The world is home to countless architectural designs that will truly take your breath away. From the Eiffel Tower, Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal, these are truly sights to see and bask in their glory. Although the list can go on, this isn't always the case. When constructing a building, it's quite important to make sure that everything is right! It's important to ensure that everything is structurally sound, that every bolt and screw is tight, and that you didn't miss even a lick of paint on the wall.
As straightforward as that may sound, architects can easily fail on the simplest things. From oddly shaped designs, miscalculations, and painfully orchestrated construction, these buildings will really have you asking, "is that for real?". Without further ado, here is a list of 30 buildings that make us wonder what the architect was really thinking!
29 24. Longaberger Company Offices, Newark
There isn't much to say about this architectural design, other than, 'huh'? If you don't know what this building is for, it's a massive wood basket for a company that sells, you guessed it, handcrafted maple wood baskets!
Although it was designed impeccably, and no flaws affected the infrastructure, we could not keep this one of the list.
The Longaberger company occupied the building between 1997 until 2016, now the large basket building remains empty, and on full display for visitors.
28 29. Ramot Polin Complex, Jerusalem
The Ramot Polin apartment complex was first built in 1970 by Polish-born Israeli architect Zvi Hecker. It is a complex made up of over 700 prefabricated apartments that are meant to look like a futuristic version of planet Tatooine.
It was deemed as an architectural fail, that resembled a layout of a five-fingered hand. The complex has received countless complaints from its inhabitants, causing it to undergo countless transformations, and millions of dollars to do so.
27 8. Ray & Maria Stata Center, MIT
The Ray and Maria Stata Center first opened in 2004 and houses MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Labs.
Once it was completed, it was noted for its bold and "different" design, however, that sentiment didn't last for too long.
Architects behind the project failed to identify countless design flaws that created drainage problems that caused mold to grow, and massive icicles in the winter months to form, and walls to crack. This misfortune cost nearly $1.5 million to fix, and the worst part is, many warned the design team about these possibly happening during its construction.
26 11. Walkie Talkie Center, London
The Walkie Talkie Centre is quite a famous building in the center of London. It has been celebrated for its unique design but has led to some serious health and safety issues.
The building has been accused of focusing sunlight onto local streets due to its highly reflective exterior.
The building has been noted to damage the exterior of cars, and has caused issues for some pedestrians, almost blinding them by the reflecting rays. In addition, the reflective exterior can make the streets so hot, you can fry an egg!
25 14. The Experience Music Project, Seattle
The EMP building, often called the "Pop Culture Museum", was founded by Paul Allen and was created in order to showcase rock memorabilia, but it has since received numerous critiques in regards to its design.
The building was deemed as a "failure" by the public, and criticized by Herbert Muschamp, who called it "something that crawled out of the sea, rolled over, and [perished]", harsh. Although there were no architectural flaws, the overall design was definitely a big miss.
24 15. The Millenium Dome, London
The Millenium Dome was constructed as a means to attract millions of visitors to spectacles, shows, and sporting events. However, after its opening, the venue was quite a flop. The dome has twelve yellow steel support towers and had a diameter of 365 meters, both representing the months and days of the year.
Even with 12 million seats, it failed to attract nearly half of its expected yearly visitors.
The Dome cost $1.25 billion to build, and underwent another $40 million decommission several years after its opening in 2000. It goes without saying that this was a massive fail, costing London millions and millions of dollars.
23 22. Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles
The Walt Disney Concert Hall is yet another ambitious building that led to countless safety hazards and health issues.
Due to the infrastructure's shiny metallic exterior, it reflected sunlight onto cars, buildings, and streets, causing the neighboring buildings to heat up by 9 degrees Celsius.
In addition, due to the effects of the sunlight reflecting off the concert hall, the local sidewalks can be heated up by 60 degrees Celsius. Yikes!
22 23. Zizkov Tower, Prague
Next up on the list is the Zizkov Tower in Prague. The television tower is a unique transmitter tower that can be seen as a great example of high-tech architecture, but a major fail at the same time.
The architectural design behind the tower has been deemed as a head-scratcher, considering there are statues of babies climbing the towers. Although it was meant to be a temporary art installation, the statues remained climbing permanently in 2001.
21 25. Biomuseo, Panama City
The same architect behind the 'Pop Culture Museum' and Walt Disney Concert Hall is back at it again. Frank Gehry created the Biomuseo in Panama City, making it his first ever design for Latin America.
He first began the project in 1999, and doors were finally open to the public in 2014. Many have criticized the look of the museum, saying it looks like a "collapsed building or a literal pile of junk".
20 26. Habitat 67, Montréal
Habitat 67 is a living complex located in Montreal, Canada, that consists of 90 pavilions made during the 1967 Expo 'World Fair'. The project was headed by Moshe Safdie, as a means to reinvent apartment living, but was mired in massive controversy.
The design itself was not very well-received, gaining mass complaints in regards to its boxy and misplaced build.
Although people weren't fond of the design, it remains as a functioning living complex, with apartments that can cost upwards to $1.5 million.
19 16. Ryugyong Hotel, North Korea
This luxury hotel was intended to accommodate 3000 guests, however, it has yet to confirm any bookings, let alone actually open. The construction first began in 1987 and was aborted in 1992.
With the hotel costing North Korea nearly 2% of its budgets of the last few decades, architects have hit a major fail with its design.
Due to money shortages, faulty engineering and lack of interest from the public, this infrastructure, who is reportedly the 22nd largest skyscraper in the world, remains completely aborted to this date.
18 18. Chelsea Waterside Park, New York City
Although this design was perfectly built, it definitely had some major mistakes! The waterpark was first unveiled to the public in 2000 and immediately got some critiques about its phallic-like water sprinklers.
Though not obvious to children, these "fountains" certainly amused parents and adults.
Although countless complaints were made, the park had not undergone any changes despite various campaigns to have the park redesigned. Why waste more money fixing something, when you can simply laugh it off.
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18 The Leaning Tower of Pisa
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a freestanding bell tower beside the Cathedral of Pisa, Italy. It is a widely famous tourist attraction, known for its wonky appearance making for that "must do" holding up the tower selfie.
Although it may appear to be quite a beautiful sight, the architects behind the construction didn't think it all the way through.
With a combination of poor foundations and unsuitable grounds, the tower began to tilt, and as if that weren't 'fail' worthy enough, the Tower of Pisa continues to sink nearly 1mm each year.
17 2. Tacoma Narrow Bridge, Washington
The bridge first opened in 1940 and was made as the third longest suspension bridge in the world! Although that was quite a feat for architects to reach, the celebration didn't last too long before it collapsed only four months later.
The bridge, which was often seen swaying back and forth, finally gave up on November 7th, 1940 after collapsing under 64 kilometer per hour winds! We're certain the architects didn't take Tacoma's strong gusts into consideration.
16 3. Kemper Arena, Kansas
Kemper Arena first opened its door in 1976 and was made famous for its trussed roof. Although many praised the architectural design, it was soon deemed as a massive fail when the roof could not take the strain of a rainstorm in June of 1979.
The pool of water that collected on top of the roof, caused it to sag and collapse.
Luckily the arena was empty at the time, leading to no losses or injuries upon its failure. Turns out the bolts had been miscalculated, making the suspended roof to fall.
15 4. Aon Center, Chicago
The Aon Center was once Chicago's third tallest building! It was famously known for having an external facade made up of Italian Carrara marble, which made for a beautiful exterior.
It wasn't long before slabs of marble were beginning to detach, and ultimately falling onto roofs of nearby buildings.
An investigation was made, declaring the marble is unsuitable, considering it was cracking and blowing everywhere! This mistake cost nearly $80 million when it was completely re-clad in granite.
14 5. Secret Intelligence Service Building, London
The Secret Intelligence Service building was the SIS headquarters from 1994 on, where many top secret discussions, decisions and government facilities were held, however, it wasn't the most "secret" of places. With a quite recognizable exterior, many have even compared it to a Mayan Temple. Considering the buildings intended use of keeping things secret, the architects could have possibly built a more "low key" building, that didn't scream an obvious design.
13 6. The Lotus Riverside Complex, Shanghai
This disaster of a building design led to its collapse before it was even done being built. In June of 2009, this Shanghai apartment complex consisting of 15 stories collapsed to the ground.
Half of the units within the complex were already sold, but due to the low-quality construction techniques used, it doomed the project before it could even be completed. It's safe to say that most tenants demanded an immediate refund after the building failed.
12 7. CNA Center, Chicago
The CNA Center is famously known for its lighting displays and its bright red exterior. However, in 1999 the building took a major loss after one of its windows came loose and plummeted from the 29th floor.
It caused a single fatality and led to an immediate investigation.
Turns out, faulty thermal expansion was the cause for the failed window, leading to an $18 million settlement and a complete refurbishment of all the buildings windows, which are still monitored each month to this day!
11 9. Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York City
The Pier one Playground is a great location for parents to bring their kids for some outdoor fun! Although the design was quite simple, the material used is what sparked massive concern.
Architects behind the project constructed the park out of mostly steel, which didn't sit too well during New York City's traitorous summers.
Considering the summer heat, one parent took matters into their own hands and measured one part of the steel playground that came in at 127 degrees! In 2010, it was decided that the park would be replaced with more suitable alternatives.
10 10. Olympic Stadium, Greece
Although this structure was designed and constructed perfectly, it did more damage than one would think. The 2004 summer Olympics came home to Athens Greece, where countless stadia were built in celebration of the sporting event.
The vast majority of these stadiums are now completely vacant and padlocked shut. They also require 24/7 security patrolling these areas.
The construction of dozens of stadia including this particular one, cost Greece up to $11 billion, yes, Billion! This went over the country's budget by more than double, leading the defunct infrastructure to Greece's current economic issues.