The Nightmare of San Francisco’s Sinking Tower, Explained 

Hi everyone! If you'd like to work with me 1 on 1, you can now apply to my coaching program www.ashleyeusebio.com/work-with-me.

You forgot to mention about the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 and quite a few homes especially in the Marina District sunk and destroyed because the structures were built on top of mudflats which causes liquefaction, and the owners still rebuilt in that area again and these greedy developers still want to put a heavy condo building on top of landfill.

I remember a shopping center when I was younger. The building had good foundation, while the parking lot didn't. The asphalt ripped along the building, as the parking lot was sinking between 50-100 cm (20-40 inches). To solve this, they had to use light weight materials to fill up. If they would have used stones, they would just increase the sinking rate.

I wonder what would have happened to a tall building during a strong earthquake when it is standing on water logged soil?

I had a nightmare as a kid where my house was sinking.... You talking about your townhouse worries me a little because, on the second floor in front, everything rolls to one side. A cabinet without a magnet to hold the door closed had to be faced the other direction to prevent the doors from staying open lol. We have cracks in the walls and the doors for the front rooms are all messed up. Not quite as bad as this tower though. I don't think I'd have the guts to live in a TOWER like that. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.... Not a comforting quote to remember 🤣😅I wouldn't trust it.

Watched this again. The pics of lower level walls cracking and paint peeling are symptomatic. At best, a little spalling, just paint peeling. At worst, BIG problems.. That the building owner/management didn't even try to remedy these seemingly superficial problems just indicates the complexity of this issue, and the unwillingness for anyone to step up and admit responsibility. My advice to current residents: you probably have another home(s) elsewhere, go live there before it's too late. Let your lawyers duke it out in the meantime.

That really bites that they didn't take taking it down to bedrock from the very beginning into account. Making corrections after the fact is 'no bueno', may as well, close shop. Man up, Design Team, this is why you get paid the big bucks! We can not put a price on human safety, seriously! Well done, Ashley! 👏🏽

As for the building’s vulnerability in the event of an earthquake, the tilt is only part of the issue. The fact that its foundation only goes down to clay (at least the part that isn’t being shored up by rods) plays an enormous factor in terms of the overall performance of the structure during any seismic event. Even with the shoring system in place, I very much question the building’s viability long-term, as well as the system’s own performance during seismic movement. I don’t know anything about the math they’re using, but the sheer weight of the building plus the powerful forces from an earthquake surely would put both immediate and excessive force on those piers, as well as the entire system they are now a part of - to such an extent that it makes sense that the entire pier system would surely fail. If you want one good example of a skyscraper’s performance during powerful seismic activity, look no further than the Japan earthquake of 2011 which was a whopping *9.0* magnitude. To my knowledge, not even one of those skyscrapers fell to the ground. This was due to the competence of Japanese structural engineers who understood building tectonics, and knew to design for powerful earthquakes. The original plans for the Millennium Tower called for a much lighter structure which, in theory, did not require going all the way down to bedrock. The high tech lighter structure was going to cost more than its developers wanted, so the structural “recipe,” if you will, was changed to employ more conventional materials, which, as it turns out, would be significantly heavier than the higher-tech materials originally planned for. A bedrock foundation would prove more expensive than the foundation that was deemed suitable for the lighter structure, so SOMEHOW, SOME WAY, SOMEONE decided the shallower foundation would make due for the heavier structure. It doesn’t take a structural engineer to figure out that this is positive lunacy, and a recipe for disaster. At the risk of stating the obvious, I think the entire project ultimately fell victim to M.O.N.E.Y. The bean counters got their way, and now we have a fix in the works that comes at a gargantuan cost - that is, significantly more than it would have cost just to have the foundation system go all the way down to bedrock. The soil study alone should have told them immediately that the foundation they wanted to go with was completely inadequate. I just hope this so-called “fix” they’re scrambling to employ doesn’t end up costing lives. This entire fiasco was so totally avoidable…

Good recap but I would point out that plans for the development of the transit station next door were being debated for the last couple of decades, and then approvals were under consideration before the Millennial Tower. The who area has been underdevelopment since the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 did so much damage and caused the clearing of the old freeway system that was previously on that site. Thus, anyone building in that area should understand that there will be excavations near every site. Should the transit people have known that what the city approved for the Millennium was not what the City approved? Should transit have known that the Millennium developers would cut corners with the foundations when other buildings have foundations going to bedrock? How much is anyone development responsible for modifying their own development if the next door development develops problems that their poor design should never have allowed to be problems in the first place? And we all wonder, if there is a big earthquake here, even more than the Loma Prieta was, what would the Millennium fall into? It is surrounded by high rises.

