The pedestrian crossing in Tokyo's Akasaka neighborhood began to realize there was something odd about Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka that standing in there. The hotel turned out to be as high as 40 floors shrink by half.
This is a how to dismantle the skyscraper: no explosives such as those commonly used today. Slowly but surely, without the sound of explosions and smoke rising high, it began to be stripped. "By way of destruction like this, this building shrink and eventually disappear unnoticed," said Hideki Ichihara, manager at Tasei Corp., the company that worked on this demolition project said.
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| The Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka on November 6, 2008. (Picture from: http://www.businessinsider.com/) |
Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka was built in the 1980s to 140 meters (460 feet) high. This hotel is a symbol of a decade full of glory when the Japanese economy was very prosperous and they are the motor of the world economy. Now, the heyday had passed. Every 10 days, the hotel was reduced 2 floors or about 6.4 meters (21 feet). The Tasei Corp. developed Taisei Ecological Reproduction System (TECOREP) method for isolating noise and dust resulting from the demolition process. In addition, they also recycle energy pent up in a skyscraper.
How do they do it? The engineers reinforce the top of the building with concrete block and then reduce the height of the building. Concrete was left in place and then used as a flexible cover that can be derived by relying on external support.
Currently, there are 15 hydraulic jack used to prop up this cover during the demolition that goes floor by floor. The material is crushed and then separated and recycled where possible. "With this cover on top of the building, we were able to isolate noise and dust as much as possible," said Ichihara. "Dust pollution is reduced 90 percent, making the effect on the environment is very small."
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| This combo picture, taken on November 10, 2012 (L) and February 20, 2013 (R) shows a shrinking 40 floor luxury hotel Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka in central Tokyo. (Picture from: http://www.news.com.au/) |
In its heyday, Akasaka Puri (Japanese pronunciation to refer to the Akasaka Prince), is the gathering place of the upper class in Tokyo. The guests do not hesitate to pay hundreds of dollars for their stay in a luxury suite and Christmas Eve package for couples are also in great demand. This situation has changed since the 1990s when the explosion occurred in the stock market and property market of Japan. Luxury hotels are no longer crowded by guests and they should strive to bring in customers. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | YAHOO.COM]
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