Strategic links save buildings from total collapse

In June 2021, the pool deck of Champlain Towers South, a residential building in Florida, suddenly gave way, triggering the progressive collapse of a substantial portion of the whole structure in a matter of seconds (see go.nature.com/3tux2ks). Most buildings aren’t vulnerable to such extreme failure, but collapses still occur. Sometimes — albeit rarely — part of a building will be affected by severe weather, accidents, deterioration or even construction or design errors, and its failure instigates a domino effect that culminates in the collapse of the entire building, or a large section of it. But what if there were some way to prevent the dominoes from falling over? Writing in Nature, Makoond et al.¹ report an addition to an engineer’s armoury that can make buildings safer and more resilient by controlling the progression of collapse.

Nature 629, 533-534 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01143-z

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