John Metcalfe looks at how one Japanese company is advancing a more quieter sensitive method for demolishing high-rise buildings, floor by floor.
"Leave it to Japan to turn one of the dirtiest and noisiest processes of the urban lifecycle – the demolition of highrises – into a neat, quiet and almost cute affair," says Metcalfe. And in the video below you can see the innovative "Taisei Ecological Reproduction" system being deployed by Japanese construction company Taisei to demolish the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka in Tokyo.
"Basically," explains Metcalfe, "construction workers build a hermetic structure covering the top floors of a tower that is supported by powerful jacks. Inside the structure are the heavy machines and demolition crews, who take apart the walls and cut the floors into concrete slabs that they lower to the ground via interior cranes. When they finish removing one floor, the jacks move the 'big hat' to the next one down, creating the impression for outside observers that a huge, disembodied mouth is consuming the tower from the top down."
Among the benefits of this method of de-construction: reducing dust pollution by 90 percent, muffling noise pollution, and powering the lights and machinery on the construction site through regenerative braking. Plus, it looks pretty funny in a time lapse video.
FULL STORY: Knocking Down Huge Buildings Quietly, Floor by Floor
Oregon Passes Exemption to Urban Growth Boundary
Cities have a one-time chance to acquire new land for development in a bid to increase housing supply and affordability.
Where Urban Design Is Headed in 2024
A forecast of likely trends in urban design and architecture.
Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts
From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.
Washington Tribes Receive Resilience Funding
The 28 grants support projects including relocation efforts as coastal communities face the growing impacts of climate change.
Adaptive Reuse Bills Introduced in California Assembly
The legislation would expand eligibility for economic incentives and let cities loosen regulations to allow for more building conversions.
LA's Top Parks, Ranked
TimeOut just released its list of the top 26 parks in the L.A. area, which is home to some of the best green spaces around.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.