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

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cyberbug: Sep 30, 2004; The name is Carl Seltz...
insurance inspector.

Sharpest Crayon posted:

This box o' beauty is the finely named Finlandia-house, a congress and event center in Helsinki:

Not far from that is this awful thing, the Sanomatalo:

Two common questions about this are: aren't they ever going to take the scaffolding off? And: who the gently caress thought this was a good idea?

# ? Feb 24, 2015 23:41

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# ? Jun 6, 2024 23:53

Computer viking: May 30, 2011; Now with less breakage.

It's ... interesting as a contrast to the super-strict classisist parliament building, I guess.

# ? Feb 24, 2015 23:53

Sparq: Feb 10, 2014; If you're using an AC/20, you only need to hit the target once. If the target's still standing, you oughta be somewhere else anyway.

cyberbug posted:

Not far from that is this awful thing, the Sanomatalo:

Two common questions about this are: aren't they ever going to take the scaffolding off? And: who the gently caress thought this was a good idea?

Do they plan on heating the place? If they do, holy crap that will be expensive and I'm amazed that it was allowed in such a cold place.

# ? Feb 24, 2015 23:55

Computer viking: May 30, 2011; Now with less breakage.

Sparq posted:

Do they plan on heating the place? If they do, holy crap that will be expensive and I'm amazed that it was allowed in such a cold place.

It doesn't have to be that bad - it looks like there's a separation between the open inside and the inside rooms, and if they also use double panes the rooms inside could end up with decent enough insulation.

# ? Feb 25, 2015 00:02

Sharpest Crayon: Jul 16, 2009; Always Wag. Always Friend. Very Safety.; Clapping Larry

cyberbug posted:

My absolute favourite thing about this can even be seen in the picture: look through the facade to the roof of the building. See the glass ceiling there? You're looking at the the giant space-wasting hallways that extend from top to bottom to crisscross the building, making sure to divide any usable space into odd angles.

# ? Feb 25, 2015 00:12

KoRMaK: Jul 31, 2012

cyberbug posted:

Not far from that is this awful thing, the Sanomatalo:

Two common questions about this are: aren't they ever going to take the scaffolding off? And: who the gently caress thought this was a good idea?

I'm not sure the best way to tell you this, but that look like load bearing scaffolding. It's never going away.

# ? Feb 25, 2015 00:18

Computer viking: May 30, 2011; Now with less breakage.

KoRMaK posted:

I'm not sure the best way to tell you this, but that look like load bearing scaffolding. It's never going away.

Read that again. He knows.

# ? Feb 25, 2015 00:29

Say Nothing: Mar 5, 2013; by FactsAreUseless

Sharpest Crayon posted:

Oh hey, there was a Futuro house in a seaside suburb in my city! I think they took it apart and moved it to another city (they were modular).
Apparently only 96 of these things were made, so they definitely aren't common.

Hmm. Could do with a clean.

# ? Feb 25, 2015 00:38

KoRMaK: Jul 31, 2012

Computer viking posted:

Read that again. He knows.

Nah, they still had hope

# ? Feb 25, 2015 00:40

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

Say Nothing posted:

Oh hey, there was a Futuro house in a seaside suburb in my city! I think they took it apart and moved it to another city (they were modular).
Apparently only 96 of these things were made, so they definitely aren't common.

Hmm. Could do with a clean.

does it smell like a mcdonalds ball pit inside

# ? Feb 25, 2015 00:43

Say Nothing: Mar 5, 2013; by FactsAreUseless

Fojar38 posted:

does it smell like a mcdonalds ball pit inside

Like piss?
The only thing I know is the owners moved it because they got sick of curious tourists and bypassers wandering onto their property to take photographs of the 'UFO house'.

# ? Feb 25, 2015 00:54

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

Say Nothing posted:

Like piss?

yes but a very specific kind of plasticky piss fragrance

# ? Feb 25, 2015 01:10

0haiThere: Feb 18, 2015; Looks like you're in the barrel today.

Skutter posted:

Opposite, campus-facing side with the front entrance

I think the architect may have been having some video driver problems

# ? Feb 25, 2015 02:15

dreadspork: Jun 25, 2005; Perseverance does not equal worthiness. Next time you want to get my attention, wear something fun. Low-riding jeans are hot.

San Antonio has a couple of real eyesores. The ones below are right across the highway from each other.

Tower of the Americas which I'm sure was an architectural marvel when it was built -- it WAS the tallest observational tower in the US from 1968 until 1996, but it has since been surpassed. Now it just feels really outdated.

