Architectural failures - "nah, it'll hold." - The Something Awful Forums

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cubicle gangster: Jun 26, 2005; magda, make the tea

Three Olives posted:

This kind of reminds me of Citigroup Center:

here's the full story:
http://www.archdaily.com/564014/ad-classics-citigroup-center-hugh-stubbins-william-le-messurier/

# ? Feb 19, 2015 23:32

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# ? Jun 1, 2024 12:52

ANIME IS BLOOD: Sep 4, 2008; by zen death robot

Jonad posted:

There's a building in my town that the university bought and was planning to turn into dorms. Thing is, people were upset because the (actually very pretty) building was a former women's prison; it still had the wrought iron bars on the windows. The school decided to turn it into an archive instead.

oh that's much better :mad:

# ? Feb 19, 2015 23:35

Tumblr of scotch: Mar 13, 2006; Please, don't be my neighbor.

Lucy Heartfilia posted:

anyone else besides me who unironically loves brutalism?

It's legitimately my favourite architectural style. I don't care what anyone says, I think it's pretty in its own way.

# ? Feb 19, 2015 23:46

IzzyFnStradlin: Jun 19, 2004

Lucy Heartfilia posted:

anyone else besides me who unironically loves brutalism?

From Page 5:

concerned mom posted:

goons love brutalist architecture news at 11

# ? Feb 19, 2015 23:49

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

Lucy Heartfilia posted:

anyone else besides me who unironically loves brutalism?

Oh no, a ton of goons have terrible taste too.

# ? Feb 19, 2015 23:50

Lucy Heartfilia: May 31, 2012

boom boom boom posted:

Oh no, a ton of goons have terrible taste too.

no u

# ? Feb 19, 2015 23:50

I. M. Gei: Jun 26, 2005; CHIEFS

BITCH

never trust an elf posted:

If I weren't phone postin I'd find pictures of this as it was being constructed (it's almost done) cause it looked like an armadillo skeleton sprouting wings

Remember that episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where Ray's mother makes a huge sculpture and displays it in Ray's house?

That's me right now, looking at this building. I'm Ray and my mother made this sculpture.

# ? Feb 20, 2015 00:11

thathonkey: Jul 17, 2012

Dr. Gitmo Moneyson posted:

Remember that episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where Ray's mother makes a big sculpture and displays it in Ray's house?

no can't say that i do

# ? Feb 20, 2015 00:12

I. M. Gei: Jun 26, 2005; CHIEFS

BITCH

thathonkey posted:

no can't say that i do

Spoiler: It looks like a giant vagina. :ssh:

# ? Feb 20, 2015 00:14

Lawman 0: Aug 17, 2010

ZeusCannon posted:

Nice I had to move recently so now I have a balcony that I am learning to garden on. I do miss my back yard a bit, can't grill on a balcony where I am. Right now its filled with boxes for my bonsai to winter in so I look like a hoarder.

On other architectural failures (and red brick failures! ) I put forth Fort Jefferson on the Dry Tortugas. It was one of the first of its type of construction for the army engineers. Since there was no water on the islands (gulf of mexico so all salt) it was designed to capture rainwater and filter it down to holding cisterns. However (this is the failure part) it wasn't built so good so it started sinking when they put the 2nd level on (supposed to be 3) and the cisterns cracked making them useless. It never fulfilled its purpose and got turned into a prison after the civil war. They held the Lincoln conspirators there, and there are a bunch of interesting stories about that including how Dr. Mudd earning his parole by treating patients during a terrible outbreak of yellow fever.

Now its a really pretty place to visit and has pretty good snorkeling!

It really is a beautiful place though. Well worth visiting.
_{*note I cant remember if it was the 2nd or 3rd level that started the sinking so I may have that wrong.}

I went there over the winter break! :buddy:

# ? Feb 20, 2015 00:50

TapTheForwardAssist: Apr 9, 2007; Pretty Little Lyres

"The Rooms" is a museum and cultural centre looming over St John's, Newfoundland. It's supposed to evoke the old fishing shacks that used to line the coast, but it ends up absurdly dwarfing everything around it, even a cathedral:

# ? Feb 20, 2015 00:50

Arrhythmia: Jul 22, 2011

TapTheForwardAssist posted:

"The Rooms" is a museum and cultural centre looming over St John's, Newfoundland. It's supposed to evoke the old fishing shacks that used to line the coast, but it ends up absurdly dwarfing everything around it, even a cathedral:

ahahaha it looks like a tiny person village for tiny people with one normal sized house

