Time and time again, those in charge of making structures expected to house and/or protect humans cut corners and rush construction so that they can save money. It's absolutely criminal.
@Leila Pereira 😩" YOU KNOW IT!.... On top of that, most international legal systems rarely convict those criminally liable or responsible. The most frightening aspect of it all is the public never knows which small or great structures may collapse upon or beneath them, at any given moment, resulting in their death or severe injury. "
I found it fascinating that you for some reason left out the fact that another of Paul Andreu's designs failed during construction due to design errors - September 28 2004 Dubai international Airport. The same year and only months apart from the Charles de Gaulle warnings were ignored during design and construction on both it seems that he was painted in a much better light in this documentary than he should have been.
I totally agree! It seems to me the guy was "so famous" it was like George Lucas with Episode I where nobody questioned his designs (that and he looks to have been getting on in years.) He was the LEAD engineer; I still can't believe this happened. Either a century ago or in a developing nation _maybe_ but 2004?
Even before the causes of this accident were given, the narrator said one line "...this was his last airport design" ... If that wasn't foreshadowing I don't know what is. I picked up on that as soon as he said it.
I work for french public transportations, and I absolutly hate the fact that this disaster doesn't have a french page on wikipedia, and It's difficult to find articles about this incident and the prosecutions that happened in 2018 in my language. I'm not saying that the truth was hidden, but everybody forgot about what could have been one of the worst disaster in France since the Mont Blanc tunnel blaze.
Thank you for this video. I was there at the terminal and had just boarded the plane from terminal 2E to fly back to South Africa. We had just taken off when the pilot announced that the terminal had just collapsed. I still remember the heavy rain that night and that our flight had been delayed.
Did I get this correctly? The cleaning staff found the ceiling crumbling, but still the terminal has been opened on that day? If concrete slowly cracks over time, it's one thing, but if you can noticeably see it evolving (e.g. when concrete dust is coming from the ceiling), then it's absolutely not acceptable to open the terminal. You don't need to be an expert on this to take such precautionary measures.
Yup. It would've been a lot more work than just 'keep that section closed', tho. People don't enter airports just from the main entrance. To make sure people don't go in the at-risk section, they'd have to redirect all ground traffic to other terminals; for a busy airport like this one, it's easier said than done and might result in some in-air diversions. Just putting up a bit of caution tape and turning people away wouldn't cut it.
as they said they quickly evaluated the situation and started evacuation but : - You don't empty such a big airport with people with luggahges or who refuse not to miss their flight. - You must first send someone to ensure that there is a problem, you can't just close one of the world busiest airport because a cleaner reported dust falling from the ceilling. That would lead to gigantic money lost but also a huge security risk, it could be a way to facilitate a sabotage, create a dangerous panic mouvement or a terrorist might use the evacuation to sneak and plant a bomb. I'm not even speaking of waiting for the crowd to accumulate in front of the batiment, outside of the security filters and start shooting in the mass. What happen is that it took a lot of time for the cleaners to head to their superiors, do a report, for them to head to the place, ensure there was a problem, come back and declare the emergency and so the evacuation. Its not just screaming "everybody out and run for your lives".... BTW these terminals are never closed, cleaners do their duty while passengers walk around. They didn't "finished then someone decided to open the terminal"
@@justeunfan3364 That is not what I heard. And yes: It should be possible to evacuate an airport quickly. If that is not possible, there is something seriously wrong. And also yes: You can absolutely close such an airport. People just need to have the guts to value life over money. And if that poses a security risk, then there is something wrong in the airport design and/or evacuation procedures. Also, you would be surprised how many terminals close over night even at major airports. That depends mostly on the traffic. If there happens to be no traffic at that night, it's just convenient to close and it saves money.
@@fr89k As I said the longest part is to ensure there is a problem. Things like that are extremly rare, even more in a new structure so it took time to inspect the ceiling. You can close a terminal, but you wont do it 10 time a day everytime a passenger find someone looking suspicious or a cleaner finding concrete dust. It could have been someone installing a new equipment with a drilll the previous day and not cleaning its dust. Then the took mesures but sadly it was too late
I was there in 2017, i have traveled the world and i have to say - Charles De Gaulle is a shitshow of an airport. They messed up so many things , making passengers run around in circles ending up missing their flight.
Try to get to Terminal 2 at the Salt Lake International Airport. They definitely made it look pretty, but have a nice jog! (or sprint, if you're making a connection from T1)
I think LAX is pretty bad to. Unfinished construction, heavy traffic, lots of passangers...and its even harder to get out of the airport because transportation so expensive.
@@weltonvillegal6258 You beat me to it. I was going to comment on the same thing. I once knew a person who worked in TSA and Chicago is where you went if the agency was trying to get rid of you. But having travelled through O'Hare myself I can say that its issue comes down to one thing. It is just too damn big. Way too much traffic in and out of that air port. You couldn't pay me enough to work air traffic control there.
It was found that a contributing cause of the collapse was that the walkway tubes on the backside of the construction weakened the rigidity of the overall structure. Those walkways were an afterthought and were not calculated into the original plans .
Nothing at all to do with those. Did you actually listen to the article and what was reported? There were inherent faults in the construction the ceiling collapsed.
