Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse

By Jordan Rodriguez

Period 3

Before the Disaster

Construction of the hotel began in 1978 at Kansas City Missouri and it was opened in 1980. One of the building’s main features was its atrium lobby (a multi-story open area with a roof).

Another feature of the hotel were the 3 suspended walkways which were like bridges across the lobby which 2 were above on one another with the 3rd being off to the side.

The Disaster On July 17th 1981 about 2000 people were in the lobby

watching a dance competition. Dozens of people were packed into the overhead walkways. During the initial building phase a subtle design change

changed 1 support beam that would have helped in supporting the walkways to 2 support beams that did not have proper construction.

The Disaster cont

This caused the walkways to have a extremely difficult time holding up its own weight let alone dozens of people.

A little while after 7:50 PM the walkways collapsed and fell, killing a 114 people in the process and injuring over 200 others.

What could have been done

If the design had not been changed from a single beam to 2 bolted beams the walkways would have been able to support its own dead load plus its live load.

If the Dead load means a static structures own weight without anything like a house with nothing in it.

Live load means a dynamic load which includes live people, furniture and any other additions.

Old Design New Design

Aftermath

In the aftermath the Board of Architects, Professional Engineers, and Land Surveyors removed the licenses of the architects and the firm that had designed the building.

Oh and a whole lot of people were sued.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyatt_Regency_walkway_collapse#Disaster

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