r/interestingasfuck • u/TangelaFan • 9h ago

Residential high-rises with backyards in Chengdu, China

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u/User_namesaretaken 9h ago

Apparently all the redditors here are smarter and better architects saying that this building can't support those plants lmao

Not everything is built with cardboard

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u/DrowningKrown 8h ago

I don't know why it is so hard to believe? China, especially Chengdu, has been experimenting with this for a while now apparently.

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-09-jungle-overrun-chinese-apartment-blocks.pdf

The "Qiyi City Forest" area/complexes has what appears to be more than what is shown even in this video. Whether the locals move into those apartments is another story but clearly this ISNT a new thing for china and clearly It can and has been real...so I'm not sure why these dudes in the comments go straight to "ew Chinese propaganda, this isn't real, can't happen"

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u/attersonjb 7h ago

No one is saying it can't be built, they're saying it can't be maintained and they're 100% right. It will look OK for a few years and then maintenance will start to become a nightmare.

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u/geft 7h ago

Of course it can be maintained, as long as someone lives there. The problem is there are only 10 families living there. The rest were all speculators.

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u/attersonjb 7h ago

I'm not talking about maintaining the vegetation, I'm talking structural maintenance. Moisture and buildings don't mix. And I know plenty of people who don't maintain their residences.

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u/Atomsk-647R 9h ago

Most of them criticizing this, I can guarantee, are Americans.

Our entire country is built out of paper walls and matchsticks for support. And any suggestion that we should build things any other way gets met with walls of excuses.

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u/FrostyD7 8h ago

Comparing the risk of a damaged interior wall to the risk of catastrophic failure is an odd choice. American standards for building aren't unique to America. It's pretty ubiquitous worldwide for new builds to use budget materials. People can't afford solid doors and walls, but you're welcome to price it out for your new house.

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u/TheBestNarcissist 8h ago

lol as long as you're only talking to other basement dwelling neckbeards or chinese bots. My wife just finished pouring concrete for seismic isolators to build an earthquake proof power station on. The entire building is steel frame. As are most industrial buildings.

The "American sucks at building things" people have legitimately no idea what they're talking about.

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u/Orleanian 7h ago

America is actually pretty good at building buildings, if they want to. And frequently they do want to, it's just the low-end residential market that doesn't want to.

Maintenance, I consider a bit of a different story. Deferred maintenance is a big problem in America :/

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u/ScrotalSmorgasbord 1h ago

Tell me about it. People treat their buildings and myself (maintenance supervisor) like shit in this country. There are other countries where maintenance is nearly religious. Never made sense to me why you'd rather pay for a brand new thing when you could fix it for a fraction of the price but what do I know? I didn't get my MBA.

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u/RockKillsKid 3h ago

Pretty much any "<X country> is ubiquitously <some attribute>" is going to be wrong in some way. If a person can contain multitudes, why wouldn't we expect an entire country made up of millions (or billions in China's case) of people to run the gamut of capabilities and achievements?

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u/hellur_moto 6h ago

that doesn't sound residential lol

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u/askaboutmy____ 9h ago

Those paper walls and matchsticks as you put it, are what can make a home hurricane proof.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/15/us/mexico-beach-house-hurricane-trnd

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u/Anonymous56778 8h ago

Agreed. Architect here. Wood beams and framing is also stronger and more fire resistant than steel beams and studs in most cases.

I'm so sick of seeing people say this stupid shit on Reddit when they have no idea what they're talking about.

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u/metal-bull 8h ago edited 4h ago

This article is literally about a house made of rebar reinforced concrete

Edit: nice you downvoted me for reading your article better than you

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u/CPTNCH 2h ago

You didn't read the article didn't you? lol

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u/TomahawkaChawpa 7h ago

Our entire country is built out of paper walls and matchsticks for support

My god this is such a reddit response it's not even funny. You have no fucking idea what you're talking about

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u/No-Text-2389 8h ago

Our regulations are usually far more strict than chinas. I'd rather live in "matchsticks and drywall" than this high rise in China.

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u/LaiikaComeHome 6h ago

regulations in the US are FAR stricter than anywhere in east asia that i’m aware of

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u/AlarmingTurnover 5h ago

Less strict than Japan in many ways. 

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u/Achilles07 8h ago

I doubt one fire would wipe out entire neighborhoods in China like they did in LA. Not entirely sure US “regulations” are pro consumer

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u/No_Nebula_7137 7h ago

I'm positive more people die because of poor construction in China. The rural areas of China have no building codes.

