NEWS FLASH!! VIDEO!! Did Freitag's Container Tower Crash to the Ground?
Remember the Freitag store in Zurich? Telstar Logistics posted about the structure back in October 2006, noting that it was built entirely of recycled shipping containers, stacked 26 meters (86 feet) high. As Freitag explained in its press release:
The FREITAG SHOP ZURICH is completely built from rusty, recycled freight-containers. Lovingly they were gutted, reinforced, piled up and secured. Zurich’s first bonsai-skyscraper: Low enough not to violate the city’s restriction on high-rise buildings. High enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine.
If somehow the tower was NOT sufficiently secured, the following video will indeed send shivers down your spine. We've just received a link to a video which purports to show the Freitag store crashing to the ground.
Moments ago we received a comment on this blog from a reader. The comment contains a URL for a YouTube video that shows the Frietag store blowing in the wind -- and then buckling under the stress. In the video, a Chinese tourist can be seen standing in front of the building. "Here's the Freitag building," she says in Mandarin. "It's beautiful!" And then the tower collapses. Fade to chaos. See for yourself:
But is it real? We cannot find independent confirmation of the facts depicted in the video, which was uploaded to YouTube today. Watch this space for further updates. Developing...
PREVIOUSLY: Freitag Takes Container Architecture to New Heights
Original blog comment with YouTube link from "Kim Zheng": LINK
Freitag company website: LINK
FREITAG® Flickr Photostream: LINK
CLARIFICATION: (03 Feb. at 00:07) The story above? Totally true. It seems doubtful that that video is real, but it looks good, and (lest there be any confusion) we really honestly truly didn't create it. This happens sometimes: People think that because Telstar Logistics is a fake company, and because we write in the first-person plural, we must just make stuff up from time to time. Perfectly reasonable assumption. It logically follows. But no. Not how it's done. We bring our strange encounters straight-up, Walter Cronkite-style. Here's proof. Here's more.
The chronology: The comment showed up at 4 this afternoon, with a link to the YouTube vid. We clicked to that, and (at the time) it had only 9 views. Same name in both places. Googled the news, checked a few Zurich newspapers online, scanned recent Flickr tags zurich and freitag -- and found nothing. We suspect a prank. But a well done one. And by whom? And why the Freitag tower, of all things? And Mandarin Chinese? And why has Telstar Logistics been chosen as the vehicle? If it's a prank, it's a fun one. But whodunnit?
UPDATE (04 Feb at 10:19): By now ample time has elapsed without independent confirmation of the event shown in the video, so we must conclude that the video is a hoax. However, the "whodunnit" remains unanswered.
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