(no subject)

[weaktwos]

"I am completely stunned," Andreu was quoted as saying in Monday's edition of the French Communist daily L'Humanite. "I cannot explain what happened. I don't understand."

-Paul Andreu, the Architect of the new airport terminal at Charles DeGaulle Airport. Part of the roof fell in and killed 5 people.

I'm sure he's not to blame for the accident, but I don't think an architect should "not understand". I mean, either he screwed up the design, or someone screwed up the construction. I'm just amused that he was quoted as such.

I bet he gets ousted from the Masons...

Comments

Well, actually...

[denimdoll.livejournal.com]

It's very likely that the architect doesn't have a clue what went wrong. Architects are great about designing beautiful, yet totally impractical structures. It was probably an engineering problem or a flaw in the materials.

I used to work for engineers who reviewed architectural drawings for waterproofing issues. You'd be amazed at how many structures were gorgeous, yet would leak like a sieve if built the way they were designed.

[vanguardian.livejournal.com]

Or, possibly an inexperienced person was in charge of the materials. I tell you, some of the things my Dad has seen working as a foreman / draftsman. He once saw plans for a concrete foundation drawn up for a building by a recently graduated engineering student. Had the concrete thickness expressed as 3.125". Come on! It's concrete. Let me see you measure concrete down to a thousandth of an inch.

Ok, sure that's 3 1/8", but still. It's concrete. Try measuring that down to 1/8" granularity. It's possible, but it'll cost you.