Design disasters
April 11, 2009 12:11 PM Subscribe
This post was deleted for the following reason: yeah, sorry, this is linking to an image stealing junk blog -- mathowie
Fw: Fw: FW: Re: lol
posted by synaesthetichaze at 12:26 PM on April 11, 2009 [21 favorites]
posted by synaesthetichaze at 12:26 PM on April 11, 2009 [21 favorites]
I suspect Photoshop on several of these. If not, well, these things usually occur on incomplete or botched renovation projects. I doubt any were actually designed as such (except maybe the urinal situation, which I feel like I've seen somewhere).
posted by sharkitect at 12:30 PM on April 11, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by sharkitect at 12:30 PM on April 11, 2009 [1 favorite]
veni vidi abscedi
posted by From Bklyn at 12:31 PM on April 11, 2009
posted by From Bklyn at 12:31 PM on April 11, 2009
In a few cases it's obviously the result of remodeling. In the case of the deck with no door, it's part of a pattern of decks on the outside of the building, and they wanted to include it so it didn't look like a missing tooth from a distance.
And I agree that in a couple of cases it's photoshopping e.g. the freeway gap.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:33 PM on April 11, 2009 [1 favorite]
And I agree that in a couple of cases it's photoshopping e.g. the freeway gap.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:33 PM on April 11, 2009 [1 favorite]
Some of these may be fake, but engineering mishaps are all-too-real. In a former job, I went out to observe some pipeline construction in northern Alberta. In one segment of the line, they had to drill down and under a riverbed. They began simultaneously drilling from each side of the banks, intending to meet in the middle. Despite GPS and laser sighting and all that jazz, when the two bore holes were supposed to come together beneath the river, they were out of alignment laterally by over five metres. Very expensive mistake.
posted by Urban Hermit at 12:46 PM on April 11, 2009
posted by Urban Hermit at 12:46 PM on April 11, 2009
I've been trying to find a photo of a monument to road builders that used to exist in Mexico City. You'd be driving at a good clip on a UNAM (Mexico National Autonomous University) campus road, only to discover that the road ended abruptly curving up at a 90 degree angle with this monument. They must have demolished it. I'm sure it took some lives before it did.
posted by BettinaTizzy at 12:53 PM on April 11, 2009
posted by BettinaTizzy at 12:53 PM on April 11, 2009
There is a more comprehensive, and slightly better sourced collection of these at Dark Roasted Blend: When Construction Goes Wrong. I mention this not primarily because of "priority" but rather because DRB is a pretty nifty site.
posted by fydfyd at 12:54 PM on April 11, 2009
posted by fydfyd at 12:54 PM on April 11, 2009
The missaligned bridge appears to be genuine.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:06 PM on April 11, 2009
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:06 PM on April 11, 2009
I can't believe the speed at which these "look at this small collection of unattributed images thrown together willy-nilly" sites are multiplying, nor how 95% of stumbleupon gives me seems to consist entirely of them.
posted by tehloki at 1:10 PM on April 11, 2009 [3 favorites]
posted by tehloki at 1:10 PM on April 11, 2009 [3 favorites]
Of course the bridge is not genuine! Only a fool would think that.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:13 PM on April 11, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:13 PM on April 11, 2009 [1 favorite]
That DRB link has a lot of the same pictures, and it looks like the majority of their pictures are from the Soviet Union. Somehow that's a lot more believable.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:15 PM on April 11, 2009
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:15 PM on April 11, 2009
I'm pretty sure that my grandmother forwarded these to me last millennium.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 1:21 PM on April 11, 2009
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 1:21 PM on April 11, 2009
BettinaTizzy:
FYI, the link in this post is an example of what is called "blogspam", which is generally defined as a site with assorted and often stolen and unoriginal content designed to merely drive short attention spam eyeballs to their site for the purposes of ad revenue.
Note that it's all over digg, reddit and stumbleupon, but there's generally very little of it on MetaFilter. This is a feature.
