Not all structures are created equal. One could probably assume that there are more architectural failures than great architectural works. One such failure was the Lotus Riverside project in Shanghai, China.
The Lotus Riverside building complex was originally supposed to be comprised of eleven buildings by the side of a river. Fast forward to June 2009: the project is almost complete, and most of the rooms have been sold off. Well, imagine the surprise of the workers when they come to the construction site to find one of the buildings laying on its side, completely intact, as if some monster had pushed it over. It turns out that parking garages, rain, and being made in China is a dangerous combination. When the builders decided that they needed an underground parking garage, and they ignored warnings about damming up a river next to a construction project, they piled all of their excavated dirt into a landfill by a nearby creek. Needless to say, the next time it rained, you ended up with a flood, and the result was the picture at the beginning of this paragraph. Truly, the Chinese have mastered architecture.
Banner image property of Owen Cyplops