# Do buildings fall over? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2001, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098 "2001-08-20T05:04:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![golgotha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7bcc69/32.png) [@golgotha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/golgotha)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/1 "2001-08-20T05:04:08Z")
Here’s a question for you, fellows: Has there ever, in the history of the world, been a reported case of a fair-sized skyscraper (say, ten or more storeys) sort of just falling over? I don’t mean during an earthquake or a bombing raid or when it’s been demolished, but just in general, or on a particularly windy day? Whenever I’m at the top of a really tall building I swear I can feel it swaying, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to topple over. Has a skyscraper ever just…whoopsied? And were there people in it? I ask about tall buildings as the idea of one of those short squat things crumbling to the ground just doesn’t fill me with much dramatic imagery. ---
**Author:** ![evilhanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/2 "2001-08-20T05:23:16Z")
On the contrary, tall buildings sway by design in the wind to prevent toppling. AFAIK, no skyscraper has ever fallen over due to a structural design flaw, at least in the US. However, back in 1978, the recently completed Citibank building had about a 50% chance of collapsng in winds of moderate hurricane force (about 78 mph). Supports beams had been bolted instead of welded. Coincidentally, a hurricane was on it’s way when secret repairs were begun to correct these problem. It didn’t fall over. If it HAD, the domino effect would have levelled about 156 blocks by one estimate. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/3 "2001-08-20T08:48:54Z")
Soon after the John Hancock Tower in Boston was built it was discovered that there was a very real danger of it tipping over in a high wind. To prevent this, a large (approx. 40 tons) weight suspended on springs was placed at the top floor of the building. If the tower swayed in one direction, the inertia of the weight would halt it and swing it back. This allowed the tower to sway slightly in the wind, but prevented it from overbalancing and toppling. Incidentally, the engineers had initially worried about the building toppling in the direction of its broad side, and had taken steps during construction to prevent this. The surprise came afterward when it was discovered that the real danger was in the buiding falling along its _narrow_ side, which necessitated the weights in the top floor. Back in college I did an internship at WZLX radio in the 42ns floor of the Hancock. During storms you could hear the building creeeeeak back and forth. Creepy. Here’s a site that talks about some of the techniques of keeping skyscrapers from falling over in earthquakes: [http://www.nd.edu/~quake/case.studies/mhivcs.html](http://www.nd.edu/~quake/case.studies/mhivcs.html) [http://www.nd.edu/~quake/case.studies/act.html](http://www.nd.edu/~quake/case.studies/act.html) –sublight. ---
**Author:** ![AKAmame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@AKAmame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AKAmame)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/4 "2001-08-20T11:12:14Z")
Or, you could read this book: Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail by Matthys Levy and Mario G. Salvadori. They also wrote one on why building stay up, but that’s not as much fun. The book is a very readable account (for a lay-person like, well, me) of famous structural collapses. I’ve lent my copy to quite a few friends, none of whom are engineers, and they’ve all enjoyed it too. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/5 "2001-08-20T11:28:25Z")
In Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, a big luxury apartment block fell over. IIRC it was at least 20 stories high. ---
**Author:** ![frobozz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ed8c4c/32.png) [@frobozz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frobozz)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/6 "2001-08-20T11:39:25Z")
In New York City, fairly large buildings have occasionally collapsed due to years of neglect or poor maintenance. I don’t know how large the largest one was, but I remember seeing on the news a five story apartment building had collapsed a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/7 "2001-08-21T03:11:14Z")
IIRC, the Citibank problem was a design defect. Engineers had designed the building to withstand wind directly to the front/back/sides. With its cross shape, no one had bothered to test winds of a 45 degree angle. ---