Great video. I am currently writing a script for a soil settlement video and I came across your vid whilst doing my research.

Ashley, I live hee in SF - you make the best explanation I've seen in YEARS.

A good video. Not too technical, covers a thought-out range of issues. I enjoyed it.

Also, I was here in Embarcadero West during the earthquake - and I worked before in the Fremont tower cross corner, what about an earthquake dropping the whole building?

Great video! I just found your channel and I am really enjoying the content. SF is the hot topic right now it seems!😄

Great point about the city taking responsibility. It also shows that we can build to code and still run into unforeseen issues.

I'm kind of surprised your Channel is sill underrated. You have great contents on design and Architecture. Very informative. New subscriber here. 😀

I like the part when you said that everyone in this project is pointing the blame to each other... 😂This is my usual day today in our construction projects... 😅 I Think there is a big question mark for the result of the soil investigation report in this project that lead to this foundation design..!!!

An engineer has posted a video on the design of the support pilings. He is concerned that the pilings will not be able to support the load that will be placed on them.

Wow great video!! I always learn so much from your videos such thorough research and very insightful. Next time I'm going to pay attention to my parking lot walls and make sure their are no cracks. You can never be too careful!

THIS IS HOW THE MILLENNIUM TOWER HAPPENED In mid-2004, the Department of Building Inspection took the extraordinary step of ordering construction halted on a 52-story project at 80 Natoma St. because the building would be unstable with the as planned foundation on the clay and sand soil of South of Market. The then head of the building inspection department, Frank Y. Chiu, said in a legal declaration in October 2004 that he ordered a work stoppage in light of their experts’ warnings that the 80 Natoma St. project would sink far more than the geotechnical designers estimated. At this point in time, The Millennium Tower is still on the drawing board and has the exact same foundation designed by the exact same geotechnical firm - Treadwell and Rollo - that designed the much much lighter 80 Natoma St. project that was just shut down by the Department of Building Inspection for having an inadequate foundation. Treadwell and Rollo are now undeniably aware that their foundation as planned for the Millennium Tower is inadequate and that it will be rejected by the Department of Building Inspection so they simply did not submit it for review and let construction begin. It is of record and is undeniable. This is what happened and it can be easily fact-checked by anybody, everything else that is being thrown around including the kitchen sink is I suspect an intentional distraction from what is a simple truth

Ignoring the huge safety concerns, imagine how embarrassed those wealthy people are to utter, "I live in the Millennium Tower." This is an engineering nightmare, and a lawyer's dream come true.

Back in 2014 I sold my apartment in a 'cheap' building for divorced people and others with little money, and one of the interested parties was a father of his son probably getting his own place, and that father had probably seen a TRvid video like this, because he asked me one million questions about the structure of the building, if there were cracks anywhere and stuff like that, as if I could answer those questions, pretty ridiculous, anyhow, fun fact, the building was made as some kind of development of a new technology, where everything was concrete, and in another apartment someone suffering from schizophrenia had bought a can of petrol, poured it out in the apartment, lit it on fire and left, the fire department had almost not managed to stop the fire so they had pumped tons of water into the building, and all the water ended up in the basement, the result was the whole building "raised" or something, my doors did not open or shut properly during this, (something I solved by putting spacers into the hinches to lift the doors, when the building settled again I removed the spacers), pretty clever, anyhow, even with buildings made by concrete there can be issues

I lived in SF back in the time thry were "getting" this plan approved. Gavin and the board finally approved it and many rumors of what that cost the developers. We all knew that the shallow foundation was a scam. And guess what? It was a scam...

I've read comments from people who worked on the project and said they knew very early into the project that this would be a problem. Perhaps it was too expensive to add deeper pylons down to the bedrock?

Hi Ashley! How are you? I see you hadn't made any recent videos lately. Perhaps I can give you some inspiration or something.... You should do a video on the Nightmare of Toronto 's Unsafe Government Building, Explained 😛: The Whitney Block Tower Ontario government building that has been abandoned since the 1960s.

Very nice explanation. Thanx!

The problem is a direct result of not anchoring the building to bed-rock. The excessive water pumping issue wouldn't even exist if the structure was of proven design and construction. Obviously, monetary concerns were more important than established construction methods. The leaning nightmare will get worse over time. Demolition of the building should start immediately.

She's worried about elevators. Pipes bursting, window cracking, walls leaking, floors buckling, electric power lines potential fire and grounding.

you keep saying "I trust the people who built …etc " and I recall that at some point it was imparted on to me to trust no one with my life but me and even then, not completely. as an example, everyone trusted the designers, engineers, builders and crew of the Titanic and it was the only builders who were safe at home when she sank. I'm betting on "drain water out of the other side so that it's at least level if shorter than intended" as the penultimate solution.

