Even the world’s most famous and celebrated architects have their failures, whether due to unforeseen consequences of an extraordinarily complex design or just plain shoddy construction. From the mold and cracks in Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece Fallingwater to downright dangerous flying roof panels at Calatrava’s opera house in Valencia, these structural defects have led to injuries, lawsuits and in some cases, potential razing of a project before it’s even opened to the public. You can’t quite call these buildings outright failures just because they’ve got structural issues, especially since some of them are already iconic. But is this what happens when architects neglect practical considerations in favor of bold aesthetics?

Mold and Structural Failures: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater

The masterpiece of perhaps the only architect who’s a household name in America, Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright was a fantasy home, a grand experiment that sought to push the boundaries of existing technology and building methods of the time. Cantilevered over a waterfall on Bear Run in rural Pennsylvania, the residence is undeniably stunning. Who wouldn’t want to live in a house perched right over the water, constantly filled with aquatic sounds and reflections? Anyone who’s ever dealt with mold. Fungal growth and excess humidity got so bad so quickly, owner Edgar Kaufmann nicknamed the house ‘Rising Mildew.’ And that’s just one of the major problems that began to plague the house almost immediately after it was built.

There were conflicts all along between Wright, Kaufmann and the contractors building the house and various elements were rebuilt several times. The cantilevers developed for the structure weren’t quite up to the task of holding it up, and the building started to deform before it was even complete in 1937. Two large cracks formed on the terrace’s parapet as soon as the formwork was removed. Wright insisted that the design didn’t require any kind of propping system, but by 1995, a deflection of 7″ was measured at the edge of the largest cantilever, along with a number of serious cracks. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which owned it by that point as a museum, had to do an extensive restoration and add steel trusses to support the cantilevers. Of course, these problems hardly put a dent in the importance of this house’s impact on 20th century architecture, or in Wright’s legacy.

Roof Falling Off: Calatrava’s Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia Opera House, Valencia, Spain

Santiago Calatrava is best known for sweeping, bird-like designs that seem like they could lift up off the ground and fly away. His Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia Opera House in his hometown of Valencia, Spain is a perfect example of his signature style, with 14 above-ground stories and three below-ground, all covered in a curved roof reminiscent of a helmet. The tallest opera house in the world at 246 feet, it contains four auditoriums. Right after it opened to the public in 2005, a series of problems began to plague the structure: the main stage platform in the largest hall collapsed, forcing the cancellation of performances. Then, the complex was inundated with 7 feet of floodwaters, destroying electronic equipment in the lower levels.

But in early 2014, the city of Valencia filed suit against Calatrava for a more serious issue: sections of the mosaic roof began to come off in high winds, forcing authorities to cancel performances and close the building to the public. And this is just one among many lawsuits and accidents relating to Calatrava’s structures. A conference center he designed in Oviedo suffered structural collapse, his footbridge to the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao has required the city to pay out medical costs for dozens of pedestrians who slipped on the glass surface, and another footbridge over the Grand Canal in Venice has required ‘excessive repairs.’ Calatrava was also ordered to pay for the leaking roof of the Ysios Winery (pictured above.)

Leaking, Cracks and Falling Ice: Gehry’s Strata Center

This massive 720,000-square-foot academic complex for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is known as the Ray and Maria Stata Center after its two primary donors, and houses the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in addition to other academic departments and offices for thinkers like Noam Chomsky. It would be hard for anyone who knows the slightest thing about architecture to miss the fact that it’s a Frank Gehry design, with its sharp angles and melange of metallic finishes. Like most of Gehry’s work, the structure is both praised and reviled – you either love it or you hate it. Gehry himself says it “looks like a party of drunken robots got together to celebrate.”

But MIT administrators have a less than glowing opinion of it for a different reason. The structure leaks, masonry has cracked, mold has developed, drainage has backed up and falling ice and debris repeatedly blocks emergency exits. MIT sued the architect in 2007, accusing him of negligence and breach of contract in the design of the center. Gehry’s response is that MIT is simply after his insurance money, stating “A building goes together with seven billion pieces of connective tissue. The chances of it getting done ever without something colliding or some misstep are small. I think the issues are fairly minor.”

Falling Apart: Zaha Hadid’s Guangzhou Opera Center

Zaha Hadid’s Guangzhou Opera Center has been praised as the world’s most beautiful performing arts venue with a futuristic ‘twin boulder’ design on the edge of the Pearl River. Sharp angles, geometric patterns and stark white surfaces belie Hadid’s organic inspiration, taken from the geology and topography of the setting. Dotted with starry lighting, the main auditorium has a womb-like feel in gleaming gold. Unfortunately, just a single year after it opened to the public, the building was marred by falling glass and large cracks in the walls and ceilings, leading to serious leaks.