Your production quality is so high it shocks me that your views aren't in the 6 digits. Your focus on finding and telling these stories from all around the world is something I massively appreciate!!
I went through this terminal in the middle of the summer and it was miserable. Not sure if they have air conditioning or not, but with all the light coming in the windows it was hot and smelly inside.
This was a good informative video, but calling the collapse not “a full-scale tragedy” at 03:47 because “only” four people were killed is a dangerous mindset to settle in. Four deaths is four too many deaths.
I imagine this architect putting hundreds of pictures of this really cool looking terminal in his portfolio and when you ask him if that's the one that collapsed, he just scoffs "not completely, I mean like, only FOUR people died, so it wasn't even really important. HIRE ME"
its also not a full scale tragedy in the way only a small part collapsed du to the general shape. When such huge buildings fail the entire structure cant collapse and disintegrate, killing everyone inside and close outside. Here most of the building was intact and even some people who were buried under the concrete survived because the concrete arches kept their shapes and didn't failed. So compared to what it could have been its " not a full scale tragedy".
All building design drafts are sent to structural engineers who do the engineering. They can fully put the kibosh on a proposed plan if it is unrealistic, unsafe, or just doesn't meet standards. Also, we are trained in basic structural engineering and material sciences; at least I was. People educated decades ago, like him? I don't know. In my opinion, blame for nearly any and all structural failures like this land on the shoulders of everyone involved in the process. Engineers have a responsibility to design a capable support structure, builders have a responsibility to build it with safe materials and through safe practices, and architects have the responsibility to oversee and manage the entire design process as we are the only ones who are present through every step. The real systemic failure is the priority of profits and cost cutting above human safety. That actually seems to be a theme in Dark History's videos.
@@Tadesan Do you work within the Architectural field or even adjacent? The whole design process is extremely rigorous requiring the production of hundreds of drawings and design schematics that dictate specifications on nearly any and all aspects of a building's design that you can think of; which makes this failure even more damning for all involved in each step of construction, at least in my opinion. Every element of this building that led to the failure was likely a written, drawn, or indicated value on a construction document and the architect should know about what the hell they're designing. But that also means that the deficiencies were right there on paper and should have been caught by the engineers during the structural review of the proposed design.
The design reminds me of the airport Leipzig/Halle in Germany. There is also a long tube with the check-in-counters and access to the parking areas. This airport construction does have support pillars in it.The airport in Leipzig, Germany was opened in 1924 and rebuilt after WW2. Then 1993 the Terminal A was remodeled, a few years later Terminal B was opened. In 2003 the new central terminal that reminds me of the here shown CDG terminal was finisehd and opened. There you also have access to a train station that's used by long-distance and commuter trains.
I was waiting for that flight to Prague. Craziest, scariest moment of my life was running from that collapse. Started about 100 ft behind where I was standing at the time.
When he said "instead of consulting the construction engineers, the management increased the pressure to finish the job earlier and at a lesser cost" all I could think of was, oh great, another one of those.
Really appreciate this fascinating/tragic series. I like to watch this sort of content a lot but there's still loads in your channel I've never heard of. Great editing, great work - can't believe you don't have more subscribers (now you definitely have one more). Keep it up! 💪
VIDEO: The futuristic construction looked amazing and was awe inspiring. (Then shows a picture of the inside of said terminal). ME: Meh...looks pretty basic, actually.
That's what I thought too. It's nice, but not really amazing. Modern architecture is rather boring. In contrast, look at medieval... well, medieval anything. Gothic, Japan, China. Or go to the old quarters of Colombia's capital, etc. Modern architecture isn't bad, but it isn't that great either.
It was in 2004, the horrible concrete towers of suburbs looked as impressive in 1980/1990 as things like the burj kalifa or modern suspended briges look today.
TBH nobody gives af if an airport has cool designs. We, as passengers, only give f for its accessibility. It could be square square square square and square as long as it’s easy to navigate
Thank You for the documentary - but Please - its Aeroport Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle. De Gaulle, not du Gaulle. Im not french, but the repeated mispronunciation hurts. Its like calling the JFK Airport "John E. Kennedy"
I was a kid at that time about 8 years old , everywhere every news channel was showing this , it was like something big has happened this was after 9/11 so it was seen in the same way , i didn't knew anything but today I remember what was going on after watching your video
Starting 2:15 and later, these are pictures of the rebuilt tube, not the crashed original one ! Each time there's a wooden layer inside, it is the rebuilt one, not the original one !
That was very odd. A number of UA-cam videos have strange phrasing like this, even when English seems to be the native language of the narrator. Maybe language is just dying online.
750 million Euro in 2004 is the equivalent to over 1 billion Euro today. All so some passengers who are just passing through. I can understand spending on a hotel or a resort where people would stay for days, but why waste this kind of money an airport terminal? I use to travel by air quite a lot and did it to and from at least 7 international airports and I could not care less what they looked like. All I wanted was to be on my way from the airport to my destination.
