From “Stewart Hicks”. ( Nebula )
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In 1981, a crowded hotel lobby in Kansas City became the site of a devastating structural collapse—one that killed 114 people and injured over 200. No earthquake or explosion triggered it. Instead, a single, seemingly minor design change slashed the skywalk’s capacity in half and sealed its fate. In this video, we break down the Hyatt Regency disaster from the frantic design-build process to the tragic aftermath, shedding light on the oversights, misunderstandings, and ethical lessons that reshaped engineering and architecture worldwide.
__Special Thanks__
– Evan Montgomery — co-producer
– SOM — filming location
__Key Points__
1. The “J.C. Effect” Lobby – How Hyatt’s spectacular atrium design pushed the limits to impress guests.
2. Fast-Track Construction Risks – Overlapping design and building phases that left little room for error.
3. Critical Design Flaw – How splitting a steel rod into two segments transferred double the load onto a single beam.
4. Aftermath & Investigations – The massive National Bureau of Standards report, lawsuits, and changes to industry oversight.
5. Lasting Impact on Ethics & Practice – How the American Society of Civil Engineers strengthened accountability and reformed professional standards in the wake of the tragedy.
__Hashtags__
#HyattRegency #StructuralEngineering #EngineeringDisaster #Architecture #HyattCollapse #CaseStudy #BuildingFailures #EthicsInEngineering
__Membership__
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__About the Channel__
Architecture with Stewart is a YouTube journey exploring architecture’s deep and enduring stories in all their bewildering glory. Weekly videos and occasional live events breakdown a wide range of topics related to the built environment in order to increase their general understanding and advocate their importance in shaping the world we inhabit.
__About Me__
Stewart Hicks is an architectural design educator that leads studios and lecture courses as an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company. His work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writings can be found in the co-authored book Misguided Tactics for Propriety Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as essays in MONU magazine, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.
__Contact__
FOLLOW me on instagram: @stewart_hicks & @designwithco
Design With Company: https://designwith.co
University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture: https://arch.uic.edu/
__Attributions__
Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images, Storyblocks, and Shutterstock.
Music provided by Epidemic Sound and includes music from Chromatic by Tom Fox
https://www.youtube.com/@chromaticbytomfox"
#architecture #urbandesign