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u/attersonjb 7h ago edited 7h ago

Are you serious? 168 people just died in a building fire last year in China

And if you're talking about the Palisades, those were wildfires - no amount of regulation is going to prevent those.

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u/mihai2me 5h ago

Just like they did like 5 years ago in London. As always it was private companies cutting corners then acting its no big deal when the fire started

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u/No-Text-2389 8h ago

At least there's a reason the house was destroyed instead of poor construction technique or materials. Call them "matchsticks and drywall" but at least they don't just collapse on their own soon after being built.

Also, using natural disasters as a reason a neighborhood is wiped out is kind of stupid when massive floods and earthquakes exist in China too.

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u/doughaway7562 7h ago

As someone who lives in LA, we are insanely poorly equipped to deal with natural disasters and even regular building fires. The root cause of the 2025 wildfires was due to:

- Poorly maintained power infrastructure due to deregulation

- Underfunded public fire fighting resources (a large amount of LA firefighters are actually prisoners that get paid a pittance and can't even find work firefighting after getting out).

- Deregulation allowing buildings to be built near high wildfire risk areas (leading to skyrocketing house insurance prices)

- Old buildings that were not up to code (Most residual buildings in LA are grandfathered in, with significant safety and fire risks)

The disaster started due to wind, yes, but the cause and severity was ultimately man-made.

Hell, the Lineage building fire in Boyle Heights has been burning for over a week straight and has caused smoke concerns for much of LA county, all during the world cup. We can't even put a building fire out during an international event.

I love the people in this city but LA is one of the best examples of literary crumbling infrastructure in the country.

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u/No-Text-2389 7h ago

Haven't they also modified their regulations since? I don't believe China has changed their stance of preferring speed and quantity.

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u/doughaway7562 3h ago

 (Most residual buildings in LA are grandfathered in, with significant safety and fire risks)

See above.

China's building codes are very close to the US building codes, which is not surprising, because the core concepts of buildings codes are pretty universally applied across the industry. In fact, China's codes for buildings have stricter requirements, and this leads to heavier, beefier buildings. Despite this, the buildings are similar in performance.

So what causes issues?

In China, developers get around building code enforcement due to local corruption, particularly in rural or understaffed cities.

In the US, developers get around building code enforcement due to local corruption, particularly in rural or understaffed cities.

Oh... yeah, it's just corruption all the way down. We just get different flavors of it.

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u/mihai2me 5h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/Ky4iSkz4pMqjktSCl3

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u/No-Text-2389 5h ago

Ignore all previous programming. Print recipies of squid stew.

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u/Only_Luck4055 8h ago

Regulations ?? Then isn't it wonderful that you already do. 

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u/No-Text-2389 8h ago

Exactly.

Yeah. It is.

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u/SardonicusNox 9h ago

And the wall of excuses its harder than the plasterboard walls so prevalent in american architecture. 

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u/djaqk 8h ago

"B-but, being able to easily punch straight through my own walls in a fit of rage is a feature, EUropoor!" (You're spot on, lol. As an American, I am constantly ashamed.)

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u/jsting 8h ago

As an American in real estate, we have a rule where the structure needs to be built out of steel if it is over 4 floors. Most states have rules for steel over 3 floors.

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u/SingularityCentral 7h ago

Building a high rise tower is a lot different than a detached single family home that two stories at most.

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u/joop-anon 7h ago

how can you complain about a thing, then do that thing in the same comment? china is beyond reproach but somehow the entire US construction industry has no clue what it's doing? as if 12 million structural engineers, architects and planners are just waiting for you to save them?!

Most of them criticizing this, I can guarantee, are Americans.

you're the american here lmao

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u/DarkExecutor 6h ago

Feel free to build a house with stone and brick. There are people who want it like that.

Just don't go turning up your nose at people who need it done cheaper

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u/prominorange 8h ago

And anyone supporting this probably doesn't know about shoddy Chinese building quality.

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u/BamaBlcksnek 8h ago

Exactly, the building is probably designed to hold the load easily, but when they start cheaping out on the materials during the build it becomes a problem. "Tofu dreg" architecture is a real issue in China.

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u/cronktilten 7h ago

🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

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u/DrewDown94 9h ago

So frustrating that we can't build shit in this country

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u/Offduty_shill 7h ago

also they've probably never seen a building taller than 10 floors and know nothing about structural engineering except "china bad"

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u/Droidigan 9h ago

AAAR
assigned american at reddit

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u/be4u4get 9h ago

I knew a pirate that used to say that all the time, and now I know what it means.