The billion didn' go into the style, but just the building. Its way bigger and must be way more secure than a regular hotel. You have to take into account the managing of huge crowds, the vibration from the planes etc. Plus its was a state command and seing how much money tourism bring to France is a very low investisment. We shuld never look at the abolute price, but the ratio between the price and the money it will bring back.
I must say i’ve been to some airports and Charles de Gaulle airport was the ugliest one of them. Even with all these “fancy” designs the place just looks boring. Plain concrete walls with no coating whatsoever. These are the things you notice way more when you’re trying to catch a flight than some tunnel shaped terminals.
Exactly, for large projects like this it seems unlikely the lead architect had much to do with the structure. Architects can and do design the structure regularly for houses and other smaller or less complex buildings though.
@@CrazyMazapan I had architect friends and I had civil engineer friend. Trust me I never recalled my architect friend did civil engineering mathematic. I mean my roommate is architect and me engineer myself so I sit with them often.
Part of me thinks this was all done within the same company. And this architect was both the CEO and the lead architect. If I'm right, it would still come down to the engineers within the firm not double checking their numbers to make sure it could hold its own weight. If there is a blessing here, it is that only one section collapsed.
The design was stupid in many ways... My favorite was the incoming passengers going up the escalators directly to passport control.. no holding area.. people had to walk backwards whi!e the escalator moved under their feet
This is why the *profit motive* of capitalism should not be involved where health, life and safety could be an issue. It only cares about short term gains, not long term consequences.
I like how when there's a large mass of people who loose their lives its considered as a tragedy, however... When its just four people, its not considered as a tragedy. Loss of life, especially when unnessary is still a tragedy.
I've watched this before but the description of the terminal as 'modern, sleek, airy and full of light' (not exact words) sounded familiar and it suddenly struck me why: A very similar description was applied to the atrium of the Hyatt Regency hotel before the two walkways collapsed back in 1980, and for a similar reason - except in the case it wasn't built as designed, but a minor change that went unnoticed had far worse consequences in the deaths of over a hundred people, something that could easily have happened at Charles de Gaulle had this disaster taken place later in the day.
I've been to that airport, but it was way before this terminal that collapsed had even been built. What can I say? It was an airport. The rest of Paris was better than its airport but that's probably true of most of our airports in the world. The airport is just there for you to get on and off of planes and you do that, not because you want to see the airport, but because you want to see the place that the airport is in.
At the risk of other people's lives is absolutely insane and disgusting in so many uncountable ways. The loss of just one life cannot be ignored or compared. Of course I'm very glad that more people were not injured or killed.
I'm a huge fan of this channel! However, I wanted to give some advice to maybe consider being a little more sensitive to the wording when describing tragedies, like in this video. It sort of sounded like the tragedy was downplayed since "only" four passengers died. Four is still a lot if you think about it... And if my family died in an accident and someone said, "Oh, it's only just x amount of people, that's not that bad compared to whatever" I would feel upset. Just some constructive input to help this channel improve more and more. No bad vibes and I hope this doesn't hurt your feelings, I come from a good place and I know you do too. Thanks again for the video and keep up the rest of the great work!
i can't believe these deaths were caused from the design knowingly ignoring safety measures...it wasn't an attempt to save cost but the architect's ego that led to the accident which makes this so egregious
To this day, pretty architecture engineers don't consult with actual building engineers all the time. Looks are everything... to heck with safety. O know so many apartment building that look great on the grounds and in the main buildings with offices or the office area itself but structurally they let them run into the ground and put pretty tape on everything. It's pathetic how little integrity people actually have.
Could you make more videos about the U.S.? I'm enjoying your channel. I've been to this airport on my way back from 🇹🇷 in 2008... nice place but didn't know this happened.... 😱
As with ALL these structural failures from all over the world you always see one consistent fact, there is no oversight by the one's that check and approve/disapprove the work of all involved. This is always the case when a disaster occurs and there is an investigation. The one's that will tell you if it will work or not are always absent in the planning and construction process but are always brought in after a disaster to render a judgement against those involved.
I can't see how this thing is structurally sound. Strong winds could produce so much force on a curved surface that none should ever build a wing-like roof. I'm quite confident that it was the winds that produce aerodynamic forces exceeding the supporting limit of the thing and it eventually failed.
Sorry, but this one doesn't work for me. The flashing/shaking photos during the drumming sound made me feel dizzy. I can't imagine what effect it would have on someone with a severe disability, maybe it would help having a Warning at the beginning of the video. The microphone this guy is using makes his voice come out with a metallic edge, like a robot in a science fiction film. I like robots, but don't want to take lessons from them. The video is kind of unfinished, it would be good to know how this tragedy affected and changed the building rules and regulations and what has been done to prevent it from happening again. In other words, the legacy of this event. The lack of research led to the misrepresentation of the architect and calling the Dubai airport collapse his 'masterpiece' is grotesque. I'm not commenting on the mispronunciation, we all make mistakes with foreign names and places (but at least we don't do it on YT). The photos in general were a bit confusing, rarely showing what he was talking about. The rest was ok, interesting, not too fast, not too long, lots of technical information, perfectly balanced: sometimes professional, sometimes funny. Good effort with room for improvement. I'll watch his next video and see how it goes 😊
Well done video. Having just finished Churchill 's 6 part series on WW2 (a MUST read) the most amazing part of this story is that anyone would name anything after that prima Donna degualle!
