Urban redevelopment: building demolition, Tokyo style
OK, so it’s not quite so dramatic as the old-fashioned controlled explosion method, but it’s infinitely more elegant and high-tech: check out this amazing time-lapse video of the Kajima Corporation’s new method of demolishing obsolete buildings in crowded Tokyo:
Unlike conventional demolition that begins at the top of the building, Kajima’s new method starts at the bottom. As each floor is demolished, the support columns are cut and replaced with giant computer-controlled jacks, which slowly lower the entire building one floor at a time. The process is repeated for each successive floor until the entire building is gone.
Maybe they’ll replace the buildings with something like these “server rack” prefab houses?
