Design fail
Thursday, January 29th, 2009 02:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tsaikoLast year, a new student center was opened on campus. The only thing I like about it is that there's a skyway (aka gerbil tube) between the building I'm in and the student center. This means I don't have to go outside if I want something to eat/drink. It looks really impressive but is very, very poorly designed. How badly designed you might ask? Let's just say I cannot believe that an architect allowed this design to leave his desk and am totally amazed that it was approved.
One of the major design flaws is that the relatively flat roof overhangs the walls by about 10-15 feet. The edge of the roof is beveled in an almost triangle shape. It looks really nifty, but there's a problem. Because the edge of the roof slopes down, ice and snow tends to slide down it onto the ground below. This is fine every where except where the roof edge overhangs the sidewalk. Then you get people being hit with icicles/snow from four stories above.
The school wasn't going to do anything about it. I think they might have to now. Three pieces of ice fell off the roof today. One swung inwards and shattered a two story high window on the student center. Two other pieces hit the gerbil tube and shattered the exterior panels. Luckily it did not punch through, but if another piece falls it will. And heaven help anyone who is in the tube when it does.
I wonder if this will cause the university to fix the (very expensive) design flaw. I wouldn't bet on it though. That would mean that they would have to admit there was a mistake. I have the feeling that it's going to take someone getting hurt before this gets any attention. All I can do is make sure it's not me.
One of the major design flaws is that the relatively flat roof overhangs the walls by about 10-15 feet. The edge of the roof is beveled in an almost triangle shape. It looks really nifty, but there's a problem. Because the edge of the roof slopes down, ice and snow tends to slide down it onto the ground below. This is fine every where except where the roof edge overhangs the sidewalk. Then you get people being hit with icicles/snow from four stories above.
The school wasn't going to do anything about it. I think they might have to now. Three pieces of ice fell off the roof today. One swung inwards and shattered a two story high window on the student center. Two other pieces hit the gerbil tube and shattered the exterior panels. Luckily it did not punch through, but if another piece falls it will. And heaven help anyone who is in the tube when it does.
I wonder if this will cause the university to fix the (very expensive) design flaw. I wouldn't bet on it though. That would mean that they would have to admit there was a mistake. I have the feeling that it's going to take someone getting hurt before this gets any attention. All I can do is make sure it's not me.
