With the partial building collapse that affected nearly 80 apartment units, left people missing, injured others, and closed multiple businesses, the community has been left with many, many questions - the main being "how did this happen?" One internationally known architect has offered up his reasoning and theory how the collapse happened.

Mike Bell, an architect from South Africa known for his analysis of building failures that he helps explain on his YouTube Channel published a new video using citizen drone footage of the damage as well as interviews with residents and witnesses, and gives a digital recreation of the event.

While it's not an official inspection because obviously, he hasn't been to the site of the collapse, he still gives a reasonable theory to why it did.

Randy Heggen
Randy Heggen
loading...

Mike explains that while the collapse was sudden, there were a few moments of warning leading up to the event, such as the story of the cleaning crew who heard the roof collapsing and got out of the area just in time before the collapse happened.

The building was constructed with a hybrid of brick and steel, which he explains was unusual but common at the time. The outer walls are load-bearing brick with a steel frame on the inside.

"The brick holds up the steel beams while simultaneously, the steel is the support of the lateral wall," Mike explained.

Randy Heggen
Randy Heggen
loading...

Mike explained this mixed structure type is not ideal, because the materials move and expand in different ways than each other, which is why it isn't used anymore.

Mike speaks of residents complaining of sagging floors and cracks, the covered walk installed around the building to protect pedestrians from falling bricks. He says that the signs of the building's state can be seen on Google Street View as early as 2008.

"There is water damage and efflorescent salts leaching out," he says. "It was repainted two years ago to cover over the decay."

Google Street View
Google Street View
loading...

He showed that there had been infill work and repairs done to the base of the wall that came down, possibly where the collapse happened. Mike doesn't like what he sees in the repairs.

"Repairs to load-bearing walls require expertise and care. Their repairs also mixed clay and concrete bricks. This is a bad idea on a structural wall. I believe this brick wall failed at the base," he said in the video. "The likely point of failure was the dodgy brick work around these three openings, and improper shoring of the substantial loads from the five stories above."

He then showed his recreation of the collapse, saying it only lasted a matter of seconds.

Mike Bell
Mike Bell via YouTube
loading...

"The facade tore along the weakest point at the window openings. The load-bearing outer brick wall dropped. With no wall to hold the steel beams, they gave way. The first row of steel columns held and stopped the collapse from spreading.There's no evidence this was a foundation problem.

 

 

In summary, this collapse was a result of a shoddily constructed and inadequately repaired brick wall that had been neglected. The vertical cut faces of the bricks on either side of the damage remain very precarious."

Randy Heggen
Randy Heggen
loading...

Mike said "This building had serious issues for a long time and posed a headache for the city. Those affected by the tragedy need answers and deserve a proper investigation to uncover who is liable."

Check out his full explanation here:

LOOK: Here are the states where you are most likely to hit an animal

Hitting an animal while driving is a frightening experience, and this list ranks all 50 states in order of the likelihood of such incidents happening, in addition to providing tips on how to avoid them.

More From B100