Japan: Incredible Shrinking Building

[ProdigyofZen]

http://www.reuters.com/video/2013/02...Channel=118065

I know the video linked above doesnt have the correct title but it should take you to the right place.

It is a video of a hotel being dismantled from the inside in Tokyo. It should be titled Japan presents - the incredible shrinking building.

"Feb. 19 - A construction company in Japan has developed a method of tearing down a building without the noise, smell or dust caused by conventional demolition. It's a novel but effective approach to deconstruction in densely built cities. Rob Muir reports."

It is very cool how they do it.

[mooncliff]

Re: Japan: Incredible Shrinking Building

Yes, I pass that building often. It was really tall. Amazing to see how it is torn down with so little dust and disruption. It is across the street from the Hotel New Otani and is in a fairly crowded part of downtown Tokyo, so minimizing dust and noise are priorities. I cant imagine them imploding that building considering all the buildings around it.
I think the building was only about 40 years old, but especially in the last 15 years, the building technology has gone through the roof here, so it is not a bad time to do this.

[Adeptus]

Re: Japan: Incredible Shrinking Building

This will never come to America. We like explosions way too much ;-), besides, it looks like it takes about 100 times longer to demolish the building.

[mooncliff]

Re: Japan: Incredible Shrinking Building

When you implode a building, don't you inject huge amounts of asbestos into the air? Deconstructing the building in this way is slow and do doubt expensive, but it seems to reduce dust release by 90%. It is surrounded by other major hotels, and I dont think they would let them implode a building across the street.

Although the Prince Hotel was less than 40 years old, there are many reasons why it might be torn down long before its service life is over. The earthquake codes have changed since it was built. The hotel was coming up on needed major renovation. The insurance might be less if they reconstruct to current code. Loans are at an all time low, maybe they got 1 or 2% rates. Highest grade steel is now 1/10th the price it was a couple of decades ago because Mitsubishi figured out how to reduce the energy used in production by more than 90%. And probably, the most important reason: The current building is not appropriate for the location over the next several decades. I guesstimate from the page below that the new buildings after redevelopment will have 10 times the floor space and better mixed use.

Here is the page about the redevelopment of the parcel the Prince Hotel is on.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1540891

[touchring]

Re: Japan: Incredible Shrinking Building

This will never come to America. We like explosions way too much ;-), besides, it looks like it takes about 100 times longer to demolish the building.

Watching much demolition man movies?

lol

[BadJuju]

Re: Japan: Incredible Shrinking Building

Well, beyond asbestos, there are silicates that can cause silicosis, which is just as bad as asbestosis. And silicates comprise a lot of building materials, especially in large buildings like that. It amazes me that they are allowed to do demos like that given the toxic dust that spews out from it. Just another way to pass the cost off to everyone else and their health be damned.

[evangellydonut]

Re: Japan: Incredible Shrinking Building

You figure if China can put together a building in a few weeks using pre-fab'd material, it'll be equally easy to deconstruct when the time comes... but then again, my Lego experience say otherwise... I truly want to believe that the Chinese building method will succeed but only time will tell... so far, if their bridges are of any indication, I wouldn't want to work in one of those buildings...

[touchring]

Re: Japan: Incredible Shrinking Building

You figure if China can put together a building in a few weeks using pre-fab'd material, it'll be equally easy to deconstruct when the time comes... but then again, my Lego experience say otherwise... I truly want to believe that the Chinese building method will succeed but only time will tell... so far, if their bridges are of any indication, I wouldn't want to work in one of those buildings...

Everything is good as long as it is not in an earthquake zone.

[don]

The West Strikes Back!

pored concrete's R value is 0.08

(ubiquitous fiberglass batts are 3.14)

[aaron]

Re: The West Strikes Back!

That is pretty cool