Tilting Building Near Bangkok ' Should Be Demolished'

[Pimay1]

Wasn't there a big high rise hotel built on the Chao Phraya river that started tilting or am I dreaming again?

Remember that back in about 2001 or 2002.......... not sure if it was a Hotel, also cannot remember if it was tilting or just thought to be unsafe.

Anyone remember ? update what happened ?

It is called Millenium Hilton now. If I remember correctly, it was built during the crisis (1997?), declared unsafe, then taken over by Hilton and opened in 2005 after some renovation.

You may be correct. I remember going by there about that time, seeing it leaning and thinking what the ....

[wooly]

"Really not that hard to fix, just a matter of doing some studying on how the Leaning Tower of Pisa was stabilized. I am not kidding. By ground drilling on the opposite side, they were able to even out the pressure of the subsidence."

And the cost, relative to demolishing and starting again, would be............?

[starkey_rich]

They will probably make it a tourist attraction like The tower in Pisa

[ramrod711]

How would increasing the height of the building be any approach to addressing its tilting?

I obviously missed something.

Plodsarob will come up with a plan for sure, I recommend hanging a large weight from the other side of the building, it will definitely be as effective as putting one thousand boats in the river to facilitate faster flow.

[NomadJoe]

" violated regulations"

What regulations? I have read repeatedly that there are none in Thailand.

[kimamey]

"Really not that hard to fix, just a matter of doing some studying on how the Leaning Tower of Pisa was stabilized. I am not kidding. By ground drilling on the opposite side, they were able to even out the pressure of the subsidence."

And the cost, relative to demolishing and starting again, would be............?

Possibly true but there are differences between the two.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is an historic monument visited by tourists from all over the world and can't really be demolished.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is meant to lean, although that wasn't the original intention. The idea is to stop it leaning more.

Just as an interesting side note this is something I saw on a documentary on TV but I can't find any reference to it at the moment.

Mmany years ago the tower started to lean more which was found to be due drying out of the soil around the base. The reason for the drying out was found to be the extraction of ground water to cool an early computer. I don't know where it was but I'm sure that although it was very big and required a lot of cooling it was about the same as a Commodore 64 in power. Shows how things have changed. Does anyone else know if this is true?

[kimamey]

How would increasing the height of the building be any approach to addressing its tilting?

I obviously missed something.

Plodsarob will come up with a plan for sure, I recommend hanging a large weight from the other side of the building, it will definitely be as effective as putting one thousand boats in the river to facilitate faster flow.

If they'd hung a large weight from the building they could have seen the tilt much earlier.

[oldsailor35]

"SHOULD be demolished" Is that a decision or just bad reporting ? I would think that it HAS to be demolished.

[Spalpeen]

If the people in charge of this operation contract the people responsible for the controlled demolition that occurred in New York City on September 11 2001 The building on the right in this photograph will fall into its own footprint not harming the building on the left whatsoever.

Problem solved!

Very true. Only controlled demolition can cause a building to collapse vertically downward at freefall speed through the path of greatest resistance. Uncontrolled collapses always look like this, with the building falling over to one side.

[thunder30101]

This mess cannot in any way be fixed due to the total failure of the structural integrity of the building. The leaning tower of pisa comparison is just plain stupid as it has no internal structural defects. A wrecking ball is the only option at this point, no way to implode it either because of the internal damage. It will be old news tomorrow and no one will be held responsible.

[oldsailor35]

All erections in Thailand are temporary anyway.

Yeh , Not enough Kamagra in the concrete.

[oldsailor35]

I am just waiting for that 'brilliant' guy who invented the row of boat engines to move the Chao Prya river faster last year, to come up with another invention for this building. Probably a row of jet engines fixed to the opposite building. I dare not suggest this because i am not Thai and don't want to cause any 'loss of face' at this stage.

[oldsailor35]

Reminds me of some of the house blocks i have seen. Just areas of dumped soil and clay, levelled out with a front end loader and then just left for a period before the building starts. NO compression whatsoever. They just measure the requirements for that in time. One builder told me, no need to compress the pad, just wait one year, then ok !

[Keng11]

Wonder if they done a soil test first?

[oldsailor35]

How would increasing the height of the building be any approach to addressing its tilting?

I obviously missed something.