# ? Feb 20, 2015 00:51

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

TapTheForwardAssist posted:

"The Rooms" is a museum and cultural centre looming over St John's, Newfoundland. It's supposed to evoke the old fishing shacks that used to line the coast, but it ends up absurdly dwarfing everything around it, even a cathedral:

It looks like that town has a giant living in it and everyone politely pretends like he's not 100 feet tall

# ? Feb 20, 2015 01:03

Vincent Van Goatse: Nov 8, 2006; Enjoy every sandwich.; Smellrose

TapTheForwardAssist posted:

"The Rooms" is a museum and cultural centre looming over St John's, Newfoundland. It's supposed to evoke the old fishing shacks that used to line the coast, but it ends up absurdly dwarfing everything around it, even a cathedral:

If the Combine had come from the Maritimes, this is what the Citadel would've looked like.

# ? Feb 20, 2015 01:07

Code Jockey: Jan 24, 2006; 69420 basic bytes free

Lucy Heartfilia posted:

anyone else besides me who unironically loves brutalism?

Without a doubt.

Flagrant Abuse posted:

It's legitimately my favourite architectural style. I don't care what anyone says, I think it's pretty in its own way.

# ? Feb 20, 2015 01:09

ArmedZombie: Jun 6, 2004

brutalism is the fedora of architecture

# ? Feb 20, 2015 01:19

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

ArmZ posted:

brutalism is the fedora of architecture

I assume that everyone who likes brutalism has, at the very least, seriously considered switching to an all-soylent diet

# ? Feb 20, 2015 01:25

snuggle baby luvs hugs: Aug 30, 2005

ArmZ posted:

brutalism is the fedora of architecture

Nah it's the Che Tshirt

# ? Feb 20, 2015 01:31

Dang It Bhabhi!: May 27, 2004; ASK ME ABOUT
BEING
ESCULA GRIND'S
#1 SIMP

seriouspost: if you love brutalism, have you actually lived amongst it? i grew up around that poo poo and it is the antithesis of joy and corrosive to the human soul. it's the kind of thing that you would line up your leaders against and have them shot in the back of the head. human bloodstain silhouettes would make a lot of sense on the sides of brutalist buildings.

# ? Feb 20, 2015 01:37

Dang It Bhabhi!: May 27, 2004; ASK ME ABOUT
BEING
ESCULA GRIND'S
#1 SIMP

gently caress a brutalism and suck my dilllz 8====D~~~~~~

# ? Feb 20, 2015 01:38

Three Olives: Apr 10, 2005; Don't forget Hitler's contributions to medicine.

fyodor posted:

seriouspost: if you love brutalism, have you actually lived amongst it? i grew up around that poo poo and it is the antithesis of joy and corrosive to the human soul. it's the kind of thing that you would line up your leaders against and have them shot in the back of the head. human bloodstain silhouettes would make a lot of sense on the sides of brutalist buildings.

I live in a brutalist building, it has nice huge bay windows in every room but it is vaguely threatening from the outside.

# ? Feb 20, 2015 01:51

nomadologique: Mar 9, 2011; DUNK A DILL PICKLE REALDO

Dre2Dee2 posted:

must be something about that rainy photo, but i'm amazed that was begun only 12 years ago (instead of 40)

# ? Feb 20, 2015 01:54

nomadologique: Mar 9, 2011; DUNK A DILL PICKLE REALDO

Tawd posted:

What will the unemployable nu-hipster architecture students of tomorrow say about our steel-and-glass-and-odd-multicoloured-metal-clad buildings? (probably exactly the same thing)

product of post-proliferation confusion, we hadn't yet developed the right kind of attention for all the shiny things available in the world and our scattered and incoherent ideas reflect that

# ? Feb 20, 2015 01:58

nomadologique: Mar 9, 2011; DUNK A DILL PICKLE REALDO

boom boom boom posted:

It looks like that town has a giant living in it and everyone politely pretends like he's not 100 feet tall

since it's canada, this is probably what would happen

# ? Feb 20, 2015 02:00

MoreLikeTen: Oct 21, 2012; The farmer's mistake was believing he had any control over his life.

Dre2Dee2 posted:

BEHOLD... The American Dream^TM ! (formerly known as XANADU)

More of a financial failure than a strictly structural one, it's greatest achievement is being the most hideous eyesore next to an ugly highway surrounded by hideous eyesores.

