The Design Change That Took 114 Lives | Hyatt Walkway Collapse

Sometimes a single mistake can change everything. We created this video to shed light on one of the most shocking structural collapses in modern history — and to bring the story to life with detailed 3D animation. If you enjoy this kind of work, you can help support the channel by grabbing a framed poster inspired by our projects! 👉 Check it out here: https://deconstructed-shop.fourthwall.com/products/4x4-x-ray-view-framed-poster 🎁 We’re also giving one away! To enter, just subscribe, like this video, and leave a comment telling us what surprised you the most about the Hyatt Regency collapse. We’ll announce the winner in the next upload. Giveaway rules are listed below. The Hyatt Regency walkway collapse remains one of the deadliest structural failures in U.S. history. On July 17, 1981, a design change meant to simplify construction led to a catastrophic chain reaction during a lively tea dance in Kansas City. Within moments, two suspended walkways collapsed onto the crowded lobby below, resulting in 114 lives lost and over 200 injuries. What made this tragedy even more devastating was how preventable it was. A seemingly minor modification doubled the load on critical support points — a detail overlooked by everyone involved. In this 3D animated recreation, we break down exactly how the failure happened, why the walkways collapsed, and what went wrong — exposing the overlooked details that led to the disaster. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 02:12 - The Investigation Begins 03:14 - How the Walkways Were Built 05:16 - The Fatal Design Change 06:58 - The Collapse Explained 07:54 - Aftermath and Consequences 08:57 - Conclusion A huge thank you to all our Patreon and YouTube Membership supporters, your support helps us keep creating detailed, high-quality videos like this one. If you’d like to support the channel and help us bring more projects to life, you can join us here: 👉 https://www.patreon.com/c/Deconstructed_Animations | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCje6-Yak9u1msy5l7sE9pBA/join 🎬 Special thanks to our amazing team: - Hubert Malach: 3D Animation - Nicolas J: Sound Design - Lion & Louis: Script, Direction & Editing 🎁 Giveaway Rules: - No purchase necessary. - Open worldwide. - Enter by subscribing to our channel, liking this video and leaving a comment answering our question: What surprised you the most about the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse? - Winner will be selected based on our judgment of the best comment. - Winner will be announced at the end of the next video and must contact us via email at [email protected] to claim their prize. - If the winner is under the age of majority in their country, parental permission is required to receive the prize. - This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, or administered by YouTube. - Void where prohibited. 📚 Photo and Document Credits: Images shown are courtesy of the Kansas City Star, used for educational and documentary purposes under fair use. - https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article295422/46-killed-in-Hyatt-collapse-as-tea-dance-turns-to-terror.html Drawings and report excerpts are courtesy of the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) and are in the public domain. - https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/BSS/nbsbuildingscience143.pdf - https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-C13-5bd97234307cf65506d324b7d04ddc87/pdf/GOVPUB-C13-5bd97234307cf65506d324b7d04ddc87.pdf #EngineeringFailure #HyattRegencyCollapse #EngineeringMistakes #3DAnimation