Like many of these ‘failures,’ the problem here isn’t so much Hadid’s design as it is the shoddy materials and construction techniques of the contractors that built it. Many of the 75,000 granite slabs that make up the exterior have begun to fall off, with some blaming poor quality craftsmanship and others blaming Guangzhou’s extraordinarily humid climate. But in China, deadlines to complete even the most complex buildings are often rushed, and a lot of architecture is built with the expectation that it will only stand for about 25 years. The construction group that built the opera center say that it was just extremely difficult to fulfill Hadid’s vision.

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Fallen Starchitects 7 Failures Of Famous Architects

Magnificent, surreal stages rise from the depths of Austria’s Lake Constance, rotating, glowing, rising and falling in time with the plots of famed operas, plays and musicals. Unparalleled in their scale and complexity, these stages are built every two years for the Bregenz Opera Festival, which began in 1946. With each season that passes, the sets get even more impressive. Here are 10 standouts.

Andre Chenier

Looking like the remains of some fallen civilization, a statue emerges from the lake, its head draped. Then the fabric begins to fall away, revealing a set of stairs that lead right up to the figure’s eye. This interactive set for Andre Chenier, an opera set during the French Revolution, grows even more amazing as the night goes on: the neck of the statue is severed, the head falling back to reveal an additional set.

A Masked Ball

A massive skeleton looms over an open book as the scene for A Masked Ball, an opera by Guiseppe Verde. One of the Bregenz Festival’s most iconic sets, this one from 1999 is fairly simple compared to the amazingly complex ones seen in more recent years.

Tosca

Puccini’s Tosca played out against this unforgettable backdrop, which featured a giant eye with an iris that actually rotates to reveal a hidden room. Scenes for the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace were filmed in the front of the building and in the audience while this stage was still active, in 2008.

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Performance Architecture 10 Dramatic Opera Sets Stages

Southern China’s largest city, Guangzhou, is seeing its status as a cultural hub cemented with the opening of the breathtaking Guangzhou Opera House by famed architect Zaha Hadid. Shaped to resemble two boulders on the bank of the Pearl River, this amorphous yet geometric structure includes a 1,800 seat theater and a 400-seat hall as well as rehearsal space and an entrance hall.

Zaha Hadid calls it “a lasting monument to the New Millennium”, an open and accessible space that seeks to engage the community of Guangzhou, pulling them from the bustling city toward the calmer riverbank.

The building, which opened on February 24th, is the largest performing arts center in South China at roughly 230,000 square feet. Its low profile was designed as a prelude to the taller structures behind it on Haixinsha Island where other civic and cultural attractions are under construction, including a sports park.

“The design evolved from the concepts of a natural landscape and the fascinating interplay between architecture and nature; engaging with the principles of erosion, geology and topography,” says the architect. “The Guangzhou Opera House design has been particularly influenced by river valleys – and the way in which they are transformed by erosion.”

“Fold lines in this landscape define territories and zones within the Opera House, cutting dramatic interior and exterior canyons for circulation, lobbies and cafes, and allowing natural light to penetrate deep into the building. Smooth transitions between disparate elements and different levels continue this landscape analogy.”

Already aural masterpieces, the world’s top opera houses and concert halls hardly need to be concerned with appearances – but when you’re reaching for perfection in performance, some symphonic visual stimuli can only add to the experience. From the fluid, wave-inspired silhouette of Santiago Calatrava’s Tenerife Concert Hall in Spain to the mysterious shimmering island effect of the National Grand Theater of China, these auditoriums are just as magnificent as the music made within.

Zenith Music Hall in Stasbourg, France

(images via: dezeen)

Like a gigantic paper lantern, the Zenith Music Hall in Strasbourg, France features a highly unusual façade of accordion-like folds of fabric on a steel frame which, when lit from within, gives off a warm glow. This membrane doesn’t just provide spectacular lighting effects, but plays a role in the all-important acoustics of the hall.

Icelandic Opera House

(images via: architecture list)

The new Icelandic Opera House will have a somewhat magical and otherworldly feel with its shimmering crystalline upper story, appropriate for its setting in an area that is said to be inhabited by elves. The glass cube, which will hold the opera’s large concert hall, will be filled with LED lights to change the façade’s appearance with the flick of a switch. Designed by Arkitema and the Icelandic architectural practice Arkthing, who won an international competition to helm the project.

Oslo Opera House

(images via: arcspace)

Ultramodern and geometric, the Oslo Opera House is a blend of three elements – the “Wave Wall”, the “Factory” and the “Carpet”. The Wave Wall is a nod to Oslo’s identity as a global harbor city, delineating the place where land and water meet. The Factory houses production facilities, while the Carpet forms a grand sloping horizontal surface that gives the structure a feel of accessibility.

