Question: Hey bill , I dont know wether you are aware of a small medeivel building in canterbury , its called the king english .... I would be fascinated to find out how the building can stay on such a degree of lean without any structural support or any structural damage i have included a link below , You should check it out....http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhedae/4409301026/

Bill Price answered on 22 Mar 2012:

Hi stringer this effect is very interesting. Whats happening here is that loads and forces are being redistributed throughout the fabric (structure). Most structures have resilience and robustness resulting from the interconnectivity of everything. These effects are often difficult to calculate and do not get considered in the basic design. This does lead to some over-design but structures are more robust. A great example was the twin towers at 9/11. Those towers stood up long after the planes hit them (1 hour and 1.5hr). There were gaping holes in the facades and many columns destroyed but they did not fall down. This was becasue the huge loads and forces found alternative paths to the ground. This is what is happening at Canterbury and why it is still standing. The thing that did cause the 9/11 collapse was fire.