Best french........ wow. that sets the bar low. I thought it was ugly like some disco nightmare from the 70's. Prayers for those hurt and for the families of those killed by this monstrosity.
Ok they attempted an evacuation as soon as they could. I’ve watched a few docs, for example of a case in India where a gas leak was involved where the staff decided to have a tea break rather than take immediate action.
I've seen a bunch of videos like this, and what bugs me the most is that nearly ALL of them have a common theme; cutting corners or using cheap materials to lower the cost. Okay, so KNOWING that this is a problem, why continue to do it?? It's like "this building collapsed, this plane crashed, this (I sent tragedy here) because they didn't follow protocol. Cool! Let's not follow protocol!" 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️ How tf does that make sense? Why do we keep making mistakes like this?
The problem is that there is not a "sure" cost to invest. You can put billions in ecess in a projet and still having it to fail because of a forgotten parrameter, or a unthinkable event. In general they cut corner while still keeping a margin and allowing the building to survive some mistake or event, but they put a limit somewere. I don't try to cover those who illegaly cut corners and fall under legal requirement, just that you will always go for the cheapest option. We will never heard that a building failed but the constructors had spend more money to keep a margin, even if its the case all the time, and also here. Its less sentational and easier to blame constructor than the bad luck
Please don't use this type of transition anymore. It's extremely annoying. I've seen it in other videos and it's like being repeatedly slapped in the face.
Lately we've seen a number of expensive architectural flights of fancy that have proven to be less functional or less structurally sound than a more conventional approach. This airport joins the list of structures that were innovative and impressive at first, but proved to have flaws that resulted in financial or usefulness costs.
It just looks unsafe, a long flat tube, just like tunnels are not built, or arches - even if it hadn't falling down after a year what state would it be in after 20 years - another beardy weirdy modern architect thinking they know better than gravity .
I feel so bad for the victims of this disaster. This happened at 7 a.m., and they didn't bring a crane in until the AFTERNOON to get the concrete off of the victims who were trapped?! Why in the world did it take so long?
"an inadequate capacity to resist stress " same
Yes, very relatable!
Relatable
I felt that one, doll.
Time and time again, those in charge of making structures expected to house and/or protect humans cut corners and rush construction so that they can save money. It's absolutely criminal.
What better place to put in flying buttresses than an airport? Who knows, having them might hav helped.
@Leila Pereira 😩" YOU KNOW IT!.... On top of that, most international legal systems rarely convict those criminally liable or responsible. The most frightening aspect of it all is the public never knows which small or great structures may collapse upon or beneath them, at any given moment, resulting in their death or severe injury. "
I found it fascinating that you for some reason left out the fact that another of Paul Andreu's designs failed during construction due to design errors - September 28 2004 Dubai international Airport. The same year and only months apart from the Charles de Gaulle warnings were ignored during design and construction on both it seems that he was painted in a much better light in this documentary than he should have been.
I totally agree! It seems to me the guy was "so famous" it was like George Lucas with Episode I where nobody questioned his designs (that and he looks to have been getting on in years.) He was the LEAD engineer; I still can't believe this happened. Either a century ago or in a developing nation _maybe_ but 2004?
Don't be so insufferable.
@@tigereye973 Imagine calling someone insufferable for not tolerating an engineer's disregard for public safety
Even before the causes of this accident were given, the narrator said one line "...this was his last airport design" ... If that wasn't foreshadowing I don't know what is. I picked up on that as soon as he said it.
@@icantthinkofausername2605 do you know the difference between an engineer and an architect (which is what tube guy was).
I work for french public transportations, and I absolutly hate the fact that this disaster doesn't have a french page on wikipedia, and It's difficult to find articles about this incident and the prosecutions that happened in 2018 in my language. I'm not saying that the truth was hidden, but everybody forgot about what could have been one of the worst disaster in France since the Mont Blanc tunnel blaze.
Thank you for this video. I was there at the terminal and had just boarded the plane from terminal 2E to fly back to South Africa. We had just taken off when the pilot announced that the terminal had just collapsed. I still remember the heavy rain that night and that our flight had been delayed.
Typical of a pilot to make such a casual comment. Clearly he was used to bits just dropping off his aircraft. 😊😊
It was a still considered a tragedy for 4 families :(
Great coverage, thank you
Found you off Fascinating Horror's channel links. Subbed! Love the pace, tone and pictures.
Same here
I like Fascinating Horror’s voice better. But that’s just me. (probably because I found that channel before this channel) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@alitlweird Yeah, FH's ambience, voice and pacing is 👌
Same here as well
Did I get this correctly? The cleaning staff found the ceiling crumbling, but still the terminal has been opened on that day? If concrete slowly cracks over time, it's one thing, but if you can noticeably see it evolving (e.g. when concrete dust is coming from the ceiling), then it's absolutely not acceptable to open the terminal. You don't need to be an expert on this to take such precautionary measures.
