Foo - Worst building EVER

My office building is perhaps the worst-designed building I've ever seen. Construction started some time in 1994, then stopped, since the developer had run out of money (or some similar reason). It then stood as a concrete shell for 10 years, and was eventually finished in 2004.

A few problems:

There are EIGHT (8) elevators in a FOURTY-THREE (43)-storey building

The single freight elevator is the same size as a regular elevator, so deliveries are frequently held up

There are two elevator lobbies, which slows down all elevators, as they usually stop at both.

It is UGLY

http://www.unitedplaza-shanghai.com/en/images/left_pic.jpg

And just now, as I was working with the window open (the one good and unusual design feature, though they've messed that up, too, by hinging the window at the bottom so if I open it when it's raining, all the water gets in...) the rope that holds the window washer (who sits on a SINGLE WOODEN PLANK, like a children's swing) got CAUGHT IN THE WINDOW. WHO DIDN'T THINK THAT MIGHT BE A PROBLEM WHEN DESIGNING THIS PLACE???

Sorry, had to rant. But REALLY! :rolleyes:


Edit: A photo of the window-washers:
http://static.flickr.com/33/55055078_c7b17158fa_m.jpg

The side of my school is sinking into swamp land, so none of the classrooms are level causing stuff to roll everywhere, and it quite frequently gets flooded.

Possibly not as bad as your situation, but still annoying.

considering the overwhelming amount of development there, not to mention the speed of it, is it any surprise?

Still better looking than the Blues Point Tower.

http://people.surfaceeffect.com/pete/photos/pisa/tower.jpg

The side of my school is sinking into swamp land, so none of the classrooms are level causing stuff to roll everywhere, and it quite frequently gets flooded.

Possibly not as bad as your situation, but still annoying.

One side of my three story middle school was sinking and the class rooms in one corner of the building were tilted, all happened in the last two years I was there, and the section was condenmed and later torn down with a new school built along side it.

I remember letting balls, bottles, or anything else, roll across the classroom, haha. The school was old, probably over a 100 years.

considering the overwhelming amount of development there, not to mention the speed of it, is it any surprise?

That's exactly the problem. I'm also annoyed that they didn't think to improve the original design in the 10 years it was sitting as a concrete shell... like maybe put in one big two-storey lobby instead of two redundant one-storey lobbies. Or maybe this IS the improvement :eek:

Mostly, my rant was sparked by the poor guy sitting on a wooden plank suspended 30 floors up from an old-looking rope that got caught in my window. Well, not him, actually -- but the guy who designed the building and decided to cut corners there, too.

Johnny_Monkey -- I'm not sure about that... you should see this place at night when they light up the roof in neon

And just now, as I was working with the window open (the one good and unusual design feature, though they've messed that up, too, by hinging the window at the bottom so if I open it when it's raining, all the water gets in...) the rope that holds the window washer (who sits on a SINGLE WOODEN PLANK, like a children's swing)


That children's swing is actually called a 'Bosun's Rig' and it has been in use forever...originally used to drop sailors off the side of ships to paint it or scrape barnacles off hulls...or to raise riggers up to the top of masts. It's still in use today on ships at sea.

FWIW, you'd never, in this day and age of OSHA, see that in the US. Window washers now have full platforms with handrails and two points of connection to the building with overengineered davits. The washers wear safety harnesses, and the cables (or high-tensile strength rope) have emergency stops to prevent tumbling into the abyss.

Just saying...That bottom hinge window is probably to make it harder to jump.

<Note to self: never apply to be a window washer in China>

Man, the OP's building has almost as much unnecassary cr@p at the top as the infamous Jukebox Marriott in San Francisco.
http://www.newotani.co.jp/en/directory/image/marriott/san_francisco.jpg

I think archetects should be required to actually live/work in the buioldings the design. That might convince more of them that form really should follow function.

Stop complaining so much. In a few hundred years, all those annoyances will be considered "charming" if the building hasn't been destroyed by our alien overlords. Then you can say you used to work there right before you're enslaved by an alien race.

On the UConn Campus... the library they built back in the late 80s was very small at the base and very large on top. Apparently it began showing signs of collapse almost immediately after being opened. Why you say? Because they artcitects never took into account the weight of.........


THE BOOKS!!

Idiots. They spent 18.5 million to reinforce the faulty design, which was butt ugly to begin with.

Here's the old Press Release explaining how they spent millions for a building that had to be sheathed in plastic so as not to fall apart.

"In 1989, it was discovered that the Babbidge Library had structural problems, including the potential for its brick facade to fall away from the structure. The building was wrapped in plastic sheeting. Repair work was delayed by problems with the initial contractors and desingers, but by the fall of 1995, enough work had been completed for the plastic sheeting to be removed."

You sure it was the books...I mean, they ARE The Huskies. Maybe the Arch's just underestimated.

Your building's almost as fugly as mine:

http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/0018a/0018a71a.jpg

The contractor left a bunch of rebar out, too, so the whole thing's coming down in the next big earthquake.

The side of my school is sinking into swamp land, so none of the classrooms are level causing stuff to roll everywhere, and it quite frequently gets flooded.

Possibly not as bad as your situation, but still annoying.

Your school sounds like Pemberton Township High School. They say it's sinking also.

Man, a bunch of ya'll have been to school and live or work in buildings! lucky.

I'm sure its of a higher quality than anything made by Pulte.

Your building's almost as fugly as mine:

http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/0018a/0018a71a.jpg

The contractor left a bunch of rebar out, too, so the whole thing's coming down in the next big earthquake.

