This Floor-By-Floor Demolition Of A Skyscraper Is Amazingly Peaceful


When buildings grow past their prime, they usually reach their demolition fate — a cobbled, dusty mess — through dynamite explosion. It’s a crashing spectacle of destruction. Loud, angry and ruthless. But maybe it doesn’t have to be like that. Maybe it can be subtle, quiet and peaceful. Maybe it can be a strategic floor-by-floor demolition like the skyscraper in the video above.

Don’t blink, because you might miss a floor going bye bye. Having a building go floor by floor looks a lot like you’re clearing line after line after line in Tetris. Or if Mario’s mushroom ran out and he shrank back down to super small Mario. It almost looks like the building is being photoshopped smaller, pixel by pixel. But it’s all happening in real life.

Tasei Corporation, a Japanese construction company, is using a new and clever method to demolish a building. No more wrecking balls or explosions that leave a mess, instead, Tasei is taking the building apart from the inside. A crane is inside the building and lowers materials from each floor down. The crane actually generates electricity to power other equipment used in the teardown of the building so not only is the demolition clean, it’s green. As everything is removed from each floor, the temporary jacks and columns holding up a floor are lowered — which makes it look like the building is shrinking. This method reduces carbon emissions by 85 per cent, dust levels by 90 per cent and noise by 17-23 decibels. Plus, it looks mind-trippingly cool.

Read more about how to tear down a building from the inside here. [Japan Times, Wired]