The time has come to anger many architects. While I don't really want to do this, for some reason, there seems to be a reluctance to discuss this matter seriously.
You're interested in learning about some intriguing and infamous architectural failures, aren't you?
What about most of Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings?
Wright's Fallingwater, perhaps his most famous building, suffers from significant structural deficiencies and engineering shortcomings. This is a result of Wright's insistence on no changes to his design, and there is evidence that the construction company secretly doubled the amount of reinforcement in the floor slabs without his knowledge. Even a change in the amount of reinforcement that would not affect the building itself seems to have been met with resistance.
The changes were necessary, but not enough to make it structurally sound. Since its construction, the building has leaned significantly, and extensive and costly restoration was needed to prevent collapse. After adjusting for inflation, the construction cost approximately $2.5 million, and $11.5 million was spent on restoration. Any logical designer would call it a terrible failure.
His famous house, Taliesin East, is similarly poorly designed. Much of the house uses shoddy plywood, which has suffered significant warping over the years. Corners are no longer straight, and the entire building leaks. The foundation proved largely inadequate, as the construction was carried out by his students. Repairing and restoring the structure is an ongoing battle.
In short, one of the world's most famous architects was actually terribly bad at designing buildings. While his designs were innovative and aesthetically pleasing, his uncompromising and overwhelming approach created unnecessary engineering nightmares. Much of what he created didn't last long and constantly fell apart.
Architects should be partly artists and partly engineers. Frank Lloyd Wright prioritized his artistic merit over what everyone could consider logical, and his fame has encouraged others to follow the same path.
This led many designers to clash with their team engineers and insist on designs that didn't make sense. Undoubtedly, some of the failures others have listed can be traced directly back to the enlightenment they received from Wright.
Naturally, some architects idolize him for pushing the boundaries of the medium, while most civil engineers absolutely despise the bad precedent he set.