Bulding blunders....

[splash_84]

This may not be in the right section but here goes.... When and where have buildings / bridges / landmarks etc been build which didnt work? e.g. a bridge that was made but was actually too low, or a tourist spot attraction that noone visited etc..all I can think of is the Dome in London!!!

Thanks!

[sddsddean]

My 2 favourite blunders were pointed out to me when I went for an interview at Sheffield University in the 70's.

1) The computer block was designed as a ground floor and basement, but built as a ground floor and first floor, thus there are ramps up to all the doors!

2) The maths block ( I think) is built on an East West axis, so for 'air conditioning' purposes the windows on the south facing side were made to open (as they faced the sun) and the ones on the north were fixed (as thy didn't)...except they built it the wrong way round!

[jno]

don't knock the Dome: it was the victim of a hate campaign by newspaper editors who didn't get to the opening on New Millennium Eve. (Seriously: I was told by a woman working on one of the national newspapers that there was an order out from the editor that the Dome must not be mentioned all year.) But an architect told me yesterday he'd visited it recently since it was done up and it's the best performance space in London.

Still haven't been there myself, though.

This place is brilliant to visit. It was built as the capital of the Mogul Empire but abandoned after 10 years as it didn't have any water

http://rohini.ncst.ernet.in/fatehpur/

[Clanad]

Here in the U.S., the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed in 1940... one of the more infamous engineering blunders...

See here:

http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?f ile_id=5048

[Hammond Egg]

The Millenium Bridge - the one between Tate Modern and St Pauls Cathedral in London - had to be closed and redesigned after suffering much the same sort of problems (though on a smaller scale) as the Tacoma Narrows bridge mentioned by Clanad.

[sddsddean]

To be honest, the Tacoma Narrows (or Galloping Gertie) was not really an engineering blunder. No one had ever considered the effects of wind on a long suspension bridge and wind tunnel tests were unheard of at the time. As a result of the Tacoma Narrows, all bridges are now wind tunnel tested and their decks are aerofoil shaped (to a greater or lesser extent) to negate the effects of wind. Indeed, in the case of Tacoma, the wind speed needed to get the resonent frequency of the bridge was relatively low. I think it was about 30mph from memory.

[Octavius]

Some here. Pareticularly like the Montreal Olympic Stadium

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant#Ro adways_and_streets

[Lil O'lady]

The bus station under Manchester's 'new' Arndale shopping centre in late 1970's / early 19080's - six inches too low to take a double-decker bus.

[vehelpfulguy]

The Dome in London had more visitors in 2000 than any other UK attraction.

More than Alton Towers, which is normally the highest attended attraction.

A must admit it then became a bit of a white elephant.

[spudqueen]

The hospital in Middlesbrough (built in the 1980s I think) - it was built back to front so the mortuary was at the front and the accident and emergency entrance was round the back.

[spudqueen]

Does Blobbyland in Happy Mount Park count? It was a park before Noel Edmonds come in and tried to make Blobbyland which was a spectacular flop.

[spudqueen]

Sorry - meant to say that Happy Mount Park is in Morecambe!

[musicman1956]

I had a house extension built about 20 years ago for a property I owned but had never visited, (it's a long story) The bills kept coming in and it was way, way, over budget. When I went to investigate I found out that the plans were drawn up in metric (mm and meters) but the builders were working in imperial (feet and inches) the whole thing was 2.5 time bigger than it should have been. It looked ridiculous. The council objected, correctly and it was knocked down. The architects insurance paid out and we started again.

[splash_84]

thanks so much everyone - these are great! xx