ruminations about architecture and design

Monday, December 13, 2010

thoughts on the minnesota metrodome collapse


There is an entertaining video of the collapse from inside the stadium on a Fox News website. Structural failures that occur without the loss of life are generally entertaining; when someone is injured or killed it is entertaing and tragic. (I can't believe I
just wrote that.)
This is the fifth time in 29 years that the roof has failed due to weather conditions, which is not a very good track record. The building managers have to keep track of a sophisticated monitoring system and control the air pressure and temperature inside the building on a rather constant basis. I pity them, for their cause is a lost one. I happen to come from the school of thought that structural systems should be efficient, simple, robust, and not reliant on mechanical systems. I can imagine how the engineers and architects and clients sat around in meetings convincing themselves that this design approach for the stadium was a very good idea and that it would save a bundle of (taxpayer) money and everybody would live happily ever after.

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