Building Failures: Avoiding the Mistakes of Yesterday Leads to the Successes of Today

Abstract

Most readers of the Journal of Architectural Engineering have investigated or performed remedial design for at least one architectural or engineering system failure during their careers. Other practitioners—particularly those who work for firms specializing in investigations, forensics, disaster response, and repair—are more familiar with the variety and extent of building failures as they assist their clients in restoring damaged or deficient buildings. Your viewpoint of the frequency of the occurrence of failures in our industry likely depends on your definition of a failure. Some would argue that the term building failure applies only to major structural collapses, while others believe that a failure should be defined as any building system or component that does not perform as intended. The latter definition would include myriad building performance problems associated with roofs, facades, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing MEP system balancing and control, and so on. From that perspective, a noninclusive list of structural and architectural/building system performance failures consists of the following: • Structural failures of all types, including those caused by natural disasters; • Building envelope water and moisture performance problems facades, roofing, waterproofing, flashing, sealants, and related issues ; • Durability, deterioration, maintenance, and repair of newer and historic buildings; • Design and construction errors; • Material defects; • Failures related to confusion over design and construction responsibility; • Comfort, performance, and control of MEP systems; and • Cost issues and failure to meet budgets. Failures do not discriminate or target specific projects. Construction projects, large or small, can experience failures of a variety of types. The smallest of items can lead to a catastrophic event. Such was the case in July 2006 when the failure of a grouted anchor caused the collapse of a concrete ceiling panel on the Interstate 90 connector tunnel Boston’s Big Dig , resulting in one fatality. A single sliding connection along an expansion joint resulted in damage claims of approximately $4 million as the result of a partial floor collapse at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center DLLCC in Pittsburgh in February 2007.