# Buildings that are wider at the top **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 23, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buildings-that-are-wider-at-the-top/656491 "2013-04-23T13:46:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buildings-that-are-wider-at-the-top/656491/41 "2013-04-24T13:40:10Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > [Dallas City Hall](http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/texas/dallas/cityhall/angledistant.jpg) and it’s [digitally-enhanced version](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v241/aaron9732/RoboCop/snapshot20090720170148.jpg) from Robocop. Speaking of Dallas, there is this other [well known icon](http://www.marriott.com/hotels/photo-tours.mi?marshaCode=dalan&pageID=HWARI&imageID=0); it even revolves. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buildings-that-are-wider-at-the-top/656491/42 "2013-04-24T14:02:29Z")
The [Raised Faculty Building](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f1/Sidgwicksite.jpg) at the University of Cambridge. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buildings-that-are-wider-at-the-top/656491/43 "2013-04-24T14:04:14Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > This is the one that I expected to see first in the thread. It really gave me a case of vertigo or something when I walked by it, I felt like it was going to fall on me no matter where I was standing. > > I did not go in. > Roddy Thats why I hate the damn Guggenheim. You’re on a spiral ramp. Not so much the spiral, but the slope, which even unconsciously screws up you’re relationship/appreciation/experience of 99% of art, which works on acute planes. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buildings-that-are-wider-at-the-top/656491/44 "2013-04-24T14:21:18Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Could just be the photo, but that building is some kind of ugly. I totally agree. It should be called “The Thumb.” ---
**Author:** ![cantara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@cantara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantara)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buildings-that-are-wider-at-the-top/656491/45 "2013-04-24T14:31:47Z")
[Residential mushroom house](http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ll=43.271128,-79.954376&spn=0.000031,0.013711&safe=on&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=43.271158,-79.954496&panoid=fdeXLYT9UdeU96XBl2OA2g&cbp=12,39.72,,0,7.46) [These](http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ll=43.654444,-79.357671&spn=0.000016,0.006856&safe=on&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=43.654507,-79.357548&panoid=ie2RqNjdx2CE6U1-B_cNPw&cbp=12,334.85,,0,-20.7) [houses](http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ll=43.65479,-79.357625&spn=0.000016,0.006856&safe=on&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=43.65479,-79.357625&panoid=_dwnbU7HOU7TwlFwYnQiJg&cbp=12,180.96,,0,0) were for sale about 15 years ago and we went to look at them. The geometry inside the house made for awkward setup and we didn’t have the money to have custom cabinetry created. [The L Tower](http://urbantoronto.ca/database/projects/l-tower) is going up as well. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buildings-that-are-wider-at-the-top/656491/46 "2013-04-24T14:34:29Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I totally agree. It should be called “The Thumb.” Like I said, that render does it no favours at all. It’s still not finished, but I think it looks [pretty](http://constructionchest.smugmug.com/Architecture/skyscrapers-under-construction/The-Walkie-Talkie/i-BXmzgzk/0/X3/9D6A0117-X3.jpg) damn [cool](http://constructionchest.smugmug.com/Architecture/skyscrapers-under-construction/The-Walkie-Talkie/i-7j83JRD/0/X3/9D6A8815-X3.jpg) in the flesh. ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_Holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a5b964/32.png) [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buildings-that-are-wider-at-the-top/656491/47 "2013-04-24T14:43:36Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Fa-reaky! They look cool, but I feel like you’d be losing a not insignificant amount of usable space. Actually it’s not that bad. Most of them are regular apartments and one part is actually a Hostel. Here are some interior views: [view1](http://images.travelpod.com/tripwow/photos/ta-009f-2cfe-e9a4/inside-a-cube-house-rotterdam-the-netherlands+1152_12828623428-tpfil02aw-8209.jpg), [view2](http://martin-nl.nomadlife.org/uploaded_images/P7200108_b-745623.jpg), and [view3](http://www.idesignarch.com/wp-content/uploads/Cube-Houses-Rotterdam_5.jpg). Here is the website of the Hostel: [http://www.stayokay.com/en/hostel/rotterdam](http://www.stayokay.com/en/hostel/rotterdam) ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buildings-that-are-wider-at-the-top/656491/48 "2013-04-24T15:42:25Z")
> [@Mycroft\_Holmes](#): > > [view2](http://martin-nl.nomadlife.org/uploaded_images/P7200108_b-745623.jpg) K, that lower seat is a death trap. You just know everyone hits their head on the beam getting up. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buildings-that-are-wider-at-the-top/656491/49 "2013-04-24T15:55:44Z")
Yeah that just doesn’t look appealing. I’ve lived in attic lofts before and the angled wall thing really blows goats. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buildings-that-are-wider-at-the-top/656491/50 "2013-04-24T16:47:11Z")
> [@cantara](#): > > [The L Tower](http://urbantoronto.ca/database/projects/l-tower) is going up as well. Well, if we’re going to count buildings that are only _slightly_ wider at the top, I nominate the [Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Residences](http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showthread.php/511-Ritz-Carlton-%28Graywood-CadFair-52s-KPF-P-S%29?p=547906#post547906) in Toronto. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buildings-that-are-wider-at-the-top/656491/51 "2013-04-24T20:02:54Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > “At night”?? You know, as in, “not the daytime.” ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buildings-that-are-wider-at-the-top/656491/52 "2013-04-24T20:29:22Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > You know, as in, “not the daytime.” I think he was expressing skepticism that major repairs would be restricted to nighttime hours. Reading online, it does specifically mention the welders worked all night, but it’s not clear whether that was because they were welding day and night or whether they were trying to keep the state of the structural integrity of the building a secret (which, in fact, it was). ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buildings-that-are-wider-at-the-top/656491/53 "2013-04-24T20:51:23Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > You know, as in, “not the daytime.” Duh. Why would welding have to be done at night? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buildings-that-are-wider-at-the-top/656491/54 "2013-04-24T22:00:07Z")
Nova or another PBS science program ran an episode about the structural problems with the Citigroup Center building. As they presented it, the welding was being done to the structure of the building in the outside walls, which meant the welders had to go into the office suites to do their work. Presumably the tenants would not want to have welders in their offices while they were trying to work, so that’s one reason for doing the work after hours. But yes, they did conceal the facts about the structural flaw for years, even from tenants of that building and the neighboring ones (which the building would have fallen onto). The Wikipedia article mentions these issues. ---
**Author:** ![Running\_with\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buildings-that-are-wider-at-the-top/656491/55 "2013-04-24T22:15:15Z")
> [@Satchmo](#): > > IANAPWD but I believe initially it was to get more daylight down to street level. When skyscrapers became the default new building in downtown NYC, the streets got darker and darker and the city wanted to avoid that. I think I heard that during a documentary about building the Empire State Building. You can thank the [Equitable Building](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equitable_Building_(Manhattan)) for that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buildings-that-are-wider-at-the-top/656491.md?page=2)