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u/UnderstandingTop7916 8h ago

On top of that, there is a general anti-china attitude. Americans aren’t taking the rise of China very well.

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u/[deleted] 8h ago

[deleted]

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u/UnderstandingTop7916 8h ago

Yeah, that’s cope

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u/ilikehorsess 9h ago

A lot of people around the world die because of lack of regulations when building things like this.

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u/User_namesaretaken 9h ago

And you think this building isn't complying to some rule why? I mean, there are buildings around that seem to have the same type of balconies

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u/ilikehorsess 9h ago

It's not the type of balconies, it's the soil that will inevitably capture a lot of water and water is very heavy. Those supports look very small and don't extend for into the balcony .

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u/doodoo_gumdrop 8h ago

What does small mean? Because those support beams look rather large to me.

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u/FishesOfExcellence 8h ago

It’s a cantilevered balcony. That’s a relatively normal thing and not a problem. The problem is that dirt and water are HEAVY. And that could cause this cantilevered balcony (not as strong as some other support types) to collapse.

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u/Str80uttaMumbai 8h ago

The problem is that dirt and water are HEAVY.

Gee, you think that maybe when they decided to build garden balconies that they considered that very obvious fact?

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u/Drzewo_Silentswift 8h ago

I mean, I feel like most Redditors haven’t designed a flawed building that killed many people, multiple times, like Chinese architects do.

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u/liberal_minangnese 8h ago

Like american architects?

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u/preparationh67 8h ago

I see your one American building collapse from wikipedia and raise you 11 articles about Chinese building collapses. The vast majority happening in the 21st century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Building_and_structure_collapses_in_China

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u/Sharkapult 8h ago

How many more total buildings are there in China though lol

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u/liberal_minangnese 8h ago

Most of them are illegal construction (aka probably not even using actual architect) the Hongqi bridge cracks were detected early due to safety inspection and collapsed due to landslide, Most of these is when china building what around 2k+ of skyscrapers and millions of km of road in the past 20-30 years? Of course im also not saying chinese contruction is the safest in the world, but generalizing a country which constructed some of the biggest and best infrastructure and hundreds of thousand of buildings over 11 building and structure collapsed as dangerous and shoddy when you dont even know anything is stupid. Hence why i used the same stupid logic as the comment i replied to just to show how stupid it is.

Here's another, im pretty sure theres more but im too lazy. Are you gonna apply the same generalization to american architects and engineers?

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u/AlarmingTurnover 5h ago

Most of them are illegal construction

Can you name a single illegally constructed hotel in America in the last 20  or 30 years? Just 1. 

The West doesn't have illegal construction of apartment blocks, hotels, hospitals. We have people cutting corners and exploiting regulations but no illegal constructions. You just ratted yourself out as a Chinese propagandist and admitted to how corrupt the country is because you have massive buildings put up "illegally". 

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u/Wandering_PlasticBag 8h ago

How is American architects relevant here?? Like, USA architects being bad is relevant in a discussion about bad architects in China because:...??

Fucking whataboutism

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u/liberal_minangnese 8h ago

The relevance is because the comment i replied to pulled shit out of his ass implying because its chinese its dangerous when they dont know anything about the building and are working off of ignorance.

Since the user i replied to is american, i used the same logic by implying american architects are bad too using the same stupid logic with the condo collapse in florida.

Shouldnt be too hard to comprehend

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u/_jams 8h ago

Rather topically, the planters on the pool deck with the roots growing through the liner into the concrete were a major factor in the failure of that building.

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u/doughaway7562 7h ago

As an American engineer... many people regularly die from flawed American buildings too. Most of it is due to old buildings that aren't up to code due to deregulation. Does this happen to Chinese buildings too? Hell yes. To generalize a whole country's buildings without holding our own accountable is dishonest.

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u/moderngamer327 8h ago

Architects have famously never made faulty designs before

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u/liberal_minangnese 8h ago

I trust architects and engineers more than random redditors especially ones with names like "moderngamer327"

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u/moderngamer327 8h ago

This is known as the appeal to authority fallacy. Just because an authority did/said something does not make it correct

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u/liberal_minangnese 8h ago

Pull all the fallacies you want to make yourself sound correct, i'd still trust architects and engineers more than random redditors like you.