This was supposed to be the super mall to end all super malls. Indoor ski slope! World's biggest LEGO store! A giant ferris wheel, an AMUSEMENT park! Concerts, restaurants AND it's right next to the IZOD Center, so you can catch your favorite sporting event! WHY WOULD YOU EVER LEAVE~

Oh right, cause it never got done. The company that started this project went bankrupt, and was taken over by another company that ALSO went bankrupt, so were on our 3rd set of owners who aren't bankrupt... yet. Once complete, it will be the crown jewel in the Jersey crown. In the meantime, it's just a bunch of jumbled colors and pieces just sitting there collecting dust. This is officially year 12 of the project, with projected 'partial' opening next year. Get hype.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream_Meadowlands

One thing this picture fails to convey is that the complex, painted with red and blue rectangles, is surrounded by stacks of red and blue shipping crates for miles in every direction. Someone decided to build a supermall in the middle of a shipping center and then camouflage it as said shipping center.

# ? Feb 20, 2015 02:00

snuggle baby luvs hugs: Aug 30, 2005

nomadologique posted:

must be something about that rainy photo, but i'm amazed that was begun only 12 years ago (instead of 40)

Tbh it's kinda grown on me over the years in the same way goatse has

# ? Feb 20, 2015 02:27

Vincent Van Goatse: Nov 8, 2006; Enjoy every sandwich.; Smellrose

ArmZ posted:

brutalism is the fedora of architecture

# ? Feb 20, 2015 02:33

KoRMaK: Jul 31, 2012

Three Olives posted:

I have one of those fake dog grass patches on my balcony, I thought about doing fake grass in the whole area but I figured I could keep my dogs confined to the one grass area that they are allowed to pee on so I haven't. I do garden out there though, can't wait for it to warm up a little bit and replant.

lol 3o with a subtle condo post

I mean its real topical and all but still....

Nice place though, wanna hang out on it when your not there

# ? Feb 20, 2015 03:12

binge crotching: Apr 2, 2010

Frosted Flake posted:

It is.

Canadian bases are full of war trophies, in a really haphazard way. On boulevards, in parks, on the lawns of buildings. Everywhere you look there are guns, tanks, planes of every era and nation on display.

I like how in the ~~center~~ centre of Vancouver, you can just be walking down the street and then suddenly a random WW2 tank will be parked on the sidewalk.

# ? Feb 20, 2015 03:19

Extra Large Marge: Jan 21, 2004; Fun Shoe

fyodor posted:

Case Study House #22 in Los Angeles, aka the Stahl House is wildly impractical but is impressive as all heck much like Falling Water:

Strangely, the bathroom was really, really tacky. Straight from the 70s and gross and cheap-looking. It's pretty lol compared to the rest of the place.

drat straight, I'd want my porno house to have a tacky bathroom too

# ? Feb 20, 2015 03:21

unlimited shrimp: Aug 30, 2008

The Olympic Stadium in Montreal is pretty awful.

Way over budget, took forever to complete, and it is structurally unsound.

It's only saving grace is that I'm pretty sure it's design was alluded to in the art for Pink Floyd's The Wall

quote:

The Montreal show, 6 July 1977, the final performance of the tour, ended with Pink Floyd performing a blues jam as the roadies dismantled the instruments in front of the insatiable audience who refused to let the band leave the stadium. A small riot at the front of the stage followed the band's eventual exit. Earlier that night, Waters spat in the face of a disruptive fan;[3] The Wall grew out of Waters' thoughts about this incident, particularly his growing awareness that stardom had alienated him from his audience.[4]

So it's kinda neat that the location of the incident that triggered The Wall was later used as the setting of The Trial, where the album's protagonist is forced to tear down the eponymous wall and end his isolation.

Could also be a big coincidence because the tower wasn't finished construction when Pink Floyd played there. However, the finished design was used in all the promotional material for the stadium.

# ? Feb 20, 2015 04:13

Vernii: Dec 7, 2006

http://www.vagabondjourney.com/new-south-china-mall-the-worlds-largest-mall-is-still-99-deserted/

Some developer in China decided to build a mall twice the size of the Mall of America as a giant dickwaving monument to Chinese capitalism. He picks his home city for the site, ignoring that the population is mostly poor factory workers, and then builds it out in an area where barely anyone lives and its a giant pain in the rear end to get to. It opens with 99% vacancy and years later hasn't improved.

The government has taken over and is trying to relocate the city center to provide it with a nearby customer base.

