CTBUH Innovation Award

Finalist

Kajima Corporation Buildings Demolition Method

Tokyo, Japan

high-rise construction boom in Japan during

the 1960s and 70s has resulted in a large
amount of aging towers. Building owners
have an interest in demolishing the old structures
to replace them with more modern, safe, and workfriendly buildings, but there are several issues to
address in this process.
The Kajima Cut and Take Down Method was
developed to satisfy both safety and environmental
concerns. In April 2007, Kajima started to develop this
new demolition method to demolish its aging office
headquarters buildings which were 75 meters tall and
65 meters tall.
Buildings are usually demolished by placing heavy
equipment and workers on the top floor and then
lowering the waste material down to ground level. The
Cut and Take Down Method alternatively allows the
workers to start at the base and work their way up.
By starting at the bottom, gutting one floor, and then
lowering the entire building on jacks one floor at a
time, all work can be performed safely at ground level.

1. Cut the column. Cut length of 70 centimeters for a column and take off

column

jack

2. Extend the jack stroke. Extend length of 70 centimeters for jack stroke

3. Take down all jacks. After doing step 1 & 2 for all columns, all jacks were
taken down

4. Take out beams and floor slab of the floor above

Completion Date: Tower 1: 1968; Tower 2: 1972

Demolition Date: Tower 1: 2008; Tower 2: 2005
Height: Tower 1: 76 m (249 ft), Tower 2: 65 m (213 ft)
Stories: Tower 1: 20, Tower 2: 17
Area: Tower 1: 12,180 sq m (131,100 sq ft); Tower 2: 16,710 sq m
(179,865 sq ft)
Primary Use: Oce
Owner/ Developer: Kajima Corporation
Design Architect: Kajima Corporation
Structural Engineer: Kajima Corporation
MEP Engineer: Kajima Corporation
Main Contractor: Kajima Corporation

demolition

Above: Demolition Process

Opposite: Aerial view of the buildings
before demolition (top), view of the
buildings after demolition has nearly
completed (bottom)

182

183

Left: Demolition process underway

Opposite Left: Temporary support
columns
Opposite Right: Cutting and
removing columns

There are so many quiet revolutions going on

in tall buildings. Top-Down construction is one
such revolution and here is anotherBottom-Up
Demolition.
Antony Wood, Juror, CTBUH

On the 85 by 60 meter site, the two towers were

situated quite close to another office building and a
residential building, emphasizing the need for a clean,
quiet demolition process. To accomplish this, temporary columns are used around the structural column
grid, the existing columns are replaced, and then
hydraulic jacks are placed where the existing columns
were and the building can be lowered to the next floor
plate where the process is repeated.
The hydraulic jacks each had a capacity of 1,200 tons,
and supported the structure through each cycle of
lowering. A cycle would lower the whole building by
675 mm, which meant that five cycles were required
for each floor (total of 3.375 meters). The total time
to demolish a whole floor was six days: 2.5 days for
lowering and the remaining time to demolish the rest
of the structure.

A Core Wall and Load Transferring Frame system

are utilized to temporarily reinforce the structure
to prevent any lateral movements due to wind or
earthquake forces. The Core Wall was 400900 mm
thick reinforced concrete and was placed in the center
of the floor plates up to the third level to take any
lateral forces of the superstructure. To ensure the
transfer of lateral loads, the Load Transferring Frame
was installed in steel and connected to the existing
structure. It was then tied into the Core Wall with a
track-like system, which would lock in place in the
event of an earthquake.
The new method allows the dismantled building to
keep the same level of seismic and wind resistance
capability as its original design. It also reduces the
amount of noise as compared with typical top-down
approaches, because all the work is being completed at
the ground level. Safety of workers is increased as well,

184

due to the location of all the work being at ground

level as opposed to the building top.
In considering the reduction of site waste being sent to
landfills, this new method allows for a more efficient
system of recycling and reusing. The orderliness of
the process means that the materials from each floor
may be sorted effectively so the maximum amount of
material is sent to its rightful place instead of batches
of material getting sent to the landfill without adequate
sorting. The Kajima Towers were able to be sorted
into 30 types of materials for recycling, as opposed to
a typical 20 at other demolition sites. The recycling
rate was over 90% for the interiors of the buildings,
surpassing the average 55%.
Although this method was developed for a building
with steel frame structure up to 20 stories high, it can
be applied to larger scale buildings as well. Further-

185

more, this process is especially useful in densely-built

areas where typical demolition may impact neighboring buildings. The demolition of the two Kajima
Towers was completed in nine months for the 20 and
17 story buildings. Though the costs of this method
may be 510% higher than traditional methods, the
total time of demolition can be decreased by 15%,
increasing the turnover rate of the site.

Jury Statement
The demolition of older tall buildings is increasingly
becoming an issue with the impact on the environment
and re-use of materials. The new Kajima method oers
a solution which addresses and improves upon typical
demolition methods. This method will improve the
sustainability of a building through its lifespan and nal
deconstruction. Aside from improving sustainability, this
method also decreases the impact of demolition on its
surroundings.