Yup. It would've been a lot more work than just 'keep that section closed', tho. People don't enter airports just from the main entrance. To make sure people don't go in the at-risk section, they'd have to redirect all ground traffic to other terminals; for a busy airport like this one, it's easier said than done and might result in some in-air diversions. Just putting up a bit of caution tape and turning people away wouldn't cut it.
as they said they quickly evaluated the situation and started evacuation but :
- You don't empty such a big airport with people with luggahges or who refuse not to miss their flight.
- You must first send someone to ensure that there is a problem, you can't just close one of the world busiest airport because a cleaner reported dust falling from the ceilling. That would lead to gigantic money lost but also a huge security risk, it could be a way to facilitate a sabotage, create a dangerous panic mouvement or a terrorist might use the evacuation to sneak and plant a bomb. I'm not even speaking of waiting for the crowd to accumulate in front of the batiment, outside of the security filters and start shooting in the mass.
What happen is that it took a lot of time for the cleaners to head to their superiors, do a report, for them to head to the place, ensure there was a problem, come back and declare the emergency and so the evacuation.
Its not just screaming "everybody out and run for your lives"....
BTW these terminals are never closed, cleaners do their duty while passengers walk around. They didn't "finished then someone decided to open the terminal"
@@justeunfan3364 That is not what I heard. And yes: It should be possible to evacuate an airport quickly. If that is not possible, there is something seriously wrong. And also yes: You can absolutely close such an airport. People just need to have the guts to value life over money. And if that poses a security risk, then there is something wrong in the airport design and/or evacuation procedures. Also, you would be surprised how many terminals close over night even at major airports. That depends mostly on the traffic. If there happens to be no traffic at that night, it's just convenient to close and it saves money.
@@fr89k As I said the longest part is to ensure there is a problem. Things like that are extremly rare, even more in a new structure so it took time to inspect the ceiling. You can close a terminal, but you wont do it 10 time a day everytime a passenger find someone looking suspicious or a cleaner finding concrete dust. It could have been someone installing a new equipment with a drilll the previous day and not cleaning its dust.
Then the took mesures but sadly it was too late
It's all about MONEY MONEY MONEY.
I was there in 2017, i have traveled the world and i have to say - Charles De Gaulle is a shitshow of an airport.
They messed up so many things , making passengers run around in circles ending up missing their flight.
Ever visited Chicago O’Hare? I’ve always referred to it as “The Black Hole”. That airport straight out sucks.
Try to get to Terminal 2 at the Salt Lake International Airport. They definitely made it look pretty, but have a nice jog! (or sprint, if you're making a connection from T1)
I think LAX is pretty bad to. Unfinished construction, heavy traffic, lots of passangers...and its even harder to get out of the airport because transportation so expensive.
Ever visited Toronto Pearson? its a great airport. 10/10 recommend.
@@weltonvillegal6258 You beat me to it. I was going to comment on the same thing. I once knew a person who worked in TSA and Chicago is where you went if the agency was trying to get rid of you. But having travelled through O'Hare myself I can say that its issue comes down to one thing. It is just too damn big. Way too much traffic in and out of that air port. You couldn't pay me enough to work air traffic control there.
I was there back in March 2004. I didn't know it collapsed. That's very sad.
It was found that a contributing cause of the collapse was that the walkway tubes on the backside of the construction weakened the rigidity of the overall structure. Those walkways were an afterthought and were not calculated into the original plans .
Yeah and that’s also where a lot can go wrong since it’s messing with the original design if not done with extra care.
Im telling u, flying buttresses, man. They shoulda had them.
Nothing at all to do with those. Did you actually listen to the article and what was reported? There were inherent faults in the construction the ceiling collapsed.
Your production quality is so high it shocks me that your views aren't in the 6 digits.
Your focus on finding and telling these stories from all around the world is something I massively appreciate!!
Yeah! wth
Give it time...I only JUST found this channel and weird stuff is my thing.
I went through this terminal in the middle of the summer and it was miserable. Not sure if they have air conditioning or not, but with all the light coming in the windows it was hot and smelly inside.
France is smelly everywhere.
This was a good informative video, but calling the collapse not “a full-scale tragedy” at 03:47 because “only” four people were killed is a dangerous mindset to settle in. Four deaths is four too many deaths.
I think he's just acknowledging that it could have killed hundreds had it happened a little bit later in the morning
@@johnr797 Yeah, not the best wording for sure.
@@johnr797 Or when comparing it to a usual collapse it really isn't, usually they do kill 100s.
I imagine this architect putting hundreds of pictures of this really cool looking terminal in his portfolio and when you ask him if that's the one that collapsed, he just scoffs "not completely, I mean like, only FOUR people died, so it wasn't even really important. HIRE ME"
its also not a full scale tragedy in the way only a small part collapsed du to the general shape. When such huge buildings fail the entire structure cant collapse and disintegrate, killing everyone inside and close outside. Here most of the building was intact and even some people who were buried under the concrete survived because the concrete arches kept their shapes and didn't failed. So compared to what it could have been its " not a full scale tragedy".
So what happened to the structure? Did they repair it, reinforce it, replace it, or what?
Bump
I looked it up for you. After reconstructing and improving it, they reopened the terminal in 2008.
It is a systematic failure of the construction sector that architect are not trained in structural engineering.
