How a skyscraper was dismantled in Japan

In 2011, the 140-meter-tall Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka in Tokyo was closed and demolished. The task was complicated by the building's location in a busy business district. Engineers came up with an unconventional solution.

In Tokyo, they decided to demolish the old Grand Prince Hotel, but because of its location in a busy business district, simply smashing or blowing it up was impossible.

So they came up with a revolutionary solution: they covered the building with a cap and dismantled it from the inside, lowering the roof using jacks. This method was later used a couple more times, but it never became widespread—it was too time-consuming and expensive.