Wait...I thought you were another Portlander? I've never see that misfit...

Wait...I thought you were another Portlander? I've never see that misfit...
It's right downtown, that's the Portland building with the statue of Portlandia on the other side? doh!

:)

Wait...I thought you were another Portlander? I've never see that misfit...
I lived in Portland for 2 years, and I probably saw that building twice.... and I'm an architect.
.
I just hope its empty when the big one hits. Au revoir decorated cube.
.

Well, I generally avoid downtown as much as possible. Still it looked tall enough I figured I would've noticed it at some point.

On the UConn Campus... the library they built back in the late 80s was very small at the base and very large on top. Apparently it began showing signs of collapse almost immediately after being opened. Why you say? Because they artcitects never took into account the weight of.........


THE BOOKS!!

Idiots. They spent 18.5 million to reinforce the faulty design, which was butt ugly to begin with.

I am certainly no fan of Architects, but if you want to blame someone, blame the engineer.

My office building is perhaps the worst-designed building I've ever seen. Construction started some time in 1994, then stopped, since the developer had run out of money (or some similar reason). It then stood as a concrete shell for 10 years, and was eventually finished in 2004.

A few problems:

There are EIGHT (8) elevators in a FOURTY-THREE (43)-storey building

The single freight elevator is the same size as a regular elevator, so deliveries are frequently held up

There are two elevator lobbies, which slows down all elevators, as they usually stop at both.

It is UGLY

http://www.unitedplaza-shanghai.com/en/images/left_pic.jpg

And just now, as I was working with the window open (the one good and unusual design feature, though they've messed that up, too, by hinging the window at the bottom so if I open it when it's raining, all the water gets in...) the rope that holds the window washer (who sits on a SINGLE WOODEN PLANK, like a children's swing) got CAUGHT IN THE WINDOW. WHO DIDN'T THINK THAT MIGHT BE A PROBLEM WHEN DESIGNING THIS PLACE???

Sorry, had to rant. But REALLY! :rolleyes:


Edit: A photo of the window-washers:
http://static.flickr.com/33/55055078_c7b17158fa_m.jpg

Yup that building looks like shiznit.

And just now, as I was working with the window open (the one good and unusual design feature, though they've messed that up, too, by hinging the window at the bottom so if I open it when it's raining, all the water gets in...)
I just have to know....
Were the windows designed that way?
or
Were they somehow installed upside-down?
.

My deck is infested with dry wood termites. I've been treating my entire property with Timbor.

I just have to know....
Were the windows designed that way?
or
Were they somehow installed upside-down?
.


I think as Mo'Phat pointed out, it's to make it harder to jump -- but I really don't think it would pose much of an obstacle if I really wanted to. Also, Mo'Phat -- a bosun's rig down the side of a ship is one thing, but a bosun's rig 40 floors up is quite another...

FWIW, you'd never, in this day and age of OSHA, see that in the US. Window washers now have full platforms with handrails and two points of connection to the building with overengineered davits. The washers wear safety harnesses, and the cables (or high-tensile strength rope) have emergency stops to prevent tumbling into the abyss.

Never . . . or every few months in Milwaukee. Yep, still using them here.:eek:

Sage23: I was referring to Cal OSHA...In CA, we pass laws to protect idiots from themselves, whether they like it or not.

gbcb: Oh, how I long for the halcyon days of yore where men were men and height was something at which to scoff. The rope, plank of wood, and anchor don't have any sense of how high they are...whether 4 or 40 stories. However, I'm suprised those guys could put their pants on, their balls must be ginormous.

I think as Mo'Phat pointed out, it's to make it harder to jump...
Can't believe they would intentionally let water in for ANY reason.
.

Had to have my house jacked up by about 1 1/4" on the main support beam some years ago. I think it needs it again. :eek:

But, for the moment, not high on my priority list, as the apparent new "settling" is occuring at a much slower rate than before.... :rolleyes:

build a one story house on a rock...do not plant trees too close to it....f**k slabs...always have a crawl space....keep pets to a minimum....stay as far away from propane as possible...I could go on...

Got a SS, only crepe myrtles near, no slab, crawl space, no pets, NG.... But it's still SLOWLY settlin'.

Meh. As long as I only have to do this every 10-15 years, I don't give a crap. It'll probably be the surrounding "development" that will drive me from here, before any "problems" with this adored home....

I had just thought that I would die in this house. Guess I'll eventually have to sell *sob* and live further out into the country, away from "development." :rolleyes:

I would like to see your place...it sounds like a home.

Yeah. Well, I've told ya, when ya goes to visit yer mom, drop on up heah fer a visit. :rolleyes:

Whatcha wawnt? An engraved invitation? <curious Vega look>

I wish an email...a cell call...perhaps a billboard...sky writing...JUMBO TRON at Turner Field....

Already extended an invite a few weeks ago. :rolleyes:

<slinkin' off to another thread>

clever girl...that vega

http://www.montana.edu/campusmap/images/roskie.jpg

Here's my old dorm at Montana State. It was... and still is a complete disaster. They built it next to a little creek so after 40 years, the land is slowly eroding. One side of it is sloping down. And... each dorm room is shaped like a piece of pie. It's quite the eye-sore in the town.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I'm told when the Mormon temple in Salt Lake was built 100 years ago or so, the architect left a series of 1 foot square passages running though the walls. Nobody knows why.

However, when the telecommunications age hit and everything was getting wired, the passages came in darn handy for running all the wires.