Spotting the differences between outright blogspam and stuff that's more acceptable but still borderline (like Dark Roasted Blend) can be tricky, but generally if the site is drenched in ads and is hosting a very random assortment of crap presented with very little context or background, it's probably blogspam.
posted by loquacious at 1:24 PM on April 11, 2009 [5 favorites]
FYI, the link in this post is an example of what is called "blogspam", which is generally defined as a site with assorted and often stolen and unoriginal content designed to merely drive short attention spam eyeballs to their site for the purposes of ad revenue.
Note that it's all over digg, reddit and stumbleupon, but there's generally very little of it on MetaFilter. This is a feature.
Spotting the differences between outright blogspam and stuff that's more acceptable but still borderline (like Dark Roasted Blend) can be tricky, but generally if the site is drenched in ads and is hosting a very random assortment of crap presented with very little context or background, it's probably blogspam.
posted by loquacious at 1:24 PM on April 11, 2009 [5 favorites]
Here's a decent MetaTalk thread about the topic, in which I'm an irritated and irritating dickhead.
posted by loquacious at 1:29 PM on April 11, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by loquacious at 1:29 PM on April 11, 2009 [1 favorite]
best prices on misaligned bridges? One rule: OBEY
posted by boo_radley at 1:35 PM on April 11, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by boo_radley at 1:35 PM on April 11, 2009 [1 favorite]
What the hell? My "report this email as spam" button isn't working!
posted by koeselitz at 1:38 PM on April 11, 2009
posted by koeselitz at 1:38 PM on April 11, 2009
Nothing new here. I expect by the time I type this out the whole thing will be de
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 1:43 PM on April 11, 2009
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 1:43 PM on April 11, 2009
They call me an old fart because I'm silent but deadly.
posted by Afroblanco at 1:46 PM on April 11, 2009
posted by Afroblanco at 1:46 PM on April 11, 2009
Is this link something I'd have to click on to understand?
[click]
Oh, hi mom! Didn't know you were on MetaFilter!
:)
posted by not_on_display at 1:58 PM on April 11, 2009
[click]
Oh, hi mom! Didn't know you were on MetaFilter!
:)
posted by not_on_display at 1:58 PM on April 11, 2009
Now is the time on MetaFilter when we haze you.
posted by katillathehun at 2:00 PM on April 11, 2009
posted by katillathehun at 2:00 PM on April 11, 2009
This is one of those image collecting throwaway shit blogs. *gong*
posted by dead cousin ted at 2:24 PM on April 11, 2009
posted by dead cousin ted at 2:24 PM on April 11, 2009
box: A gorilla would be a good subject for a tattoo, right?
I doubt it. It'd take at least four people to hold the gorilla down.
posted by koeselitz at 2:27 PM on April 11, 2009
I doubt it. It'd take at least four people to hold the gorilla down.
posted by koeselitz at 2:27 PM on April 11, 2009
Not to mention shaving him.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 2:29 PM on April 11, 2009
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 2:29 PM on April 11, 2009
My ex-girlfriend from 20 years ago had a friend in San Francisco, who was newly graduated from architecture school. It's tough finding a job, but she managed to score a drafting/design position for a self-taught "Interior Designer". To hear her describe him, he was right out of the movies - flamingly gay, flamboyant, tempermental, the whole nine yards.
This guy managed to hornswaggle the wife of Peter Haas - then CEO of Levis' - into designing their home. It was a pretty big place, French Renaissance style - think of the Beverly Hillbilly mansion, and you've nailed it. Bilateral symmetry, nice detailing. My GF's friend took us there on a Saturday and showed us, when there was nobody there. The place was about 90% complete.