**Author:** ![gorewonfla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/da6949/32.png) [@gorewonfla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gorewonfla)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/8 "2001-08-21T03:19:08Z")
After the Mexico City quake in 1985 many skyscrapers fell over. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/9 "2001-08-21T03:26:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sublight \* > Soon after the John Hancock Tower in Boston was built it was discovered that there was a very real danger of it tipping over in a high wind. To prevent this, a large (approx. 40 tons) weight suspended on springs was placed at the top floor of the building. If the tower swayed in one direction, the inertia of the weight would halt it and swing it back. This allowed the tower to sway slightly in the wind, but prevented it from overbalancing and toppling. The same sort of tuned mass dampers were also installed in Citicorp Center, and in the towers of the Akashi Kaikyo (sp?) bridge in Japan, which survived the Kobe Earthquake already. As for the Hancock, it also had a lot of extra structural support squezed into it. The tuned mass dampers were added earlier to correct excessive swaying. The entire story will probably never be fully known, as everyone involved had to sign non-disclosure agreements. Those problems were also unrelated to the problem that made the windows fall out, and the one that threatened to destroy Trinity Churh across the street. Now that everything’s fine, it’s a great building. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/10 "2001-08-21T06:21:18Z")
Not a building, but one of the most famous modern day engineering disasters is the walkway of [The Kansas City Hyatt Regency](http://www.uoguelph.ca/~ajenney/webpage.htm). So yes, mistakes do happen. ---
**Author:** ![golgotha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7bcc69/32.png) [@golgotha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/golgotha)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/11 "2001-08-21T06:30:20Z")
many thanks, ladies and gentlemen. never again will i set foot in any structure taller than i am. ---
**Author:** ![buzzdb666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8797f3/32.png) [@buzzdb666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buzzdb666)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/12 "2017-11-18T12:40:46Z")
I’m sorry to necro an old thread, but I just read this thread and it hit me how eerie it is that this thread about buildings falling over took place like 2 weeks before 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/13 "2017-11-18T13:36:30Z")
Since the thread took place in 2001, nobody was able to give [this](https://www.engineering.com/Library/ArticlesPage/tabid/85/ArticleID/410/Ever-see-a-12-story-building-just-fall-over.aspx) example. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/14 "2017-11-18T14:45:08Z")
I’m amazed that building was strong enough to fall over like that. It must have been mostly steel construction, with the masonry as just a facade, because masonry certainly isn’t strong enough. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/15 "2017-11-18T14:54:30Z")
Youtube didn’t exist in 2001, but if you go to the site now, you’ll see lots of videos of tall buildings falling over. Like this one in Manila: [Building Collapse - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKeENdyIluI) ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/16 "2017-11-18T15:57:09Z")
> [@buzzdb666](#): > > I’m sorry to necro an old thread, but I just read this thread and it hit me how eerie it is that this thread about buildings falling over took place like 2 weeks before 9/11. Weird … **golgotha’s** last post here was on 9/11 at 5:38 am Saudi Arabian time … alas, this was in 2003, almost had the makings of a _ **GREAT** _ conspiracy theory … the _Chicago Reader_ trying to make the Sears Tower the tallest building in the USA again … ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/17 "2017-11-18T18:32:20Z")
In 2012, three buildings in Rio de Janeiro, two of them over 20 stories, collapsed. One of the buildings had been been undergoing illegal renovations and its collapse triggered the other two to collapse. [2012 collapse of Rio de Janeiro buildings - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_collapse_of_Rio_de_Janeiro_buildings) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/18 "2017-11-18T19:10:08Z")
[The Millennium Tower in San Francisco](https://sf.curbed.com/2017/7/19/15998338/millennium-tower-leaning-sinking-sf-more) hasn’t fallen yet, but due to the designers’ and builders’ failure to push the support pilings all the way down to bedrock, it has started leaning, and the foundations have started cracking. There are theoretically supposed to be some possible solutions, but if it ever goes over it won’t go by itself, since it is right in the middle of a bunch of other buildings. With any luck it will fall to the SE and take out the Salesforce tower (at night and when no-one is in either building and no-one gets hurt). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/19 "2017-11-18T20:09:08Z")
> [@buzzdb666](#): > > I’m sorry to necro an old thread, but I just read this thread and it hit me how eerie it is that this thread about buildings falling over took place like 2 weeks before 9/11. Quick, somebody warn them! ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098/20 "2017-11-18T20:54:52Z")
> [@buzzdb666](#): > > I’m sorry to necro an old thread, but I just read this thread and it hit me how eerie it is that this thread about buildings falling over took place like 2 weeks before 9/11. Just so you know if you plan on staying around (and please do), we call old threads zombies here and they are revived. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-buildings-fall-over/77098.md?page=2)