2020 was a stressful year, so let’s decompress a little bit by reviewing some of the most fun demolition videos from the past year. A demolition that broke a 22 year old record highlights the bunch and I also stretch what the definition of “demolition” is a little bit, because I think the video is so cool. Don’t @ me.
Without further ado, here are the top 7 demolition videos from 2020:
[VIDEO] 2 U. of Texas Towers Imploded within 8 Feet of Another Building
On January 5, CDI took down two towers on the University of Texas’ campus, one a 10-story dormitory and the other a 12-story by way on an implosion. Both buildings were post-tensioned, reinforced concrete buildings according to CDI.
Adding to the excitement was the fact that another building separate from the project sat just 8 feet away from the 2 buildings that were felled. I was not able to find any reports stating that any damage occurred to any nearby buildings.
[VIDEO] Implosion Fails to Bring Down Dallas High Rise, Dubbed ‘Leaning Tower of Dallas’
Back in February, which seems like an eternity ago, demolition contractors had a little trouble bringing down the core of an 11-story structure in Dallas, Texas. What followed were a couple weeks of internet memes, dubbing the failure the “Leaning Tower of Dallas.”
About 2 and a half weeks later, the rest of the tower finally fell, thanks to the painstaking process of slightly nudging it to death with a wrecking ball. It was fun while it lasted.
[VIDEO] Watch the Explosive Demolition of Historic Detroit Basketball Arena, the Palace of Auburn Hills
From 1988 to 2017, the Palace of Auburn Hills was home to the Detroit Pistons of the NBA. On July 11, 2020, it was imploded into smithereens, ending a fantastic run for the historic arena.
While much of the building was previously demolished, Controlled Demolition Inc. (CDI) was brought into the site as the Explosives Subcontractor under Homrich Wrecking, Inc, the main contractor based in Michigan, in order to bring down the roof structure -- and they did so in spectacular fashion.
This demolition also lead to the sentence I was probably most proud of in 2020:
“Fans of this arena may know that this is actually the 3rd demolition that has taken place at the Palace in the building’s 30-year history: the first being the demolition of Michael Jordan’s body courtesy of the Pistons’ Bad Boys in the late 80’s and early 90’s and the second being the demolition of several fans faces during the “Malice at the Palace” in 2004.”
[WATCH] 8 Power Plant Chimneys Demolished at Same Time is Better than Dominoes
Power plants are facing demolition all over the world as country’s move away from less environmentally friendly power sources and abandon older facilities. The good news, for us, is that we get some pretty awesome demolition videos out of the shutdowns.
Power station chimneys are usually pretty exciting to watch, as many are tall and skinny, leading to a pretty dramatic conclusion. When there are 8 chimneys, it makes it even more exciting.
[VIDEO] Vertical Water Cannons Precede Implosion of 15 Story Tower in France
Demolition by implosions videos are obviously fun to watch, but the actual process creates an insane amount of dust. The challenge becomes hoe do you douse an enormous structure that falls within seconds with enough water to control dust effectively? The answer might be more explosives…
When the 15-story Pentagone Plaza tower located in Clamart, France was imploded in August, the demolition team didn’t just set up some hoses, they surrounded the structure in a bunch of small, inflatable swimming pools lined with explosives. The intent is to send a vertical pillar of water into the air right before the explosives inside the building go off in order to create a wall of water that the dust has to fight through.
[VIDEO] Watch an 85 Year Old, 5 Story Building be Relocated 200 Feet with a ‘Walking Machine’
This is the one that I took a little artistic creativity on the definition of “demolition.” It’s just too cool not to share and did require some demolition work to detach the superstructure from its foundation.
An 85-year old primary school in Shanghai, China was recently relocated 200 feet away and rotated 21 degrees to make way for a new development on its current home. By attaching 198 mobile supports under the support structure of the 5-story, 7,600 ton school, the building is able to “walk” to its new location.
[VIDEO] New World Record For Tallest Building Demolished By Explosives
Hard to top a new world record for the number 1 spot on your list…
Back in 1998, the Hudson Department Store in downtown Detroit, Michigan was demolished by explosives. That building stood 410 feet tall across its 29 floors, making it, at the time, the tallest building to ever be taken down by implosion. The dust cloud covered many city blocks and the 20,000 unsuspecting people that came to watch the event. That record was just recently broken by a building over 100 feet taller than it.
Prior to its recent demolition, the tallest building in Mina Plaza Complex in Abu Dhabi, UAE stood at roughly 541 feet across its 46 floors, according to Demoliton News. Scotland based demoltion company, Safedem, carried out the explosive demolition, which landed them in the Guinness Book of World Records.
There were four towers in the complex, totaling 144 stories in all, which were imploded simultaneously, according to Safedem.
2020 was a challenging year in many respects, but none greater than from a safety standpoint. The coronavirus pandemic placed the notion of “people over profits” under the microscope, while also balancing the needs of their employees to continue to make an income under difficult circumstances. While the pandemic was a large part of the construction safety conversation last year, there were several other developments to take note of for your projects in the future.