Built on bentonitic mudstones, issues relating to building movement began soon after its opening in 1958. Ultimately the QVC became infamous as a funhouse with virtually no right angles. Here are pictures of some of my favorite structural "curiosities".
The collapsing entrance ramp to the second floor of the building has been shorn up for many years with wooden pilings, steel beams, and other fixes. Here you can see one of the supports and the crumbling concrete on the underside of the ramp.
The rhombohedral door frame of the paleo lab. This is not skewed using photoshop. All distortion is 100% natural.
The paleo office showing its remarkable sloping floor --- the book shelves are about horizontal. Even where the floor appears to be level it slopes 5 inches over a distance of 8 feet.
Engineers tell me they don't worry too much about cracks that run between cinderblocks. However, they seem to get a bit unnerved when the cracks cut across blocks, particularly when they occur in swarms, and especially when they are on the outer walls of a cylindrical building.
No comments:
Post a Comment