All building design drafts are sent to structural engineers who do the engineering. They can fully put the kibosh on a proposed plan if it is unrealistic, unsafe, or just doesn't meet standards. Also, we are trained in basic structural engineering and material sciences; at least I was. People educated decades ago, like him? I don't know. In my opinion, blame for nearly any and all structural failures like this land on the shoulders of everyone involved in the process. Engineers have a responsibility to design a capable support structure, builders have a responsibility to build it with safe materials and through safe practices, and architects have the responsibility to oversee and manage the entire design process as we are the only ones who are present through every step. The real systemic failure is the priority of profits and cost cutting above human safety. That actually seems to be a theme in Dark History's videos.
@@Tadesan Do you work within the Architectural field or even adjacent? The whole design process is extremely rigorous requiring the production of hundreds of drawings and design schematics that dictate specifications on nearly any and all aspects of a building's design that you can think of; which makes this failure even more damning for all involved in each step of construction, at least in my opinion. Every element of this building that led to the failure was likely a written, drawn, or indicated value on a construction document and the architect should know about what the hell they're designing. But that also means that the deficiencies were right there on paper and should have been caught by the engineers during the structural review of the proposed design.
FIU engineering department enters the chat...
Architects are artists and rarely fail to overhear or actively ignore engineers, it is sad.
And the officials are just as vain.
The design reminds me of the airport Leipzig/Halle in Germany. There is also a long tube with the check-in-counters and access to the parking areas. This airport construction does have support pillars in it.The airport in Leipzig, Germany was opened in 1924 and rebuilt after WW2. Then 1993 the Terminal A was remodeled, a few years later Terminal B was opened. In 2003 the new central terminal that reminds me of the here shown CDG terminal was finisehd and opened. There you also have access to a train station that's used by long-distance and commuter trains.
Design looks like a baguette
I was waiting for that flight to Prague. Craziest, scariest moment of my life was running from that collapse. Started about 100 ft behind where I was standing at the time.
When he said "instead of consulting the construction engineers, the management increased the pressure to finish the job earlier and at a lesser cost" all I could think of was, oh great, another one of those.
Never heard about this back then, thanks for the video!
A man spent over 15 years living in this airport due to an invalid passport
Really appreciate this fascinating/tragic series. I like to watch this sort of content a lot but there's still loads in your channel I've never heard of. Great editing, great work - can't believe you don't have more subscribers (now you definitely have one more). Keep it up! 💪
VIDEO: The futuristic construction looked amazing and was awe inspiring. (Then shows a picture of the inside of said terminal).
ME: Meh...looks pretty basic, actually.
That's what I thought too. It's nice, but not really amazing. Modern architecture is rather boring. In contrast, look at medieval... well, medieval anything. Gothic, Japan, China. Or go to the old quarters of Colombia's capital, etc. Modern architecture isn't bad, but it isn't that great either.
It was in 2004, the horrible concrete towers of suburbs looked as impressive in 1980/1990 as things like the burj kalifa or modern suspended briges look today.
What's with that irritating transition between photos-
Please get rid of that slide changer sound effect ..
I'd say it was still a full scale tragedy to at least 4 families
I can see these videos become a podcast they are so fascinating to watch
Great vid Dark History, I like your narrative style.
I always find it sickening how low the fines are in cases like this where people die....200 some thousand euros? For four lives? Insulting.
Also 4 deaths no individual or aspect of construction held accountable where jail time should be issued to those who made these cost cutting decisions
Woah. That is actually insane
Thank you
The design looks futuristic
Me: looks like a baguette
No build should ever be designed with no redundancies
FIU Pedestrian Bridge enters the chat
TBH nobody gives af if an airport has cool designs. We, as passengers, only give f for its accessibility. It could be square square square square and square as long as it’s easy to navigate
Thank You for the documentary - but Please - its Aeroport Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle. De Gaulle, not du Gaulle. Im not french, but the repeated mispronunciation hurts. Its like calling the JFK Airport "John E. Kennedy"
I was a kid at that time about 8 years old , everywhere every news channel was showing this , it was like something big has happened this was after 9/11 so it was seen in the same way , i didn't knew anything but today I remember what was going on after watching your video
It was a full scale tragedy, just not a full scale catastrophe.
I thought it was also how and where they cut gates into the side of the concrete weakening it significantly
This gives function over fashion a whole new meaning
Starting 2:15 and later, these are pictures of the rebuilt tube, not the crashed original one !
Each time there's a wooden layer inside, it is the rebuilt one, not the original one !
“Nick of a moment”?? Try “nick of time” instead lol
That was very odd. A number of UA-cam videos have strange phrasing like this, even when English seems to be the native language of the narrator. Maybe language is just dying online.
Or “in a split second” …not being mean, but this narrator mispronounces a lot of words 🤷🏼♀️
Who cares lmao. Touch grass
@@DelGTAGrndrs you’re a GTA tryhard my g....
As a german, my languge has been butchered online ever since. So dont complain
Oh wow. I've flown into CDG multiple times and somehow never knew about this.
