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I personally think these skyscrapers look great aesthetically but they apparently are plagued with design and maintenance problems. See https://youtu.be/RWX9Jmi

I personally think these skyscrapers look great aesthetically but they apparently are plagued with design and maintenance problems. See https://youtu.be/RWX9JmihWpE https://youtu.be/RWX9JmihWpE for a short video describing some of the issues. Between this, the sinking/tilting millennium tower in SF, and the collapse in Miami, I do wonder if these types of shared tall condo buildings are going to disappear.

nradov 5y ago
Champlain Towers South was only 12 storeys so not particularly tall. Local geology matters a lot. The Millennium Tower sits on unstable land and the foundation didn't go deep enough into the bedrock. Overall though skyscrapers have been remarkably safe and stable; construction will continue most everywhere that has high land prices.
- teruakohatu 5y ago
  > will continue most everywhere that has high land prices. There must be a feedback cycle and tipping point whereby once land prices, zoning and demographics create skyscrapers land price will only go up because suddenly land had a much lower impact than it did when it only housed modest buildings. Skyscrapers will then get taller to compensate. And the cycle continues.
- Mountain_Skies 5y ago
  I do wonder how different skylines would be if the Citigroup Center flaw had not been discovered in 1978. The Wikipedia article makes the claim that the chain reaction from a collapse could have killed as many as 200,000 people. But even 10% as many dead still likely would have been enough to cast a doubt over the safety and viability of skyscrapers from that point on.
alexcabrera305 5y ago
The building in Surfside collapsed because it was a money laundering scheme. It had half the rebar in the columns than was called for in the design documents; and it's somewhat an open secret that buildings built around that time in Dade mixed sand into the concrete to lower construction costs while keeping the numbers on the books inflated. Cocaine is a helluva drug.

nradov 5y ago

Champlain Towers South was only 12 storeys so not particularly tall. Local geology matters a lot. The Millennium Tower sits on unstable land and the foundation didn't go deep enough into the bedrock. Overall though skyscrapers have been remarkably safe and stable; construction will continue most everywhere that has high land prices.

teruakohatu 5y ago
> will continue most everywhere that has high land prices. There must be a feedback cycle and tipping point whereby once land prices, zoning and demographics create skyscrapers land price will only go up because suddenly land had a much lower impact than it did when it only housed modest buildings. Skyscrapers will then get taller to compensate. And the cycle continues.
Mountain_Skies 5y ago
I do wonder how different skylines would be if the Citigroup Center flaw had not been discovered in 1978. The Wikipedia article makes the claim that the chain reaction from a collapse could have killed as many as 200,000 people. But even 10% as many dead still likely would have been enough to cast a doubt over the safety and viability of skyscrapers from that point on.

alexcabrera305 5y ago

The building in Surfside collapsed because it was a money laundering scheme. It had half the rebar in the columns than was called for in the design documents; and it's somewhat an open secret that buildings built around that time in Dade mixed sand into the concrete to lower construction costs while keeping the numbers on the books inflated. Cocaine is a helluva drug.