

I came away from the video disillusioned. Part of the building becomes detached and kills someone and the jurisdiction sits on their hands and allows the owner to determine a course of action. The street should be blocked to pedestrians and vehicles---the owners, architect and engineer should be lined up against the proverbial wall. Missing the differential expansion of glass panes that resulted in a the death of a young mother can't be mitigated by an award of $18,000,000. That deserves jail time.

 

[e hilton]

We were living in Mass in the late 70’s and I remember the john hancock building having glass departure problems. The press called it the tallest plywood building, because of the ply that temporarily replaced the glass.

 

[Mark K]

I came away from the video disillusioned. Part of the building becomes detached and kills someone and the jurisdiction sits on their hands and allows the owner to determine a course of action. The street should be blocked to pedestrians and vehicles---the owners, architect and engineer should be lined up against the proverbial wall. Missing the differential expansion of glass panes that resulted in a the death of a young mother can't be mitigated by an award of $18,000,000. That deserves jail time.

We do not even know why the problem occurred and we are already determing who was at fault., and this is from somebody who would claim governmental immunity.

 

[ICE]

We do not even know why the problem occurred

The problem is a woman was killed. The method was a pane of glass falling from the building … hitting a woman and killing her.

The why of it, although important information when devising a remediation, you already have means and motive for assigning fault.

In this case I prefer the word guilt as opposed to fault. An accident has a fault ascribed whereas this misfortune was brought on purpose.

The owner owned the instrumentality of the crime. An engineer designed the instrumentality of the crime. An architect committed the crime. That’s pretty much how the conspiracy distilled in a courtroom.