Architectural disasters from across the globe

There are plenty of awe-inspiring buildings, monuments and landmarks dotted around the world.

However, the following infographic by building coatings specialist Tor Coatings takes a look at the structures which had the potential to be great, but fell well wide of the mark.

All of the structures featured fell victim to questionable design decisions, workmanship that wasn’t up to scratch or unexpected weather conditions.

Have a read through the infographic and learn why these architectural disasters happened.

LOTUS RIVERSIDE

SHANGHAI

• How removing unnecessary earth caused a Lotus Riverside apartment block in Shanghai to completely uproot and fall

THE AON CENTRE

CHICAGO

• How cladding and Italian Carrara marble is far from a match made in heaven

CHARING CROSS STATION

LONDON

• How a wrought iron rod brought down the roof of this iconic railway station

SAMPOONG DEPARTMENT STORE

SEOUL

• Why Lee Joon received a seven-and-a-half-year jail sentence for the decisions he made when creating the Sampoong department store in Seoul

JOHN HANCOCK TOWER

BOSTON

• What caused people on the higher levels of Boston’s John Hancock Tower to suffer from motion sickness soon after it opened.

VDARA HOTEL & SPA

LAS VEGAS

• Why the Vdara Hotel & Spa in Las Vegas earned the nickname ‘The Death Ray Hotel’

KEMPER ARENA

KANSAS CITY

• What happened to the Kemper Arena in Kansas City to result in a $1 million repair bill and the city to lose around $1.1 million in earnings.

BASMANNY MARKET

MOSCOW

• Why did the roof fall in? Just snow or was it bad maintenance and poor waterproofing

If you are hoping to begin designing a building of your own, you will also find the extreme weather section of the infographic very handy.

The facts and figures here will give you a good idea of where in the UK suffers from high wind speeds and high rainfall levels, as well as how the numbers compare to the worldwide records.

Infographic supplied by Tor Coatings that provides a range of proprietary internal building protection and external building protection technologies.