The 12 Most Infamous Goofs in Architecture History

If not for modern efforts to safeguard Frank Lloyd Wright's design, water wouldn't have been the only thing falling at Fallingwater. As a result of sagging of the non-reinforced floors of the cantilevered balconies, the home itself was in danger of collapsing and falling into Bear Run. To restore the iconic house, a construction crew employed post-tensioning with prestressed concrete to reinforce the cantilevers and restore the original floors and walls. Thanks to the careful renovations, Wright's groundbreaking design is every bit as compelling today as it was the day it was completed. 

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You'd never guess by the melodic tones that emanate from the halls of the Sydney Opera House that its hidden weakness is none other than its acoustics. The discord began in 1967, when it was decided that the small sail portion of the structure, which was intended for stage productions, would house the opera, and the large sail, intended to house the opera, would serve as the concert hall. Not only did this leave the concert hall with an overabundance of seats, but it meant that the pit in the opera house was constrained to a tiny area that made it difficult for musicians to hear themselves and their fellow musicians. But sweeter sounds may lie ahead. Last year, plans were announced for a $202 million renovation, complete with acoustical upgrades, which could, at last, make the Sydney Opera House sound as good as it looks.

Thomas Jefferson famously favored frugality and eschewed excess, a philosophy that extended to his personal design sense. Arguing that staircases were a waste of space, Jefferson opted not to build a grand staircase for his home, Monticello, choosing instead a steep and narrow flight of stairs. Other amenities were similarly sparing, from a dinner table that was set up only at mealtime, to space-saving beds that folded into the walls. The most ornate fixture of Monticello, the octagonal cupola atop the western wing of the estate, housed an elegant sitting room that was seldom used because it was too hot in summer and too cold in winter.

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While the blue glass windows of the John Hancock Tower make a striking impression in the Boston skyline, they were not always such a welcome sight to locals. In the building's earliest days, the structure's double-layered reflective glass panels began to detach from the building as a result of thermal stress, falling onto the sidewalk below. The fear of flying objects was so great that police blocked off neighboring streets when winds reached 45 miles per hour. At the same time, occupants of the tower's higher floors reported experiencing motion sickness as the building swayed in the wind. Fortunately for modern-day Bostonians, both architectural challenges were corrected when the window glass was replaced with single-layer tempered glass, and a harmonic absorber was installed for stability.

Tourists flock to Vdara Hotel and Spa for fun and sun in the heart of Vegas. But, because of the hotel's unique curved glass exterior, one group of tourists got more sun than they bargained for in 2010, when hot rays reflecting against the glass beamed over the hotel pool, amplifying the heat to extreme temperatures and allegedly singeing nearby bathers. The hotel, needing more than just sunblock to quell that scorcher, installed umbrellas over the pool deck to shield hotel patrons from the worst of the heat.

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In 1939, when Herbert Johnson, owner of Wingspread, phoned architect Frank Lloyd Wright in a panic to inform him that the roof was leaking, the architect replied, "Why don't you move your chair?" But over time it would become clear that shuffling around furniture was no match for the weak plywood roof that "sheltered" the 14,000-square-foot home. In 1994, after decades spent plugging leaks in the roof, Wingspread nearly collapsed in the aftermath of an ice storm, spurring restoration efforts. To put a permanent stop to the leaks, a construction crew replaced the old roof rafters and adhered carbon to the sheathing of the lower roof for added reinforcement.

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