Downstairs inside the main entry foyer, there was a huge grand staircase. It ran up to a landing on the front exterior wall, then up to the second floor mezzanine. The bottom of the staircase was walled in, and paneled with a rick, beautiful dark walnut paneling. The staircase happened to be in front of one of the windows near the front door. The landing was about the height of the top of the window, so the entire window was blocked, and there was no access whatsoever to the window. If you stood outside the window and looked in, you could admire the fact that they had panelled the staircase, since that was all you could see. From inside, you could see the glow of daylight shining in from the window, but you couldn't see the window. If you stood on the landing, you could look down into the narrow space between the window and the landing, about 6" wide.
But wait, there's more.
Upstairs, in one wing, they had divided one of the modules in half, in the interior. This would be fine, except they ran the interior wall right up to the centerline of a window. Really. The wall ran right up to the window, and of course they had to stop it about 6" shy of the window itself, and the top and bottom portions of the wall were joined to the exterior wall. You could put your hand through the space between the wall and the window and wave at the people in the other room - as well as hear everything everyone was saying. Not to mention in each room, there was "half" a window in a corner. The wall was not only fully framed in and drywalled, it was finished - mudded, painted, and trimmed. They even drywalled and finished the 6" wide end of the wall that faced the window. Nicely done. Because the building was perfectly symmetrical on the exterior, they couldn't relocate the window.
I saw these myself, with my own eyes. Not an apocryphal story.
Now many of these pics look photoshopped. But it can happen in real life.
posted by Xoebe at 2:36 PM on April 11, 2009 [1 favorite]
This guy managed to hornswaggle the wife of Peter Haas - then CEO of Levis' - into designing their home. It was a pretty big place, French Renaissance style - think of the Beverly Hillbilly mansion, and you've nailed it. Bilateral symmetry, nice detailing. My GF's friend took us there on a Saturday and showed us, when there was nobody there. The place was about 90% complete.
Downstairs inside the main entry foyer, there was a huge grand staircase. It ran up to a landing on the front exterior wall, then up to the second floor mezzanine. The bottom of the staircase was walled in, and paneled with a rick, beautiful dark walnut paneling. The staircase happened to be in front of one of the windows near the front door. The landing was about the height of the top of the window, so the entire window was blocked, and there was no access whatsoever to the window. If you stood outside the window and looked in, you could admire the fact that they had panelled the staircase, since that was all you could see. From inside, you could see the glow of daylight shining in from the window, but you couldn't see the window. If you stood on the landing, you could look down into the narrow space between the window and the landing, about 6" wide.
But wait, there's more.
Upstairs, in one wing, they had divided one of the modules in half, in the interior. This would be fine, except they ran the interior wall right up to the centerline of a window. Really. The wall ran right up to the window, and of course they had to stop it about 6" shy of the window itself, and the top and bottom portions of the wall were joined to the exterior wall. You could put your hand through the space between the wall and the window and wave at the people in the other room - as well as hear everything everyone was saying. Not to mention in each room, there was "half" a window in a corner. The wall was not only fully framed in and drywalled, it was finished - mudded, painted, and trimmed. They even drywalled and finished the 6" wide end of the wall that faced the window. Nicely done. Because the building was perfectly symmetrical on the exterior, they couldn't relocate the window.
I saw these myself, with my own eyes. Not an apocryphal story.
Now many of these pics look photoshopped. But it can happen in real life.
posted by Xoebe at 2:36 PM on April 11, 2009 [1 favorite]
The only thing this link is missing is the Diggbar.
posted by incessant at 2:51 PM on April 11, 2009 [3 favorites]
posted by incessant at 2:51 PM on April 11, 2009 [3 favorites]
I can confirm I have seen a similar urinal mistake in the wild.
Being forced to break the unspoken urinal policy is not something I easily forget.
posted by errspy at 2:52 PM on April 11, 2009
Being forced to break the unspoken urinal policy is not something I easily forget.
posted by errspy at 2:52 PM on April 11, 2009
« Older Okay, everybody takes a drink whenever Isabella... | 1/40 scale Yamato in Lego Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by BettinaTizzy at 12:24 PM on April 11, 2009