Spot The Difference

[Mulboyne]

[floatl][/floatl]The Asahi reports (Japanese) that construction company Kajima is pioneering a new demolition method on their former HQ in Akasaka, Tokyo. Usually, buildings are dismantled from the top down but the new method starts from the bottom - the Asahi compares it with the children's game "daruma otoshi" where the aim is to strike out the lower blocks with a hammer without knocking off the daruma head at the top (left). The pictures above show the two blocks of the old HQ apparently shrinking. It was originally a 20 storey building around 75 metres tall but, since March, has lost 4 floors and now stands 60m. Currently, this is a more expensive way of taking a building down but Kajima believes that it is safer - there is less chance of falling debris causing accidents - and allows for more recycling of materials. In time, they also believe that they can reduce the cost to make it more competitive.

[Mulboyne]

Here's an update.

[wuchan]

I was wondering, why can't they just implode buildings with explosives like they do in New York? It has been proven to be a safe and cheap method. Maybe the lack of explosion experts leads to fear of a foreign dominated industry.

[Mulboyne]

I was wondering, why can't they just implode buildings with explosives like they do in New York?

I don't know but while I was googling to become an instant expert on the subject, I noticed that Pink Tentacle has a video online showing the technique being used to demolish Kajima's old HQ:

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[Charles]

I was wondering, why can't they just implode buildings with explosives like they do in New York? It has been proven to be a safe and cheap method. Maybe the lack of explosion experts leads to fear of a foreign dominated industry.

I dunno about that, it doesn't seem safe to blast on top of sites that sometimes discover unexploded bombs during excavation.

I wonder how the shrinking buildings were perceived by people who didn't know about the demolition. I bet they looked out at the skyline and wondered why it seemed shorter, week by week.

[bolt_krank]

That's pretty cool.

[pheyton]

That's pretty cool.

Of course it's cool, it's Japanese!

Excellent way to avoid toxic dust, debris, etc from flying all around the surrounding areas. Plus, as they say more can be recycled. I can definitely see this being used in the future.

[Catoneinutica]

I dunno, the claptrap about "recycling" materials from demolished buildings seems like just a fig-leaf to gloss over the gross wastefulness of Japan's scrap n' build obsession.

[Mulboyne]

Kajima has announced the design for the new building for their head office site.

[Doctor Stop]

It looks almost like the old one.

[Taro Toporific]

Kajima has announced the design for the new building for their head office site.

It looks almost like the old one.

Yep.
[SIZE="1"]Kajima Corporation (headquarters).jpg[/SIZE]
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