The Porsche Design Tower building is one of the most emblematic and recognizable buildings on the Miami Bay skyline, despite being flanked by luxury buildings with apartments that cost millions of dollars. Inaugurated in 2017, the tower stands as a symbol of the luxury and exclusivity of the brand.

The problem is that both the building designed by the supercar manufacturer and its neighbors could have their days numbered: their foundations are sinking at a rate that has surprised scientists studying the terrain.

Giants with feet of clay. It’s not a figure of speech. a study from the University of Miami has been studying the terrain of Miami’s coastal strip between 2016 and 2023. In their conclusions they have highlighted that a total of 35 coastal buildings located in the most exclusive residential areas of Miami have sunk between two and eight centimeters during that observation period.

Most of the buildings analyzed in the study are less than 20 years old, so the researchers link the collapse with excess pressure on a terrain made up of limestone with many infiltrations of sand, which makes it more sensitive to pressure. vertical exerted by the foundations of those enormous luxury skyscrapers.

Porsche Design Tower one of the most affected. One of the constructions that fares worst in the study is the 195-meter apartment tower designed by Porsche in 2017. Researchers have highlighted how quickly the ground under its foundations is sinking. The building designed by Bentley has also registered a subsidence of the ground on which its structure, still under construction, stands.

“The occurrence and magnitude of subsidence appears to be strongly correlated with the presence of sandy layers in the underlying strata. In particular, the area surrounding the Porsche Design Tower, where the underlying limestone contains approximately 50% sandy layers showing a significant subsidence,” the researchers noted.

They fear a collapse in a few years. One of the biggest unknowns posed to the authors of the study is whether the subsidence is part of a land settlement process given the recent construction of buildings in the area, or if this subsidence will continue over time causing the collapse. of the buildings.

“In the case of exponentially decreasing subsidence, there is a possibility that the subsidence will stop over time. However, in the case of subsidence at a constant rate (such as that experienced by the Porsche Design Tower), there is no indication that stop in the short term,” the authors noted. “While tall buildings in South Florida are designed to experience settlement of several tens of centimeters throughout the structure, differential settlement induces internal stresses that can cause structural damage to buildings.”

Massification as the main suspect. One of the reasons that could have caused the acceleration of the sinking of that coastal area of ​​Miami is the real estate boom that the area has suffered with the arrival of millionaires from other parts of the country. Scientists point out that the vibrations in the ground caused by the construction of large skyscrapers starting in 2014 and the increase in structural weight could have accelerated the compression of the layers of sand infiltrated between the limestone rock of the ground.

“The majority of buildings suffering from subsidence are new structures built after 2014, which suggests that the subsidence is a consequence of their own construction. In the case of the older affected structures, the onset of subsidence coincides in most of the cases with nearby construction activities,” the study concludes.

The ground has already sent its first signals. The sinking of certain areas of the Miami coastline has already given its first warning signs with the collapse in 2021 of a 12-story building built in 1981 on the front line of Surfside, one of the areas registered in the study. Each of the apartments in that building cost between $600,000 and $800,000.

Researchers link this collapse with the subsidence of the ground caused by subsequent constructions. “While Champlain Towers South, the collapsed condominium, did not show subsidence of its roof despite significant vibrations from the adjacent 87 Park construction (which does show settlement), subsidence of nearby low-rise buildings with relatively small structural loads ( Cabarete and Residence Inn∼600 m to the north), is almost certainly driven by construction activities.”

In techopiniones | Staying in a mansion with the services of a luxury hotel: “Branded residences” set a trend among millionaires

Image | Porsche Design