More than 30 skyscrapers are sinking on Miami islands

A study monitored buildings constructed in places like Miami Beach, showing how some of these architectures have descended into the ground. 

An investigation conducted by researchers at the University of Miami found that as many as 35 buildings in the Miami Keys have sunk up to eight inches into the ground since 2016. The buildings, including the Porsche Design Tower, the Faena Hotel and Trump Tower III, were monitored over a seven-year period using a device called Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), a sensitive device capable of measuring changes in geology as small as one millimeter, often used for structural engineering.

Miami, Florida Keys. Foto Gaetano Cessati via Unsplash

The study looked at high-rise buildings in the coastal island belt off mainland Florida, in population centers such as Miami Beach, Surfside, Bal Harbor and Sunny Isles Beach. The researchers then examined many large buildings constructed on the strip, half of them built in 2014 and later, and found that 35 had been affected by sinking or “subsidence” between two and eight centimeters.

The study suggests that construction activity could instigate “deformation” of the geological strata that provide support for the buildings. “We attribute the observed subsidence to prolonged load-induced creep deformation of the sandy layers within the limestone, which is accelerated, if not instigated, by construction activities,” the report states.

Despite the uncertainty about stability outlined in the study and concerns about rising sea levels due to climate change in the city, massive structures continue to be built in the area. Recently, the architecture firm Arquitectonica completed the 48-story Five Park skyscraper in Miami Beach, the tallest in the city. Kengo Kuma and Associates is currently working on the structure of an 18-story Aman residential tower in Miami Beach.

Opening image: Miami, Florida Keys. Foto Ryan Parker via Unsplash

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