“Acts of God”: The Symbolic and Technical Significance of Foundation Failures

Abstract

During the last century, our perspective on foundation failures has changed profoundly. No longer are they seen as “acts of God,” but rather as opportunities for investigation and analysis. Failure investigation and analysis has become a hallmark of the geotechnical engineering profession as a way to verify geotechnical knowledge and theory. The present paper examines two frequently investigated failures, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Transcona Grain Elevator, in order to ascertain why these case studies have been important in a technical sense to the profession. The second half of the paper examines how historical and traditional cultures have symbolically interpreted foundation failures in the structures they have built, and how they have tried to prevent these failures by developing and implementing various ritual practices, especially feng shui . Some anthropologists argue that people perform such rituals because they want to feel that they have some control over their environment; others argue that the only thing empowered by the ritual is the person or groups who control the practice of the ritual.