Project Overview

This project was chosen in order to see the importance of learning from past failures in order to insure they do not happen again in the future. The structures that were chosen had clear errors made in each of them that could have been avoided. The results of these were deadly to many and in some cases destructive to its surroundings. This project was not only to designed to discover why these structures failed, but also the effects that came from it, including legal ramifications. Research was the main task in this project. In order to avoid a repeat of these failures, every aspect of incident needs to be learned; not just why it failed, but who was at fault, what were the consequences, and what can be changed to fix the problem. That is the reason for this project. Studying structural failures is something every civil and architecture engineer should do so they realize what can happen if things are not done properly. 

Each week, the group will research specific failures each week, and convene to discuss our findings.

Weeks 1 and 2: planning of project timeline / initial reserach / submit project proposal
Week 3: discuss Lotus Riverside / Skyline Plaza
Week 4: discuss Skyline Plaza / Lotus Riverside / Sampoong Mall
Week 5: discuss Hyatt hotel / Bangladesh garment factory
Week 6: Assemble preliminary version of final report / Brainstorm for presentation
Week 7: Edit final report / plan presentation
Week 8: Assemble presentation / editing of final report
Week 9: Preparing final presentation / final editing of final report
Week 10: Submitting final proposal!

Section assignments are as follows - each group member will
study a different aspect of the structure’s failure:

Betsy: What were the causes of the structural failure? What were the consequences of the failure?
Muneerah: What materials and systems were used in the construction of the structure?
Nyein: What technical lessons were learned from the failure? What ethical lessons were learned?
Lindsey: What were the legal ramifications of these failures?

All group members will answer the question “What are your personal take away from these failures?”
We will combine the group’s opinions in the final report.