Who doesn’t know the Tower of Pisa in Italy? This building is very iconic because of its sloping position and is always a unique photo object for tourists. However, behind its unique shape, there is a story of construction failure and architectural wonder that is very interesting to review.
The construction process apparently took up to two hundred years because it was hampered by various wars. The tilt of this tower actually started from a fatal error when selecting the initial foundation. The ground under the tower was apparently too soft because it consisted of a mixture of sand, mud and clay.
As soon as construction entered the third floor, the heavy weight of the building began to cause the foundation to collapse on one side, until finally the tower became tilted as it is now.
Surprisingly, the soft soil that causes this tilt is actually the main key to why the Pisa Tower remains standing.
The Pisa area has been recorded as having been shaken by quite severe earthquakes several times. However, the combination of the height of the tower, the stiffness of the building structure, and the soft nature of the soil meant that earthquake vibrations were not fully transmitted to the tower body.
This phenomenon makes the tower seem to absorb its own shocks, so it remains safe and has never collapsed until now.
𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶:
Who doesn’t know the Tower of Pisa in Italy? This building is very iconic because of its sloping position and is always a unique photo object for tourists. However, behind its unique shape, there is a story of construction failure and architectural wonder that is very interesting to review.
The construction process apparently took up to two hundred years because it was hampered by various wars. The tilt of this tower actually started from a fatal error when selecting the initial foundation. The ground under the tower was apparently too soft because it consisted of a mixture of sand, mud and clay.
As soon as construction entered the third floor, the heavy weight of the building began to cause the foundation to collapse on one side, until finally the tower became tilted as it is now.
Surprisingly, the soft soil that causes this tilt is actually the main key to why the Pisa Tower remains standing.
The Pisa area has been recorded as having been shaken by quite severe earthquakes several times. However, the combination of the height of the tower, the stiffness of the building structure, and the soft nature of the soil meant that earthquake vibrations were not fully transmitted to the tower body.
This phenomenon makes the tower seem to absorb its own shocks, so it remains safe and has never collapsed until now.
𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶:
-Situs Resmi History (Artikel: Why Does the Leaning Tower of Pisa Lean)
-Berita BBC (Artikel: Why the Leaning Tower of Pisa doesn’t topple over in earthquakes)
-Jurnal Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics
