A beautifully designed and executed building can take your breath away. However, clumsily constructed structures can leave you scratching your head. Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa may be the most famous example of architectural error, but it’s by no means the only one. Read on as we look at four of the clumsiest building and architecture mistakes ever made.
1. Sydney Opera House
Located on the banks of Sydney Harbor in Australia, many consider the Sydney Opera House an architectural masterpiece. Others, such as the Maldives-based Times of Addu, call the performing arts center an “architectural disaster.”
Interestingly, the structure that opened in 1973 and now stands as a world-recognized architectural landmark in Australia was not designed by an Australian. In the mid-1950s, New South Wales Premier Joe Cahill proposed a global competition to find the perfect design. They considered more than 230 entries from 32 countries. In the end, Danish-born architect Jørn Utzon won and received an award of ₤5000 for his entry.
The opera house might not have suffered the indignity of becoming a hailed disaster had they constructed it following Utzon’s original 1957 drawing. The acoustics would have been superior, as well. The architect’s winning design would have created a multi-purpose structure that comprised a pair of side-by-side, full-size concert halls covered by a cantilevered, shell-shaped roof. The original expectation was that the soon-to-be Sydney Opera House would cost around AUS $7 million and take four years to complete.
What Went Wrong?
Utzon’s winning drawings did not precisely define the geometry of the shells that would make up the roof. However, he perceived them as a sequence of relatively flat parabolas that would be supported by concrete ribs. Government budget concerns forced engineers to come up with an economically acceptable solution. After six years and at least a dozen iterations, the shells were created as sections of a sphere instead of the flatter parabolas of Utzon’s design.
The government also scrapped the corridors and acoustic vision of Utzon’s drawings. Lauded by acoustic consultant Lothar Cremer as excellent, Utzon’s original concept of the two major concert halls was altered severely. Thus, resulting in poor acoustics for performing musicians.
According to a month-long examination conducted by The Sydney Morning Herald in 2006, the opera house was on the verge of becoming dysfunctional and obsolete due to cramped quarters in the orchestra pit, wings, and backstage areas. They addressed the acoustic issues through the addition of hanging Perspex rings over the stages. They also averted obsolescence with the replacement of stage machinery.
Ultimately, they completed the structure in 1973 (which originally broke ground in 1959) at a cost of more than AUS $102 million. Time and budget were not the only things that strayed far from the original ideas. In fact, the local government enacted so many changes to Utzon’s original drawings. The architect actually fled Australia in disgust and never returned.
2. Walkie-Talkie Building in London
It may not boast the nefarious past of the Tower of London that sits a few blocks away, but the “Walkie-Talkie” building at 20 Fenchurch Street leaves one with an indelible impression nonetheless. A clumsy addition to the London skyline at best, the awkwardly shaped structure faces a perilous future. The architecture mistakes may take millions of pounds to fix.
To say that this 37-story structure has issues would be an understatement. In fact, the bulging building opened in 2014 with many problems. It topped the shortlist for the UK’s not-so-illustrious Carbuncle Cup Award for the “ugliest British building” the very next year. And it’s not just the skyscraper’s less-than-lovely looks that have the UK in an architectural uproar. Sections of the structure could be downright dangerous.
Shortly after its public unveiling, Bloomberg CityLab called the now-nicknamed Walkie-Talkie a “clunky stub of a building” that arrived on the skyline in a murky and dishonest manner. They said that it failed to live up to its promise to be an authentic public space.
And then there were the death rays.
What Went Wrong?
According to CityLab, the London tower was “melting cars” with reflective “death rays” long before construction was complete. Architectural designer Eleanor Joliffe concurred. She described the building as reminiscent of “a Bond villain tower” that could “melt your car with a solar beam from space,” reported the Evening Standard.
Whole-project construction communication expert HIVOT offered a more scientific explanation of the now-infamous architecture mistakes of the hastily-approved skyscraper. Pertinent to the solar death ray issue, HIVOT explained that the #1 flaw of the £200 million building is a concave mirror that reflects incapacitating rays of sunlight more than 90° Celsius (190° Fahrenheit) onto the street where cars park every day.
Protracted heat caused by the ill-placed mirror charred carpets, cracked tiles, and melted car components so severely, London city officials suspended a trio of parking bays near the structure and will not let them be used until a permanent solution is devised.
3. Vdara Hotel and Spa in Las Vegas
Did you think the Walkie-Talkie tower is the only building accused of delivering “death rays”? Think again! Shortly after the 57-story Vdara Hotel and Spa opened its doors for business in December 2010, guests at the Strip resort began complaining of intense heat — and even burning skin — at and around the public swimming pool.
What Went Wrong?
Gordon Absher, a spokesman for the MGM Resorts-owned property, told Reuters that the high heat guests took to calling “death rays” was actually a “solar convergence phenomenon” caused by the sun changing elevation as it passed over the pool area.
The skin-scorching heat happens when solar rays bounce off the gleaming glass facade that happens to be concave in shape. Remember the Walkie-Talkie structure in London?
MGM Resorts attempted to correct the problem. They adhered high-tech solar film to each of the 3,000 glass panels that comprise the southern facade of the Vdara. Did it work? Not exactly.
After Vdara condo owner and Chicago lawyer, William Pintas, told a local Las Vegas newspaper he could smell his hair burning at the Vdara pool, the resort manager said he would look “into further mitigation procedures” including umbrellas and foliage options.
4. Wingspread in Racine, Wisconsin
Currently home to the charitable Johnson Foundation, Wingspread nearly collapsed in the wake of a Wisconsin ice storm. The 1994 near-disaster was not the first problem experienced by the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed structure, however.
What Went Wrong?
Fifty-five years prior, the plywood roof of the three-story, 14,000 square foot octagonal building was leaking badly. In fact, owner Herbert Johnson contacted Wright who blithely suggested he change the position of his furniture.
They spent decades fixing leaks in the roof which they ultimately replaced with new rafters and carbon sheathing, according to renovation expert Bob Vila.
Don’t Let It Happen to You
Up-to-date engineering drawings that are readily accessible to contractors, facilities managers, and properties managers can go a long way toward preventing such embarrassing, and potentially dangerous, building and architecture mistakes.
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