Newly Opened Mall Collapses Instantaneously Due to Structural Failure

The Artz Pedregal shopping center located in Mexico City suffered an instantaneous structural failure resulting in its instantaneous destruction. A video captures the moment the cantilevered, multi-story section of the mall collapses in a cloud of dust, smashed glass and twisted metal. 

Parts of the building fell onto a neighboring freeway which luckily had been closed just hours earlier. The shopping center opened in March but the section that collapsed was still under construction. 

The mall's construction had caused controversy since the beginning. It was built near a rain catchment basin that serves to regulate the city’s seasonally heavy rainfall and residents of the area felt that the construction had swallowed important public space. 

City officials are now investigating the collapse, it is unclear whether poorly installed soil on the building roof garden or a more integral structural issue was to blame. Mexico City has a reputation for substandard building quality that is exacerbated by poor subsoil. 

The region is also known for severe earthquakes. Developers hungry for quick returns have been known to build poor quality buildings in areas of unstable land adding to the problem. No one was injured in the collapse.

Via: Reforma Group