Something is lost in translation I think, but there is a way to jack a building like that up and level it. It is then held in place by new steel literally screwed into the ground. They are called helical piers. That steel would remind you of a very large post hole auger for a tractor. They use a bunch of them, and after they are literally screwed deep into the ground, they lift and permanently hold the building.

There is another similar method using jacks that stay in the ground. They are called push piers.

This looks good for a small building like a house. But who in the hell would be stupid enough to be digging a trench across the front of this big building under a lean like that and without a hard hat on like the guy in the pic.

[jayjayjayjay]

There is a solution. I am just waiting for the creative Thai engineers to show us what to do!!!!!

Suggestions:

-really thick paint on the one side to make it look straight.

-dig a really deep hole on the other side and tell potential clients that if it moves it will tilt back straight.

-change it into a police station, coz they never come to work anyway.

-pay of the government inspection agency and announce that it really is straight!!!!

-close up all the windows and introduce RangNok birds to nest in the structure.

[Estrada]

How would increasing the height of the building be any approach to addressing its tilting?

I obviously missed something.

Slightly lost in translation as usual. When the Times building on Sukhumvit Rd started to tilt over in 1994, it had the Thai Engineers scratching their heads. I suggested that they put in extra deeper piles, support the building, and then jack the building up (heighten it if you like). This is what was done and the building with shopping plaza is still standing.

[phantomfiddler]

Easily fixed, no need to demolish either. Just assemble all the politicians in power and get them to stand on the high side of the building until it settles to the vertical position. In addition this would give them the much needed sensation of having achieved something useful

[kimamey]

Wonder if they done a soil test first?

Yes there was definitely soil there before they started.

[Estrada]

Wasn't there a big high rise hotel built on the Chao Phraya river that started tilting or am I dreaming again?

The Sofitel. There was also another case when Pichet was Governor of the BMA when one of two nine story apartment blocks on Soi Onnuch also started to lean over nearly touching the other. It was years before they pulled them down.

[jimbeam1]

Acrow props will sort it

Bamboo.

jb1

[jimbeam1]

How would increasing the height of the building be any approach to addressing its tilting?

I obviously missed something.

Something is lost in translation I think, but there is a way to jack a building like that up and level it. It is then held in place by new steel literally screwed into the ground. They are called helical piers. That steel would remind you of a very large post hole auger for a tractor. They use a bunch of them, and after they are literally screwed deep into the ground, they lift and permanently hold the building.

There is another similar method using jacks that stay in the ground. They are called push piers.

In the UK it is called under pinning?

jb1

[kennalder]

Problem here is what about the left building, I'd say it's stuffed also.

Knock em both down.

No need to knock em both down. Just speed up the tilt of the second building, making sure it goes toward the first. Pretty soon they will support each other. They will look like a pair of drunks helping each other home. Perhaps a fitting monument to the contractor and the building inspector.

[KonKorat]

why don't they keep the building and call it the leaning building of Bangkok..could take a bit of tourism away from the leaning tower of Pisa....hehehehehehe!!!

[SteeleJoe]

" violated regulations"

What regulations? I have read repeatedly that there are none in Thailand.

That's funny: it's like you think because YOU have repeated something that it must be accepted as truth. What makes it even funnier - it's flat out wrong.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa ap

[kevvy]

they just wanted another landmark "learning tower of Bangkok"

[kevvy]

why don't they keep the building and call it the leaning building of Bangkok..could take a bit of tourism away from the leaning tower of Pisa....hehehehehehe!!!

beat me too it...

[uptheos]

I'm sure they'll come up with a low cost solution without the need to demolish so the building can be safely occupied within a matter of months

Yeah just call it 'the leaning building of Bangkok'.

[dcutman]

There is almost always a way to fix something. The only thing is, how much is it worth and how much one is willing to pay for the fix.

A good example is the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. I was on this project for over a year and it looked like doom for a couple of months. Part of this building (the center) sunk nearly a meter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandalay_Bay

In this case, the builder is going to haul ass, and the owner is not going to pay to demo it and have it rebuilt. So it most likely will stay in its present state until nature takes over.

[scorecard]

A serious question to our experienced TV civil engineers:

- How would you go about demolishing this building without damaging the other building

(presuming that the other is stable and safe) and given that the leaning one is probably at

risk of falling over, in other words a very unsafe working location for those involved in the

demolition?