# ? Feb 20, 2015 04:47

Dr. Stab: Sep 12, 2010; 👨🏻‍⚕️🩺🔪🙀😱🙀

Flagrant Abuse posted:

Filed under "beautiful but moronic" we have Sagrada Familia.

What makes it moronic? It broke ground in the 1880s and is estimated to still be at least ten years from completion, despite having been worked on for almost all the entire intervening time except during the Spanish Civil War.

The plans for this building were destroyed in the 30s, and they kept building it.

# ? Feb 20, 2015 05:16

Gazpacho: Jun 18, 2004; by Fluffdaddy; Slippery Tilde

Job Truniht posted:

Worst loving building on campus.

it looks like the bastard child of an electrical station and a grain elevator

"where are we going to put the HVAC units? more like where aren't we?"

Gazpacho fucked around with this message at 06:14 on Feb 20, 2015

# ? Feb 20, 2015 06:05

Iamblikhos: Jun 9, 2013; IRONKNUCKLE PERMA-BANNED! CHALLENGES LIBERALS TO 10-TOPIC POLITICAL DEBATE! READ HERE

# ? Feb 20, 2015 06:08

Anza Borrego: Feb 11, 2005; Ovis canadensis nelsoni

I work in the industry and this thread is very much my poo poo.

Three Olives posted:

It was originally supposed to be half as tall but the developer couldn't sell any units so naturally the police and fire pension fund was like "Rich people will love this, build it twice as tall!" They named it Museum Tower.

The design of the tower focused light on a museum next door that has a glass roof founded by one of the most powerful and wealthiest families in the city and made it where they had to put a lot of their art in storage, destroyed another piece of art and killed a few trees so no rich people wanted to buy units in a building that ruined a museum and seriously loving pissed off one of the most influential families in the city.

It's been open like 2 years and I think they have sold like 30 of over 100 units.

TBF it's a pretty sexy building. They're also supposed to be renovating the facade soon to help deal with the reflectivity issue, after several years of throwing tantrums at the Nasher. They still continue to sell units, albeit at a very slow pace.

CoffeeBooze posted:

That would be the city hall of Dallas, TX. Which probably also warrants a post in this thread.

This building is such a poo poo show, but the "civic plaza" out front really takes the cake. It's one of the most brutally oppressive public open spaces in Dallas.

Rick Rickshaw posted:

Meet The Harmon. I ate breakfast in the shadow of this building back in 2011 and thought it looked pretty cool, so I researched it after my trip to the sin city.

This is when I learned of the horror.

Hard to believe a building so new and so large was planned for dismantling.

It wasn't planned for dismantling, the general contractor used the wrong reinforcing in the columns and the building could only be half as tall as it was supposed to be. Foster took his name off the building, MGM sued the GC and they tore it down.

e: It was a real shame too, it would have been a very elegant addition to the architectural freakshow that is CityCenter.

Anza Borrego fucked around with this message at 06:58 on Feb 20, 2015

# ? Feb 20, 2015 06:11

Nuclear Pogostick: Apr 9, 2007; Bouncing towards victory

Dre2Dee2 posted:

BEHOLD... The American Dream^TM ! (formerly known as XANADU)

More of a financial failure than a strictly structural one, it's greatest achievement is being the most hideous eyesore next to an ugly highway surrounded by hideous eyesores.

This was supposed to be the super mall to end all super malls. Indoor ski slope! World's biggest LEGO store! A giant ferris wheel, an AMUSEMENT park! Concerts, restaurants AND it's right next to the IZOD Center, so you can catch your favorite sporting event! WHY WOULD YOU EVER LEAVE~

Oh right, cause it never got done. The company that started this project went bankrupt, and was taken over by another company that ALSO went bankrupt, so were on our 3rd set of owners who aren't bankrupt... yet. Once complete, it will be the crown jewel in the Jersey crown. In the meantime, it's just a bunch of jumbled colors and pieces just sitting there collecting dust. This is officially year 12 of the project, with projected 'partial' opening next year. Get hype.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream_Meadowlands

So THAT'S what that loving building was, I passed it on the highway with my dad when we visited New York (we looped around through jersey). Huh. How about that.

e: also yeah that one guy who mentioned it - I thought it was shipping containers at first, because it looks identical to the stacks of shipping containers that surround it.

Also brutalism loving sucks, hth. Give me art deco or give me death.

Nuclear Pogostick fucked around with this message at 07:55 on Feb 20, 2015

# ? Feb 20, 2015 07:49