Goddamn that is one ugly flying saucer.

And The Alamodome, which I guess I'm not architecturally inclined enough to appreciate.

dreadspork fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Feb 25, 2015

# ? Feb 25, 2015 02:41

George H.W. Cunt: Oct 6, 2010

You forgot one

It would be sweet if SA could lure a team there

George H.W. Cunt fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Feb 25, 2015

# ? Feb 25, 2015 03:01

Dr.Smasher: Nov 27, 2002; Cyberpunk 1987

I know, it's a Gawker site, but prepare to have your eyes raped by a trend in Bolivia

Even more nightmare fuel from io9

# ? Feb 25, 2015 03:03

snuggle baby luvs hugs: Aug 30, 2005

I like it

# ? Feb 25, 2015 03:16

flavor.flv: Apr 18, 2008; I got a letter from the government the other day
opened it, read it
it said they was bitches

I've been trying to find a futuro house to buy for years. Apparently somebody has the moulds and is setting up to make new ones, but he wants $200k a pop.

# ? Feb 25, 2015 03:27

zedprime: Jun 9, 2007; yospos

dreadspork posted:

And The Alamodome, which I guess I'm not architecturally inclined enough to appreciate.

Is there a definition of dome that I'm not aware of?

# ? Feb 25, 2015 03:58

blugu64: Jul 17, 2006; Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?

SaltLick posted:

You forgot one

It would be sweet if SA could lure a team there

You, me, flagpole at 3.

# ? Feb 25, 2015 04:06

DamnCanadian: Jan 3, 2005; Perpetuating the stereotype since 1978.

olylifter posted:

Example: our loving moronic City Hall:

Looks idiotic, plus the inside is hilariously bad: its divided into a front and back on every floor. Front has the windows, back doesn't. The temperature in the joint is all out of wack, so by the windows its crazy hot in the summer from the sun, and they crank up the A/C so the people next to it don't die: the people in the back freeze. In the winter its reversed.

I grew up in Toronto, and I think City Hall owns. I don't understand, though, how it could get so hot in the summer, since the glass-window side faces north, and is never in direct sunlight?

# ? Feb 25, 2015 04:11

DamnCanadian: Jan 3, 2005; Perpetuating the stereotype since 1978.

dreadspork posted:

San Antonio has a couple of real eyesores. The ones below are right across the highway from each other.

Tower of the Americas which I'm sure was an architectural marvel when it was built -- it WAS the tallest observational tower in the US from 1968 until 1996, but it has since been surpassed. Now it just feels really outdated.

Goddamn that is one ugly flying saucer.

And The Alamodome, which I guess I'm not architecturally inclined enough to appreciate.

Tower of the Americas, and a few other nearby buildings, are left over from the 1968 World's Fair (called the HemisFair). One of the pavilions has been converted into the U.S. Judiciary Training Center (where I've gone for several technical training programs over the years), and the a large round pavilion has been converted into a Federal Courthouse; we affectionately refer to it as the "U.S.S. Courthouse."

# ? Feb 25, 2015 04:16

Midnight Voyager: Jul 2, 2008; Lipstick Apathy

I went to college at Auburn University. They like putting freshman classes especially in a building called the Haley Center. I think it counted as a hazing ritual.

Because this is the Haley Center.

Ugly loving building, huh? There's something you don't see on an outside view, though.

gently caress. THIS. BUILDING.

quote:

Three weeks before Haley Center opened for academic business in June 1969, The Plainsman printed the layout of the now legendary Auburn labyrinth along with instructions related to zones and quadrants and counterclockwise zeros and towers that reads like a Masonic clue from National Treasure.

Room numbers consist of four digits. The first number is the floor on which the room is located. The second digit indicates in which quadrant the room can be found. The third and fourth numbers are the room number for that floor quadrant.

Owing to the fact that its four quadrants and one tower essentially made Haley "like five separate buildings," Ray K. Parker, Haley Center Construction Inspector, predicted that "locating the desired room could become a source of confusion until students familiarize themselves with the numbering system."

Forty-three years later, it still is. And they still haven't.

You will never get used to this building. You will never get used to how each side of the building has a nearly identical entrance, how the windowless, claustrophobic hallways give you no landmarks to deal with whatsoever. You will never go a whole year without walking into the wrong class altogether, even on the wrong quadrant or FLOOR altogether. It's okay though. They understand. They always understand. You just expect your class to be interrupted at random by an exhausted freshman who has got the wrong quadrant or floor or room.

Pit of goddamn hell, this building. And it's still not the building I had math in which was sinking measurably into the earth!