.. a general summary of other news and engineering reports which indicates the soil was inadequate to support a heavy building without piers reaching bedrock, that asymmetric foundation walls associated with the parking garage anchor zones of the building in such a way that settling occurs unevenly. The remedial piers have displaced soil and increased the tilt with little if any stabilization. Leave the commentary to the engineers that have been ignored throughout this process and follow the money Ashley.

They got lucky it is not tilting to another residential. Otherwise it could start a domino effect.

Risk assessment. Understand the upsides, the downsides, and their probabilities.

Hi I’m an undergraduate international student who wants to apply for the architecture program in UBC but I find it difficult.

I don't believe the building is safe when local seismic activity is taken into account. What happens when (not if) a 7.0 earthquake shakes San Francisco? Liquefaction can make it worse.

I wonder how much the building contractor paid her for this video.

I love your efforts on this channel ❤

The idea that the City is in anyway responsible for this goes against all fundamental principles of the Economic Theory of Law. Imagine how reckless all actors in the design of any construction requiring a permit are invited to become from the moment they learn they can transfer their liability to the body that ultimately gives a green light to start digging. Who did the geotechnical/established the parameters for it? Who analyzed the data and, knowing the history of this site, determined the safety coefficients? Those professionals are closer to the core of causes that led this building being in this situation.

58 stories? Here in NYC, we call that baby stuff. We got buildings that'll make you dizzy. We knock 50-story buildings down when we get sick of looking at them. Knock it down and rebuild it. And this time put some effort into it and stop fooling around.

builders were very irresponsible and the city officials that approved the project without foundations on bedrock are to blame as well... now it´s total loss... it should be demolished...

One of the engineers forgot to carry the 3.

God protect us from architects. Even Wright screws up on structural integrity.

Let's say Ron Hamburger knew for a fact that a magnitude 8.3 earthquake was hitting San Fancisco in 3 minutes and he was located in the lobby of the Millennium Tower. Do you suppose he will stay in his safe, safe building, or will he run as fast and far away from it as he can? Stated another way, is the man sincere in his insistence? I think not. The people declaring that building is safe are the same ones who designed, built, and approved the project in the first place. These people should not be in the position to make decisions about the triage to keep the thing from falling down. They do not have the credibility to be putting out confident statements of safety.

It's sructurally sound but the foundation walls have extreme structural cracks - Huh ? I woulda thought severe structural cracks would also expose the reinforcing to corrosion leading to further structural faults, leading to worsening the severity of the structural cracking - and on and on. Drop the building, and turn the lot into an area for a tent city for hundreds and pay them reparations (5 million $ each) to let them buy better tents with airconditioning, perhaps ?

To answer the ALL IMPORTANT QUESTION is it safe NO here is the proof have the designers and the engineers that built the thing move in with out the possibility of moving out until it is fixed Ill bet that they want nothing to go with what at this point the best thing to do is to dismantle the building and then may be start over Or not they can wait for it to fall on its own and this will happen soon then they can pick up the peaces and pay for the losses then and i thing that will be more then starting over

Building Integrity a structural engineer on TRvid has followed this and done a series including his recent report that suggests a major flaw in their so called fix that could result in a cascade failure of the fix although it's unlikely to topple. It will increase it's tilt from the current 29" tilt exceeds 40" the gravity fed sewage will stop flowing and it will be vacated and disassembled. Its built on landfill. Hamburger is full of it.

Arrrh, I would not live there if people pay me. lol

Nobody saying that word...... EARTHQUAKE. NOT ONE MENTION OF A VERY REAL POSSIBILITY

In short, cutting corners have consequences.

We needed more show and less talk in this report

Built in 2009, called "millennium" because?

i wonder how they are going to blame the homeless or trump or global warming for this one.

Vibrate the other side.

TIMBER.. !!!!

You better get King Kong 😂😂😂😂😂🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🚩🚩🚩🚩🍌🍌🍌

They cheaped out. That is all that matters

An architect who is not an engineer, should be very cautious about expressing technical opinions. This post is not a worthy post, unless one wants to just hear prattle about a really serious problem.

Gotta quit the sign language. It’s distracting and nonsensical.

Nonsense, the building is flawed. Just a matter of time!

It's this building follow me I don't want for King 🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌😂

Is this building following me 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🚩🍌🍌🍌

QUIT SPASTIC HANDS;

entire valid data stream @ 2:45-2:49; balance of video is sophomoric egoism with violent arm flailings

There ought to be a building code dispersing obese residents equally around the condo.

OMG!! We're all gonna die!!!

I wouldn't live in that building if it were free.