750 million Euro in 2004 is the equivalent to over 1 billion Euro today. All so some passengers who are just passing through. I can understand spending on a hotel or a resort where people would stay for days, but why waste this kind of money an airport terminal? I use to travel by air quite a lot and did it to and from at least 7 international airports and I could not care less what they looked like. All I wanted was to be on my way from the airport to my destination.
The billion didn' go into the style, but just the building. Its way bigger and must be way more secure than a regular hotel. You have to take into account the managing of huge crowds, the vibration from the planes etc. Plus its was a state command and seing how much money tourism bring to France is a very low investisment. We shuld never look at the abolute price, but the ratio between the price and the money it will bring back.
I must say i’ve been to some airports and Charles de Gaulle airport was the ugliest one of them. Even with all these “fancy” designs the place just looks boring. Plain concrete walls with no coating whatsoever. These are the things you notice way more when you’re trying to catch a flight than some tunnel shaped terminals.
Would you mind posting the sources from where you pulled information from the committee investigation report?
Thank you.
architects just draw, engineers are the ones who actually make it work, or in this case fail
Exactly, for large projects like this it seems unlikely the lead architect had much to do with the structure.
Architects can and do design the structure regularly for houses and other smaller or less complex buildings though.
Architects are supposed to do the calculations to make sure the structure supports its own weight too.
@@CrazyMazapan I had architect friends and I had civil engineer friend. Trust me I never recalled my architect friend did civil engineering mathematic. I mean my roommate is architect and me engineer myself so I sit with them often.
Part of me thinks this was all done within the same company. And this architect was both the CEO and the lead architect. If I'm right, it would still come down to the engineers within the firm not double checking their numbers to make sure it could hold its own weight. If there is a blessing here, it is that only one section collapsed.
Actually the laborers make it happen. Engineers are pencil pushers too just like architects
Oh wow, I totally didn't remember this incident.
I flew to Cairo from that terminal and didn't realise it'd fallen down obviously after my visit.
Very interesting structure
The factor was expansion and contraction of dissimilar materials breaking attachments
"in the nick of a moment" fucking sent me
The design was stupid in many ways... My favorite was the incoming passengers going up the escalators directly to passport control.. no holding area.. people had to walk backwards whi!e the escalator moved under their feet
i was there thet day! I was flying back to Pittsburgh.
It was designed to look like a giant baguette.
This is why the *profit motive* of capitalism should not be involved where health, life and safety could be an issue. It only cares about short term gains, not long term consequences.
I like how when there's a large mass of people who loose their lives its considered as a tragedy, however... When its just four people, its not considered as a tragedy. Loss of life, especially when unnessary is still a tragedy.
Modernist architecture at it's finest indeed.
u didnt get the memo huh
I can't stop watching your great disaster videos, doe's that make me a bad person?
I've watched this before but the description of the terminal as 'modern, sleek, airy and full of light' (not exact words) sounded familiar and it suddenly struck me why: A very similar description was applied to the atrium of the Hyatt Regency hotel before the two walkways collapsed back in 1980, and for a similar reason - except in the case it wasn't built as designed, but a minor change that went unnoticed had far worse consequences in the deaths of over a hundred people, something that could easily have happened at Charles de Gaulle had this disaster taken place later in the day.
Was the rest of the building demolished?
SO happy I didn't see this before my vacation to France in February xD
I get the idea of open airy spaces is the new thing in beauty but...things need structural support
I've been to that airport, but it was way before this terminal that collapsed had even been built. What can I say? It was an airport. The rest of Paris was better than its airport but that's probably true of most of our airports in the world. The airport is just there for you to get on and off of planes and you do that, not because you want to see the airport, but because you want to see the place that the airport is in.
At the risk of other people's lives is absolutely insane and disgusting in so many uncountable ways. The loss of just one life cannot be ignored or compared. Of course I'm very glad that more people were not injured or killed.
The Pantheon in Rome is still standing.
I'm a huge fan of this channel!
However, I wanted to give some advice to maybe consider being a little more sensitive to the wording when describing tragedies, like in this video. It sort of sounded like the tragedy was downplayed since "only" four passengers died. Four is still a lot if you think about it... And if my family died in an accident and someone said, "Oh, it's only just x amount of people, that's not that bad compared to whatever" I would feel upset.
Just some constructive input to help this channel improve more and more. No bad vibes and I hope this doesn't hurt your feelings, I come from a good place and I know you do too. Thanks again for the video and keep up the rest of the great work!
Pride comes before the fall!
I've been to this exact terminal before and never knew this happened!
i can't believe these deaths were caused from the design knowingly ignoring safety measures...it wasn't an attempt to save cost but the architect's ego that led to the accident which makes this so egregious
It’s 18 years since The Charles de Gaulle Airport terminal Collapsed
To this day, pretty architecture engineers don't consult with actual building engineers all the time. Looks are everything... to heck with safety. O know so many apartment building that look great on the grounds and in the main buildings with offices or the office area itself but structurally they let them run into the ground and put pretty tape on everything. It's pathetic how little integrity people actually have.
Could you make more videos about the U.S.? I'm enjoying your channel. I've been to this airport on my way back from 🇹🇷 in 2008... nice place but didn't know this happened.... 😱
I'll do that! If you have any event on mind that you'd like to see, you can let me know here bit.ly/DarkHistoryTopics
Because there isn't enough content about the US on the internet... 🙄
"Du" Galle? Oh, brother.....cant continue watching.
