News Forum - No one responsible for Service Hall collapse at Don Mueang Airport, confirms AOT

[Thaiger]

No one is responsible for the partial collapse of the newly-built Service Hall at Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport in April last year, confirms Airports of Thailand (AOT). Excessive rainfall was blamed for the incident. Tomorrow, February 8, the repaired Service Hall will open for use nearly one year after its collapse. On April 17, 2022, …

The story No one responsible for Service Hall collapse at Don Mueang Airport, confirms AOT as seen on Thaiger News.

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[Bluesofa]

24 minutes ago, Thaiger said:

Pisak said a committee consisting of officials from the Engineering Institute of Thailand, Council of Engineers and Architect Council found the cause to be, “excessive rainfall which caused the gutter to fall and hit the brick wall causing the building to collapse.”
To improve the building’s structure, pipes have been modified to ensure more efficient drainage of rainwater, said Pisak.
The new Service Hall has been examined in great detail and is stable, safe, and ready to take on rainy season, assures Pisak.

 

'No one is responsible' Of course not. Was it an act of god/buddha?

Then the article goes on to say “excessive rainfall which caused the gutter to fall and hit the brick wall causing the building to collapse.”
So the architect not allowing for “excessive rainfall" was not their fault? Excessive rainfall is not uncommon in Thailand at all - unless you're an architect who didn't allow for it.

[Soidog]

Failure to learn by mistakes is an all too common feature in Thai society. It’s all wrapped up in the loss of face nonsense. The only hope is that the person who will obviously be responsible will learn quietly from it. In this instance no one was hurt. Such attitudes can not be allowed when people are injured or killed. 

[Grumpish]

Which translates as "we have received our cut of whatever was paid to get the sub-standard design\materials\work signed off"?

[Dom4Thai]

Who cares? Nobody gives a damn. White foreigners, if you don't like it the door is there to say Good Bye! 

[KaptainRob]

A Member has been BANNED for inciting racism and flaming + duplicate accounts.

This thread may now be reopened.

[palooka]

Anuts company were the builders, election year ???? what did anyone expect to be different?

[palooka]

Come on in a civilised western country 99.9% of the guys would be doing serious time.

TIT.

[Soidog]

1 hour ago, KaptainRob said:

A Member has been BANNED for inciting racism and flaming + duplicate accounts.

This thread may now be reopened.

Good job KR

[Gord]

6 hours ago, Bluesofa said:

'No one is responsible' Of course not. Was it an act of god/buddha?

Then the article goes on to say “excessive rainfall which caused the gutter to fall and hit the brick wall causing the building to collapse.”
So the architect not allowing for “excessive rainfall" was not their fault? Excessive rainfall is not uncommon in Thailand at all - unless you're an architect who didn't allow for it.

Well blaming an architectural firm for this collapse would be incorrect as it would be the responsibility of a registered Structural Engineer to account for this.

I don't know details BUT i did stay at a Holiday inn express last night. My guess is that the gutter clogged leading to excessive force not part of the design calculations. Structural Engineers model large structures utilizing software like STAAD because  finite element analysis is too complex to utilize by hand calculations. Seismic, snow, live loads, dead loads, wind loads, rain loading all factor in to the load modelling with a large factor of safety "usually" built in to the design.

It would be interesting to participate in the forensic analysis of the failure but i would feel bad for who ever would carry the responsibilty (if in the US of A).

For reference, residential design of wood structures like houses in USA is empirical. Charts and experience can suffice on standard home design ie. a gable roof on a rectangle (like a Cape Cod) although severe weather prone areas can require specialized roof design like clips and screw and glue versus nails etc. etc.

Luckily no one was injured afaik

 

 

[Bluesofa]

19 minutes ago, Gord said:

Well blaming an architectural firm for this collapse would be incorrect as it would be the responsibility of a registered Structural Engineer to account for this.

I don't know details BUT i did stay at a Holiday inn express last night. My guess is that the gutter clogged leading to excessive force not part of the design calculations. Structural Engineers model large structures utilizing software like STAAD because  finite element analysis is too complex to utilize by hand calculations. Seismic, snow, live loads, dead loads, wind loads, rain loading all factor in to the load modelling with a large factor of safety "usually" built in to the design.

I stand corrected.
Are you saying that an architect should consult with a structural engineer during the design process?
If this is correct, then wouldn't the structural engineer (via the architect) be responsible for not allowing for (what was claimed to be) excessive rainfall in Thailand?
How come we don't seem to hear about the same problem more often?
Or have I completely misunderstood?

[KaptainRob]

Two non-conforming posts removed.

[Mamachigawa]

Somebody designed it. Somebody erected the structure. Somebody should have maintained it. So it is nobody's fault but did any other roof nearby get destroyed by the thunderstorm?

[Gord]

On 2/8/2023 at 1:32 AM, Bluesofa said:

I stand corrected.
Are you saying that an architect should consult with a structural engineer during the design process?
If this is correct, then wouldn't the structural engineer (via the architect) be responsible for not allowing for (what was claimed to be) excessive rainfall in Thailand?
How come we don't seem to hear about the same problem more often?
Or have I completely misunderstood?

In my limited experience the Architect designs the initial building. The structure is checked and structurally detailed by the SE firm or person. Often in buildings the architectural design is overkill so the SE simply back checks the Architects design.

Sometimes there are grey areas of who does what. Gutters may have fallen in to that category. A gutter manufacturer might supply their own design details for gutter type ABC. Don't quote me, i only spent a few years in structural design arena.

[palooka]

On 2/9/2023 at 12:24 PM, Mamachigawa said:

Somebody designed it. Somebody erected the structure. Somebody should have maintained it. So it is nobody's fault but did any other roof nearby get destroyed by the thunderstorm?

Seems a street persons "lean to" collapsed in the storm.

Poor bugga didn't have insurance either, so he moved to the nearest overhead BTS line and found out it was built by the same crowd that built the airport.  Think he lives under a tree infested with white ants, but he feels safer now.

 

[Soidog]

So had this injured someone or even killed them, would a court have ruled that no one was to blame and hence no case to answer. Just an act of god!