Archinect - News

Contractors of collapsed Miami bridge fined for worker-safety violations

2018-09-21T13:29:00-04:00

The contractors who designed and built the disastrous Florida International University bridge have been cited by federal authorities for several “serious” worker-safety violations and face tens of thousands of dollars in fines. [...] The FIU pedestrian bridge collapsed March 15 while it was still under construction over Southwest Eighth Street, killing five motorists below and a worker, Navaro Brown, who had been standing atop the span.

This round of OSHA citations is likely only the beginning of legal actions resulting from the deadly collapse of the new Florida International University pedestrian bridge in March 2018. Investigations of the National Transportation Safety Board are ongoing and, depending on its findings, could lead to a criminal case.

Getting architects to pay attention to their building's lasting impact

2018-03-27T16:33:00-04:00

In architecture, there is an obsession with a building’s official completion, while its actual lifespan is often left out of the picture.

In his Failed Architecture piece "What If Architects Would Embrace, Rather Than Ignore, a Building’s Future?", René Boer looks at the imbalance of attention a building gets during its opening day compared to its lasting 'future legacy': "The fact that most architectural projects of a certain scale will leave a spatial legacy of some sort gives those involved a responsibility. Therefore, the spatial professions might want to broaden their horizon and attempt to relate to the future of their projects at least in some way."

Investigators confirm that Miami bridge collapsed during post-tensioning

2018-03-23T14:32:00-04:00

The National Transportation Safety Board reports that its investigators remain at the scene of the deadly Miami pedestrian bridge collapse that occurred last week on the Florida International University campus.

NTSB investigators and contractors remove and catalog core samples from the pedestrian bridge deck. Photo courtesy of NTSB.

The latest statement issued by the agency lists 'significant developments' in the investigation and describes what happened right before the bridge collapsed: "The investigative team has confirmed that workers were adjusting tension on the two tensioning rods located in the diagonal member at the north end of the span when the bridge collapsed. They had done this same work earlier at the south end, moved to the north side, and had adjusted one rod. They were working on the second rod when the span failed and collapsed. The roadway was not closed while this work was being performed."

Read the full statement here.

Collapsed Miami bridge was built using Accelerated Bridge Construction

2018-03-19T14:52:00-04:00

The pedestrian bridge that collapsed at Florida International University in Miami on Thursday was built using Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) technology, according to a statement from the university. Unlike traditional methods of construction, ABC streamlines the building process so that bridge projects can be completed quicker and more cost effectively.

The FIU bridge which collapsed last week was engineered using Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC), a method used by many companies for its time and cost efficiency. Weighing 950 tons, the bridge was meant to connect FIU's campus to an adjoining neighborhood where many students live.

Of the many types of ABC technology, Prefabricated Bridge Elements and Systems (PBES) appears to be the method used in construction of the FIU bridge. This method allows prefabrication of elements off-site which are then transported and quickly assembled on site.

A fact sheet on FIU's website relates the bridge cost $14.2 million to build and was funded by a $19.4 million grant from the US Department of Transportation. It was also apparently supposed to withstand a Category 5 hurricane and last more than 100 years. The bridge was designed by FIGG Bridge Engineers in Tallahassee and built by MCM in Miami.

New FIU bridge collapses in Miami killing several people

2018-03-15T15:24:00-04:00

MIAMI (CBSMiami) — Florida International University’s (FIU) massive new pedestrian bridge collapsed Thursday afternoon killing several people.The 950-ton bridge, located at 109th Ave and 8th Street, collapsed on a number of cars. Florida Highway Patrol confirms several people are dead due to the collapse. They also said several cars have been crushed. At least one person was taken as a trauma alert to the hospital, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

The collapsed bridge had recently been erected this past Saturday and was constructed "using an innovative approach to bridge construction", which was meant to alleviate traffic and reduce risk. The recent positioning of the bridge was the largest pedestrian bridge move by Self-Propelled Modular Transportation in U.S. history.

FIU issued a statement to about the deadly incident saying, “We are shocked and saddened about the tragic events unfolding at the FIU-Sweetwater pedestrian bridge. At this time we are still involved in the rescue efforts and gathering information. We are working closely with authorities and first responders on the scene. We will share updates as we have them.”

The story behind Kunlé Adeyemi's Makoko floating school collapse

2018-03-02T14:02:00-05:00

There is a persistent risk of doing harm, dashing hopes, and eroding trust with trial and error, no matter how virtuous the objectives. It is the duty of the powerful to minimize that risk as much as possible. “It was supposed to be innovation, but now we’re being told it was experimentation,” Papa Omotayo, a Lagos-based architect and friend of Adeyemi’s, said of the floating school a few days after the collapse. “The issue is, can you experiment in a community like [Makoko] [...] ?”

Kunlé Adeyemi's floating school was built in 2013 and collapsed in 2016. The structured was meant to served 100 elementary students in Makoko, a heavily populated slum on Lagos' waterfront. Classes were only held for about 4 months in the 3 years it stood.

Now two years later, Allyn Gaestel analyses the full story around the failed structure in her long-form piece titled "Things Fall Apart". The question is raised: is it ok to experiment with trial and error in marginalized communities?

Allyn Gaestel explains, "The project was a chimera composed of flawed and superficial ideas and curated by deflection, obfuscation, and overestimation." As the situation stands now money has been donated, however no decision has been reached on what to do next.

Whatever happened to China's futuristic Traffic Elevated Bus?

2016-12-09T13:32:00-05:00

China's once-celebrated Traffic Elevated Bus (TEB) has been left abandoned in the middle of a Hebei city road, not having moved once in over two months. Originally touted as the futuristic solution to urban traffic jams, the "straddling bus" is currently causing them. A local reporter recently checked up on "the future of public transportation" at its testing site in Qinhuangdao, only to find it forgotten in a rusted garage, covered in dust.

"To test its invention, the company actually leased part of a city road in Qinhuangdao. Since the bus now remains exactly where it was abandoned , it continues to block three lanes of traffic, annoying residents to no end."

The 'road-straddling bus' previously in the Archinect news: Public transit boon or boondoggle? China tests out its road-straddling bus

Cheesegrater skyscraper loses another bolt – the third one in three months

2015-01-15T14:36:00-05:00

The owners of the 222-metre (734ft) “Cheesegrater” building, the second tallest building in the City of London, are to replace dozens of long bolts on its structure after it was revealed that another one had fractured. The bolts, among 3,000 on the building’s 15,000-tonne frame, are each just under a metre long. Two snapped in November, with some debris falling to the ground from the fifth floor. Nobody was hurt, but an area below the tower is still cordoned off.

Previously: Bolt part falls off Cheesegrater skyscraper in the City of London

New Jersey's first protected bike lane about to be removed again

2014-12-26T13:15:00-05:00

Mt. Prospect Avenue in Newark has New Jersey’s first protected bike lane, as far as we know. But unfortunately it looks like the Garden State will soon be back to zero. Andrew Besold at WalkBikeJersey is reporting Mayor Ras Baraka has ordered the removal of the bike lane, and in the meantime is allowing people to park in it.

Bolt part falls off Cheesegrater skyscraper in the City of London

2014-11-06T13:41:00-05:00

No-one was injured but an area around the 47-storey Leadenhall Building in the city has been cordoned off. It fell from the fifth floor to the ground at the side of the building - another bolt also broke off but was contained within the skyscraper. It is understood the bolts are about the size of an arm and the piece that fell was about the size of a hand.

Failed Architecture | A research project into urban failure.

2013-09-16T20:01:00-04:00

Failed Architecture is a research platform that aims to open up new perspectives on urban failure – from what it’s perceived to be, what’s actually happening and how it’s represented to the public. Supported by a website, travelling workshops and a series of lectures, the research collective seeks to develop ongoing and open conversations with experts in the field of architecture and planning and the public at large.

Failed Icon Of Social Housing Becomes New Home For Former Inmates

2013-09-05T18:48:00-04:00

It turns out pedestrians couldn’t be bothered to detour through the pixellated concrete compound. “Stairs were too steep, and people preferred crossing Blaak [the street passing under foot] at ground level,” van Schaik explains. “This left the bridge with serious problems. Most shops were vacant, as was the Supercube for a long time."

The Greatest Mass Transit Fails in History

2013-08-23T14:56:00-04:00

Elon Musk's Hyperloop announcement resulted in quite a bit of skepticism. We'd like to think that has less to do with the feasibility of Musk's concept and more to do with the massive mass transit failures of the past. And there have been some doozies.

Intempo 47-Story Skyscraper Builders Forgot To Include Working Elevator

2013-08-09T14:16:00-04:00

The Intempo 47-story skyscraper builders forgot to design working elevators above the lower floors. It’s a blunder of astounding proportions for the troubled luxury project with a lovely beach view in Benidorm, Spain. The problem has existed for some time. However, the scandal exploded into public view late last month in Spanish news source El País when it was revealed that the upper flights of the Intempo building lacked adequate elevator access above 20 stories.

Faulty tower: Glasgow's £10m white elephant

2013-06-03T11:43:00-04:00

When it was built, it held the Guinness World Record for the "tallest fully-rotating tower" - although to be fair, there was not much competition for that particular accolade. The 127m-tall (416 ft) steel and glass tower, the highest building in Scotland, was the only structure in the world able to rotate fully through 360 degrees from base to top. Neil Baxter, secretary of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland says the idea was unique: "Nobody had ever tried to do that."

The problem, however, is that it doesn't work.

The tower has now been closed since August 2010 and the science centre recently announced it had settled a lengthy court action with the contractors.

Science centre bosses said they had received "substantial" compensation but there seems to be very little prospect of the tower ever turning again.

Architect Peter Wilson, of Edinburgh Napier University, is one of the critics of the project.

"The fundamental thing about this is that when it was initially designed, it was never meant to be built," he says.

"It was intended for an 'ideas' competition."