True. My my point is that I am still a bit confused about who/what was mainly at fault. I would think the construction company would be a fault for building a foundation system that did not work.
Again, I am only speculating. My understanding is that details of the construction method is what is called “delegated” design - the Architects/Engineers are therefore not liable.
Bottom line: “The city will have this decaying hulk on its hands.”
I had recently read somewhere that is not actually the case in some instances. The architects and engineers can specify “delegated design” regarding the detailed construction materials & methods.
That means the builder/fabricator is responsible for “designing” the methods/material that go into the finished product.
I guess this will remain on open question… 
The architects can coordinate with the structural engineers on how they want the overall structure to be laid out, but the foundation structure is specifically only a structural engineer area of the building, the architects (who the structural engineers will coordinate with) nor constuction contractors have a say in that matter. The contractors have to follow what the structural engineers specify for the foundation, there is never an instance where the contractor decides what the foundation will be, so delegated design does not fall into the equation in this instance. Delegated Design, Design Assist, and Design Build are all between an architect and the contractor, not the engineer, but the engineer still has to check the product of those design sessions to see if they are plausible/work.
The only other person at fault would be the developer for not wanting to pay the higher amount it would have cost to have built the necessary foundation type for the building and instead went with an unsure method not used in high rise construction.
Thanks for the clarification. .
As always TKDV, you’re the best.
TKDV for world leader!
I think TKDV helped clarify: and here is something else I found that may shed a bit more light on the matter. As the article states “union built matters”. Interesting take, but ultimately no one party can be said to be ‘completely’ at fault.
If you have an interest in this subject; the story of One Seaport is fascinating in its complexity regarding the design & construction of this building.
This thread is a great source for exploring the story in detail. I found the posts by Anakinra to be some of the most interesting in general; but particularly interesting regarding detailed posts about the choice of foundation.
This linked post is one that features the main issues, and provides some great commentary and illustrations.
Enjoy… 