# ? Feb 25, 2015 04:41

Improbable Lobster: Jan 6, 2012; "From each according to his ability" said Ares. It sounded like a quotation.; Buglord

RandomFerret posted:

I've been trying to find a futuro house to buy for years. Apparently somebody has the moulds and is setting up to make new ones, but he wants $200k a pop.

That's goddamn ridiculous

# ? Feb 25, 2015 04:46

Salt Fish: Sep 11, 2003; Cybernetic Crumb

Skutter posted:

On the topic of ugly art museums and college campus buildings... This is the Broad Art Museum in East Lansing, MI.

This if the "front", street-facing part of the museum

Street view of the front side

Opposite, campus-facing side with the front entrance

Another front entrance shot

Another shot of the opposite side

The entrance in the back

Another shot of the back entrance, along with a weird metal bush sculpture

There's also this thing out back too.

This place is terrible. The "front" part is their main gallery, which only has a few small portions of flat wall space, the other walls are all at angles (they still hang things on them though), most of the main gallery is comprised of windows. These windows held up construction for almost a year because the specifications were so "unique" that it took forever for them to be crafted, and of course one broke, delaying things even further. There are also two small, diamond-shaped rooms near the main gallery for separate exhibitions, but they're so small you can't fit much of anything in there, and there are only three walls on one of them because one wall is all glass of course. The entire place is just a poor use of space. Not to mention that it looks like a giant future razor in the midst of a really pretty red brick campus that was built in the 1850s.

This place is awesome. Every one of the sharp protrusions has hidden windows so that on the outside it looks like a fortress but on the inside there is tons of light and you can see outside really easily. A+ imo and if you want to make fun of a building you should pick the hamster cage parking garage you can see in the background.

# ? Feb 25, 2015 05:02

George H.W. Cunt: Oct 6, 2010

blugu64 posted:

You, me, flagpole at 3.

The Alamo is the biggest tourist trap in the state and is hilariously awful. Better off going to Ripleys across the street

# ? Feb 25, 2015 05:27

EmperorFritoBandito: Aug 7, 2010; by exmarx

Skutter posted:

Yeah, this is where Langoliers are made.

# ? Feb 25, 2015 05:31

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

SaltLick posted:

The Alamo is the biggest tourist trap in the state and is hilariously awful. Better off going to Ripleys across the street

It was nicer before they moved it to the center of town.

# ? Feb 25, 2015 05:33

Deputy Dangerous: Mar 20, 2011; 90% gravity

Salt Fish posted:

This place is awesome. Every one of the sharp protrusions has hidden windows so that on the outside it looks like a fortress but on the inside there is tons of light and you can see outside really easily. A+ imo and if you want to make fun of a building you should pick the hamster cage parking garage you can see in the background.

Yeah, Broad's really nice on the inside, and a lot more spacious than you'd think. As was mentioned before, the walls don't allow for a lot of art so they sorta hang pieces above each other which sorta sucks but that's the price you pay for the ribbed metal parallelogram exterior.

Also,

Yeah that parking garage is fuckin gross.

# ? Feb 25, 2015 05:38

Jenny Agutter: Mar 18, 2009

Midnight Voyager posted:

I went to college at Auburn University. They like putting freshman classes especially in a building called the Haley Center. I think it counted as a hazing ritual.

Because this is the Haley Center.

Ugly loving building, huh? There's something you don't see on an outside view, though.

gently caress. THIS. BUILDING.

You will never get used to this building. You will never get used to how each side of the building has a nearly identical entrance, how the windowless, claustrophobic hallways give you no landmarks to deal with whatsoever. You will never go a whole year without walking into the wrong class altogether, even on the wrong quadrant or FLOOR altogether. It's okay though. They understand. They always understand. You just expect your class to be interrupted at random by an exhausted freshman who has got the wrong quadrant or floor or room.

Pit of goddamn hell, this building. And it's still not the building I had math in which was sinking measurably into the earth!

this is some Name of the Rose poo poo

# ? Feb 25, 2015 05:45

BrutalistMcDonalds: Oct 4, 2012; Lipstick Apathy

KABUL

kabuuuuuuuuuuuul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dylSXKc-XGs

# ? Feb 25, 2015 06:09

Present: Oct 28, 2011; by Shine

Dr.Smasher posted:

I know, it's a Gawker site, but prepare to have your eyes raped by a trend in Bolivia

Even more nightmare fuel from io9

How do I smuggle tabs of acid into Bolivia?