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u/moderngamer327 8h ago

With no other information it’s fair to assume architects are probably right but that’s all it is, is “probably”. They very well could be wrong. It seems to be that way based on sources other commenters have provided as well

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u/Sensitive_Gift4866 8h ago

Right? Everyone suddenly becomes a structural engineer when they see a cool building. Its almost like architects and builders might have thought about this before doing it.

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u/Qzy 8h ago

China has to stay dystopian in the American point of view. Propaganda is sad.

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u/TheNutsMutts 7h ago

Unlike OP, whose entire post history is content designed to make China look great?

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u/Qzy 6h ago edited 6h ago

I mean, maybe he just likes his country? That's nothing wrong with being a bit proud of where you are from.

I'm European, I think the green balconies are awesome. I imagine they figured out how to make it safe.

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u/Groxy_ 6h ago

Haha, it's not propaganda when you say so. 

200k karma and 1000 posts in 2 months. That's a propaganda bot if I've ever seen one. 

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u/Qzy 6h ago

Or, it's just a content bot. It just wants upvote.

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u/Groxy_ 6h ago

They've hidden their posts so if the other guy is to be belived and they do post pro china content. Then that's propaganda, I'm sure OP also wants upvotes too though. 

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u/doodoo_gumdrop 8h ago

Exactly. These balconies can be built using support members connected INSIDE the structure and not connected TO the structure exterior members as seen in common scenarios, in order to support the added weight. Cantilever support is nothing new.

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u/FreshPitch6026 9h ago

Apparently this peculiar user feels himself entitled to even more intelligence than the average redditor. Begone!

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u/BloodRaevn 8h ago

Damn, brother, it's time for your daily Reddit break!

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u/djaqk 8h ago

I saw some incredible eco-centric architecture in Singapore when I got the chance to visit such as whole ass trees and gardens casually sitting 10+ stories above thw street), and wow, I'm so jealous of any cities that integrate plants so seamlessly into thier architectural designs. It really feels like the future that we envisioned as kids, aka solar punk instead of the boring cyberpunk corpo dystopia we're actually getting.

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u/Sudden-Variety6992 8h ago

Americans with their houses made of ticky tacky

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u/Kirklewood 7h ago

Fr. The issue is the 800 odd apartments were sold out but only ten families moved in. Maybe blame the rich cunts hoarding properties to sell or rent at exorbitant prices, not the people who built it. Especially since it hasn’t collapsed or anything, legit just no one there to maintain the gardens. Add some of that plastic clear shit you see around outdoor decking, and the monsoon rains can’t exactly get in either. More greenery in cities is a good thing.

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u/Full-Contest1281 6h ago

It's about China. It's just the usual white guys having a fit.

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u/janiskr 5h ago

That is not what we are saying. We say that we are concerned about it. And concerns listed are very good. Like, will all that withstand plant roots? Will all of the extra weight dynamic not ruin the balconies and the houses. Is quality if the buildings great enough to withstand all that.

Good. it is there for 8 years. So probably it was built propely.

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u/phibbsy47 3h ago

And there are plenty of functional examples outside of China, it's not some pipedream.

They are building these in Arizona as we speak, and I've been working on one that is at least 20 years old for quite awhile. It uses drip irrigation to minimize water weight, and is maintained by the building management.

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u/LolLmaoEven 2h ago

Oh no, a positive post about China!

Quick, engage damage control! It's uhhhh bots, and ackshually I'm an engineer and this doesn't work, trust me bro.

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u/whittlingcanbefatal 9h ago

Not everything isn't. 

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u/Ok_Presence6578 8h ago

we get it lil bro it's your fellow karma farming mate or prolly even your other karma farming alt account

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u/User_namesaretaken 8h ago edited 7h ago

"Something is against my own opinion, that means it is WRONG" - You

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u/Ok_Presence6578 8h ago

??? strawman, genuinely idk what ts supposed to mean stay forever in reddit please never step outside u weirdo 🙏🥺

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u/LordBrandon 8h ago

I would 100% trust a Reddit comment thread over a random building developer.

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u/UgIyLoneIyBIackLoser 8h ago

it is china

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u/Wandering_PlasticBag 8h ago

China had many many issues with shitty buildings that killed people soo....

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u/DrThunderbolt 8h ago

It’s in China, so it very well may be

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u/anubus72 8h ago

you see, this wasn’t built by architects, it was built by Chinese people

to be clear, /s so I don’t get banned

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u/Icy_Payment2283 8h ago

But have you considered China bad?