The largest controlled demolition in Europe's history took place yesterday in Frankfurt, Germany.
More than 2,000 pounds of explosives were used to topple the 32-story AfE Tower — the equivalent to a MK-84 bomb, according to Gizmodo.
Bringing down a builidng of that size in an uraban area has to be done with more precision than a bomb can deliver. Citizens and surrounding buildings have to be taken into consideration, in addition to the cleanup afterwards.
Roughly 1,500 holes were strategically drilled throughout the building with the goal of folding the building onto itself as neatly as possible. There are plans to build two new towers in its place, according to Sky News.
There was a significant turn out to watch the demolition, which was reportedly celebrated by many.
The 41-year-old building, which once housed a number of departments of Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, was criticized from the beginning. Overcrowding meant waiting times for the elevator were frequently 20 minutes long. In 2005 a woman was killed while she was stuck between two floors, according to Gizmodo.
The high-rise was originally going to be demolished gradually but the decision was made to implode the entire building at once. Overall, a gradual demolition would have been more disruptive to nearby residents.
Engineers blew up canisters of water with the explosions to dull the sound and reduce the amount of dust. Even with the water in place, the sound and dust cloud was profound.
Below are a number of videos of the blast and the building disappearing in seconds. The different delays in the sound give you a better feel of how near or far the viewers were in each video.