# ? Feb 25, 2015 06:16

value-brand cereal: May 2, 2008

Deputy Dangerous posted:

Ooh yeah, that building is ribbed for her pleasure.

# ? Feb 25, 2015 06:29

Brinny-chan: Jul 7, 2007; Namely a Sergeant Knickerless Ass-wipe and Cuntstable Fanny Batterbum.

This is the new library in Halifax, Nova Scotia:

I can't decide how I feel about it. I like it initially, and in a city with very little modern architecture it certainly is eye-catching. But the more I look at the top piece, the more it looks like a giant glass shipping container was just slapped on there. :confused:

E: Retarded phone poster, image fixed.

Brinny-chan fucked around with this message at 07:01 on Feb 25, 2015

# ? Feb 25, 2015 06:56

BrigadierSensible: Feb 16, 2012; I've got a pocket full of cheese🧀, and a garden full of trees🌴.

I'm surprised nobody has put Mukesh Ambani's house up yet.

Named after a fictional island, it is teh most expensive private residence in the world. 27 storeys tall, worth at least $500 million perhaps double that, it is in South Mumbai, (Bombay), next to some of teh worst slums in the world. But never mind, his house has 3 helipads and rises far above them so he and his family won't be bothered by the poor people whose blood feed his insane millions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antilia_(building)

# ? Feb 25, 2015 06:56

Big K of Justice: Nov 27, 2005; Anyone seen my ball joints?

nomadologique posted:

lol the "hip new thing" of mondrian-inspired rectangles of prisma color plastic

there was so much potential in this trend, but everywhere i've seen it's been badly realized, and we are going to regret it more and more with the coming decades

Someone should tell Vancouver that because every condo going up here is like that except the ratio of glass to brick is reversed.

That's going to age really badly in 10-20 years assuming the windows don't start dropping out.

# ? Feb 25, 2015 11:00

Big K of Justice: Nov 27, 2005; Anyone seen my ball joints?

Jonad posted:

Speaking of my town (Kingston, Ontario) there's this beauty not two blocks from where I live.

It was built as a student co-op housing project called Elrond Towers, but like most student projects it went to poo poo. The new owners renamed it to Princess Towers, after the street its on. I see this thing pretty often walking home, really lends a kind of 'Soviet cyberpunk' atmosphere to cold evenings.

Holy poo poo I was going to bring up princess towers.

I visited my friend in Kingston, Ontario, Canada for 2 weeks, he going to Queens at the time and I had the opportunity to embrace that architectural gem.

They were so cheap they found a way to get one elevator stop to service two floors... How? Having each floor have a half a floor stairwell going up and down to each apartment. Elevator stops on floor 4, but you technically live on 4.5 and the guy below you lives on floor 3.5. Both of you have a half a floor stairwell to climb so you can get to 4 and use the elevator. Why did they do is and who in the city signed off on those plans?

I've been inside of public storage buildings with better interior layout.

Process towers completes the package with apartment numbers spray painted onto the hallway walls with a cheap stencil.

Stay classy Kingston.

# ? Feb 25, 2015 11:16

slinkimalinki: Jan 17, 2010

RandomFerret posted:

I've been trying to find a futuro house to buy for years. Apparently somebody has the moulds and is setting up to make new ones, but he wants $200k a pop.

Didn't look hard enough bro: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11181473

Anyways:
This is the Clarendon Tower, a fairly gross example of the "gut an old building and stick a huge new building behind its filleted facade" trend

But beyond that, it didn't hold.

It performed really badly in a major earthquake
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/6567773/Clarendon-Tower-a-horror-story

quote:

He used the Clarendon Tower, a 17-storey central-city building now being demolished, was an example of a ''textbook'' concrete building built after 1980.

The quake collapsed internal stairwells in the building, forcing people to wait hours to be rescued as aftershocks rumbled across the city.

Cracks up to 35 millimetres wide - large enough to see through to the storey below - appeared after a beam in the tower's northwest corner elongated and separated the column from the pre-cast concrete floor, Bull said.

The reinforcing used, which was common in buildings built in the past 30 years, was ''quite brittle''.

''At best, it can expect 5mm [movement] before breaking. To be honest, conventional reinforcing today, which is quite tough, can only handle 15mm worth of crack before it snaps,'' he said.

''The reinforcing in this particular building was failing all over the floors even in September [2010], let alone what happened in February.''

The building ''ballooned'' and the bulging caused the floor to drop 35mm, Bull said.

''When it was surveyed, the building was 100mm wider in the middle between level seven and level eight than it is at the ground up to level 18.''