When I heard “Collapse” and “Charles De Gaulle Airport” I thought”The Concorde”.
Just found your channel today and my husband took our 2 year old son to see his parents for the day so I’m binge watching!!
As with ALL these structural failures from all over the world you always see one consistent fact, there is no oversight by the one's that check and approve/disapprove the work of all involved. This is always the case when a disaster occurs and there is an investigation. The one's that will tell you if it will work or not are always absent in the planning and construction process but are always brought in after a disaster to render a judgement against those involved.
Bruh this was literally on my birthday, that’s sad
I can't see how this thing is structurally sound. Strong winds could produce so much force on a curved surface that none should ever build a wing-like roof. I'm quite confident that it was the winds that produce aerodynamic forces exceeding the supporting limit of the thing and it eventually failed.
2:02 That looks like snow on concrete, not cement dust.....
I read somewhere that many other architects did not trust the designs of this specific architect.
Sorry, but this one doesn't work for me.
The flashing/shaking photos during the drumming sound made me feel dizzy. I can't imagine what effect it would have on someone with a severe disability, maybe it would help having a Warning at the beginning of the video.
The microphone this guy is using makes his voice come out with a metallic edge, like a robot in a science fiction film. I like robots, but don't want to take lessons from them.
The video is kind of unfinished, it would be good to know how this tragedy affected and changed the building rules and regulations and what has been done to prevent it from happening again. In other words, the legacy of this event.
The lack of research led to the misrepresentation of the architect and calling the Dubai airport collapse his 'masterpiece' is grotesque.
I'm not commenting on the mispronunciation, we all make mistakes with foreign names and places (but at least we don't do it on YT).
The photos in general were a bit confusing, rarely showing what he was talking about.
The rest was ok, interesting, not too fast, not too long, lots of technical information, perfectly balanced: sometimes professional, sometimes funny. Good effort with room for improvement.
I'll watch his next video and see how it goes 😊
Here in LA they spent $300m on one terminal and made it much worse.
Well done video.
Having just finished Churchill 's 6 part series on WW2 (a MUST read) the most amazing part of this story is that anyone would name anything after that prima Donna degualle!
I thought he was a hero ?
He didn’t just tell the Nazis
Here u can have my country
Best french........ wow. that sets the bar low. I thought it was ugly like some disco nightmare from the 70's. Prayers for those hurt and for the families of those killed by this monstrosity.
With July 2023 hindsight, I wonder if M. Andreu helped design the Titan submersible.
I couldn't get through most of the video because you're mispronouncing "de" as "du". Those are different words. "deh" vs "doo"
This is a great channel. If you dig it, you might also like Brick Immortar.
Ok they attempted an evacuation as soon as they could. I’ve watched a few docs, for example of a case in India where a gas leak was involved where the staff decided to have a tea break rather than take immediate action.
What fascinates me, is that the ones who are mostly responsible, are the ones who always survives filthy rich.
I've seen a bunch of videos like this, and what bugs me the most is that nearly ALL of them have a common theme; cutting corners or using cheap materials to lower the cost.
Okay, so KNOWING that this is a problem, why continue to do it?? It's like "this building collapsed, this plane crashed, this (I sent tragedy here) because they didn't follow protocol. Cool! Let's not follow protocol!" 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
How tf does that make sense? Why do we keep making mistakes like this?
The problem is that there is not a "sure" cost to invest. You can put billions in ecess in a projet and still having it to fail because of a forgotten parrameter, or a unthinkable event. In general they cut corner while still keeping a margin and allowing the building to survive some mistake or event, but they put a limit somewere. I don't try to cover those who illegaly cut corners and fall under legal requirement, just that you will always go for the cheapest option. We will never heard that a building failed but the constructors had spend more money to keep a margin, even if its the case all the time, and also here. Its less sentational and easier to blame constructor than the bad luck
@@justeunfan3364 Good point.
Please don't use this type of transition anymore. It's extremely annoying. I've seen it in other videos and it's like being repeatedly slapped in the face.
Lately we've seen a number of expensive architectural flights of fancy that have proven to be less functional or less structurally sound than a more conventional approach. This airport joins the list of structures that were innovative and impressive at first, but proved to have flaws that resulted in financial or usefulness costs.
May I present the idea of Flying Buttresses! Lol might could hav helped
I last traveled in and out of CDG in October of 2002😔
It just looks unsafe, a long flat tube, just like tunnels are not built, or arches - even if it hadn't falling down after a year what state would it be in after 20 years - another beardy weirdy modern architect thinking they know better than gravity .
4 dead and fined 225,000 euros, good to know my life is worth about the same second-hand Range Rover.
The structure was faulty because it was completely made of cheese and white flags.
Rule 1 in this kind of construction: Respect the engineers and what they says.....and don't cut their budgets!
I feel so bad for the victims of this disaster. This happened at 7 a.m., and they didn't bring a crane in until the AFTERNOON to get the concrete off of the victims who were trapped?! Why in the world did it take so long?