Dubai Opera House by Zaha Hadid

(images via: dezeen)

Just as Dubai’s landscape is known for its gently curving sand dunes and ocean waves, one of its centerpieces – the Dubai Opera House – will take on a similarly fluid shape with the emirate’s signature futuristic spin. Designed by Zaha Hadid with Patrik Schumacher, the development will be a new cultural center in the Seven Pearls district.

National Museum of Qatar

(images via: inhabitat)

Another desert-inspired opera house in nearby Qatar takes its cues from Bedouin culture and is designed specifically with cool refuge from the hot sun in mind. Interlinked discs act as massive sun shades while steel and concrete will provide the thermal mass needed to hang on to chilled night air. The complex will seek LEED silver certification.

Valencia Opera House

(image via: world architecture news)

Famed architect Santiago Calatrava certainly grabbed the world’s attention with the design of the Valencia Opera House, a sweeping concrete and steel structure resembling a helmet that also calls to mind the movement of birds – a common theme in Calatrava’s work. Just as much an urban landmark as a functioning opera hall, the building is in the words of the architect himself his “most complete” work yet.

Palacio de Congresos, Lazarote

(images via: henning larsen architects)

What is simply an interesting textured motif on the exterior of Lazarote, Spain’s Palacio de Congresos by day transforms to a volcano-inspired lava look when illuminated after dark. Designed by Henning Larsen Architects in collaboration with the local architect Carlos Morales, the Palacio de Congresos gives visitors magnificent views of the city, the mountain skyline, the sky and the ocean all from the foyer.

National Grand Theater of China

(images via: archdaily)

Maximizing the reflective qualities of both its glass and titanium exterior and the surface of the lake it sits on, China’s National Grand Theater resembles nothing so much as a gigantic metallic egg. Housing three performance auditoriums, the theater boasts an underground entrance as its only means of access, preserving a mysterious, island-like effect.

Chamber Music Hall by Zaha Hadid

(images via: design boom)

The common use of seashell imagery in opera and concert hall architecture is no accident – consider how closely a spiraling shell can resemble the parts of a human inner ear. Though not a freestanding structure itself but a performance hall within the Manchester Art Gallery, Zaha Hadid’s Chamber Music Hall uses a swirling cocoon of fabric to achieve this visual effect and enhance acoustics.

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles

(images via: wikimedia commons)

It may bear the name of Mickey’s creator, but the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles certainly doesn’t look like anything you’d stumble upon in a theme park. Designed by architect Frank Gehry, the curving stainless steel wonder was designed to be among the most acoustically sophisticated performance halls in the world.

Elbe Philharmonic Hall in Hamburg

(images via: design boom)

With its towering asymmetric glass auditorium, the Elbe Philharmonic Hall in Hamburg, Germany can’t help but evoke images of water and ice. Once completed, the new building makes use of an old gutted warehouse as a base and adds an upper glass structure that seems to float on air. The unusual design flouts the common auditorium layout, placing the orchestra and conductor in the center of the building. Much of the outer layer will contain a large parking garage.

Tenerife Concert Hall by Calatrava

(image via: extra noise)

Curvilinear, sculptural and sparkling white: the Tenerife Concert Hall can’t be anything other than a seaside wonder, particularly with its distinctive ‘wave’ structure. As with many of Calatrava’s other buildings, the Tenerife hall seems to be ready for flight at any moment like some bizarre alien aircraft.

Zhuhai Opera House by SPF Architects

(images via: archicentral)

Speaking of UFOs, this concept for the Zhuhai Opera House in Guangdong Province, China looks a bit out-of-this-world as well. But the design is actually based on stacked pebbles in an attempt to capture visual balance while also maintaining a sense of movement. California’s SPF Architects allow the design to stand out even more by placing it on a contrasting red sandstone plaza that juts out into the sea.

Mumuth Graz Music Theater, Austria

(images via: nikiomahe)

From the outside, the Mumuth Graz Music Theater in Graz, Austria may not look like much other than a particularly striking contrast to the surrounding old-world architecture – it’s a big box of glass. But the most fascinating part of this building is the great spiral staircase housed within, which almost seems like some living internal organ viewed through transparent skin. The staircase twists and turns and expands to accommodate interior spaces.

Sydney Opera House

(images via: wikimedia commons)

No collection of beautifully designed performance halls would be complete without the world-renowned Sydney Opera House. Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Sydney Opera House is one of the standout buildings of the 20th century and is made up of a series of precast concrete “shells”.