Japanese method demolishes 456-foot tall Tokyo hotel from the bottom up.
We will admit that, in this instance, we were a little late to the party – A video of this extraordinary demolition method has been doing the rounds online for more than a week now while we scrabbled around trying to get some more information on the story.
But, at long last, we have finally found a definitive explanation of how the system works.
According to reports, The Taisei Ecological Reproduction System (Tecorep) is designed to safely bring down buildings over 100 metres (328 feet) high. Temprary columns are used to prop up the roof, and are progressively lowered by jacks — the effect makes it look like the building is being constructed in reverse, coming down step by step. The technique has been used on the 139-meter (456-foot) Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka, which closed down nearly two years ago.
According to Taisei Corp, the advantages of the technique go beyond safety and aesthetics, too — Tecorep cuts down noise by 17 to 23 decibels, reduces dust by up to 90 percent, and is said to be more environmentally friendly.
Read more here, or watch the astonishing video below:
