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The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > Architectural failures - "nah, it'll hold."
 
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vortmax
Sep 24, 2008

In meteorology, vorticity often refers to a measurement of the spin of horizontally flowing air about a vertical axis.
 All of this brutalist architecture and nobody has mentioned the University of Oklahoma Physical Sciences Center. Or "the blender" as it's affectionately known. Three floors in the base, with separate elevators handling the tower part.
* # ¿ Apr 24, 2015 09:07
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# ¿ May 21, 2024 00:14
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vortmax
Sep 24, 2008

In meteorology, vorticity often refers to a measurement of the spin of horizontally flowing air about a vertical axis.

Venusian Weasel posted:

Fun fact: standing opposite Altgeld is another terrible architectural failure, Faner Hall. Built during the height of the student protest movement, its selling point was that it was a) a giant wall in the middle of the campus and b) confusing in its internal layout so that attempts to seize and barricade the building would be high impossible.



As an anti-riot measure it succeeds admirably, but as an educational facility it's a loving mess. None of the stairwells go from the first floor to the top floor. There are four stairwells that go from the ground to the second floor, in between those are stairwells that go from the second to fourth floors. At the very ends there are yet another set of stairwells with roof access.

The interior of the building is also a maze, constantly splitting into separate hallways, and the building was designed so that you can't walk from one end of the building to the other on the same floor. I've heard jokes that some of the student protestors entered in the 60s and have yet to leave; considering that it's the headquarters for the School of Liberal Arts that may be entirely accurate.

Even as a fan of brutalist architecture I can say it's not a good building. (There are a couple parts that are kinda cool-looking in their own right but look like they're tacked on to the main building.)

I didn't mention this when I posted "The Blender"at OU earlier, because it's a rumor, but it was supposedly designed with student riots in mind. The lower three floors in the base are served by one set of elevators, and the big lecture halls are in the base. Note that there are no windows in the base.

The higher floors in the central tower are served by another set of elevators, and when you ride them up, there's enough of a pause between floors 3 and 4 that there should be a floor there.

So the rumor was that, in the event of a student riot, the staff could pull the tower elevators up from the base and be safe, and that the "missing level" in the tower allowed for a pinch-point to stop hostile forces.

* # ¿ Apr 30, 2015 03:18
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vortmax
Sep 24, 2008

In meteorology, vorticity often refers to a measurement of the spin of horizontally flowing air about a vertical axis.

Cacafuego posted:

It's Oklahoma, what the hell else are they going to put there?
* # ¿ Jan 5, 2016 03:33
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The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > Architectural failures - "nah, it'll hold."