The Korea Institute of Registered Architects: "The Facts of the Geomdan Parking Lot Collapse Must Be Clarified"

The Korea Institute of Registered Architects announced on the 17th that it has requested the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to clearly state the facts instead of using the broad term "design error" in the special inspection results of the "Incheon Geomdan New Town Apartment Parking Lot Collapse" accident investigation released by the Construction Accident Investigation Committee of the Ministry.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Institute stated, "As a result of independently verifying the facts with the participating companies recently, it was confirmed that the decisive cause of the accident originated from the 'errors in structural calculation and structural planning' performed by the structural engineering office," adding, "The Construction Accident Investigation Committee’s use of the broad term 'design error' causes misunderstanding as if the design drawings prepared by the architectural office were the primary cause of this accident."

Regarding the underground parking lot collapse accident, the Institute explained that both the structural calculation documents and structural drawings at the site were directly prepared by the structural engineering office, and that the omission of shear reinforcement, the main cause of the collapse, was primarily due to errors in structural calculation by the structural engineering office. They emphasized that according to the task instructions from LH, the client of the construction project, it is clearly specified that the structural calculations and structural drawings must be prepared by the structural engineering office.

An official from the Institute said, "Since the design firm is perceived as the architectural office in the collapse incident, the Construction Accident Investigation Committee’s announcement and reporting of the investigation results should clearly state the responsibility of the structural engineering office for the omission of shear reinforcement to enable the formulation of accurate countermeasures in the future," and added, "The measure to expand the participation of structural engineers is also an insufficient countermeasure."

The Korea Institute of Registered Architects pointed out, "There is also a problem with the government’s policy of forming investigation committees mainly composed of structural and construction engineers while excluding architects, who are the top experts in the architectural field, whenever a building collapse accident occurs."

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