13 Surprising And Weird Architecture Facts You Probably Didn’t Know
Humans have been building shelters and homes for more than 10 000 years. From the very first shelters until today, the buildings have been through a remarkable revolution and modernization. However, the profession of architecture attracted not only talented, but also eccentric and visionary individuals.
Which makes for some incredible architecture facts that aren’t really known.
Without further ado, scroll down and read about 13 architecture-related facts that you may not have previously known, courtesy of Arch Daily.
1. Architecture was once an Olympic sport
Image via Wikimedia in public domain
Did you know that at the modern Olympic Games, there were 151 medals awarded for painting, literature, music, sculpture and architecture? Well, that must have made the games even more awesome. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who revived the modern games, considered art an essential part of the competition. As a matter of fact, Jan Wils designed The Olympic Stadium and earned Olympic Gold in architecture in the 1928 Games.
2. Frank Lloyd Wright’s son invented Lincoln Logs
Well, no one expected less from the son of the remarkable architect Lloyd Wright. John Lloyd Wright, second son of the legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, invented the children’s toys Lincoln Logs. They consist of small logs which are used to build small buildings. He was inspired by the interlocking beams of the foundation below Lloyd Wright Senior’s Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.
3. The Girih Tiles that are used by Islamic architects are mathematically similar to Penrose Tiling
Image © Wikimedia user Pentocelo licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sir Roger Penrose is the mathematician who experimented with five differently shaped tiles in the 1970s in order to create patterns with special geometric properties. So, Penrose tiling got named after him.
However, in 2007, physicists Peter J. Lu and Paul J. Steinhardt, revealed that Girih tiles, that were used by the Islamic architects for years, share many mathematical properties with Penrose tiling.
4. LEGO used to make special bricks for architects
Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, son of the LEGO founder, tried to make a Lego model of the house he was building. However, the Lego bricks have a 5:6 width-to-height ratio, so, it wasn’t successful. After this, in 1963, they invented a much smaller brick based on perfect cubes, called Modulex. Sadly, these bricks were discontinued in the 1970s
5. Maya Lin is the niece of one of the most famous female architects in modern Chinese history
Lin Huiyin. Image via Wikimedia in public domain
Lin Huiyin, one of the most famous architects in modern China, helped launch the architecture department at Northeastern University in Shenyang, alongside her husband, Liang Sicheng. Her niece, Maya Lin designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. Well, architecture run in their blood.
6. The Cooper Union Foundation Building in NYC
This building included an elevator shaft beside the fact that modern elevators hadn’t been invented yet. In 1852, in London, Elisha Otis first demonstrated his safety elevator and he also installed the first successful passenger elevator in 1857. However, these developments didn’t include a modern shaft. Peter Cooper included a cylindrical shaft n the Cooper Union Foundation Building in 1859.
7. A French postman spent 33 years building the “Ideal Palace”
© Wikimedia user Otourly licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Image © Wikimedia user Otourly licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
Ferdinand Cheval was a French postman who spent 33 years picking up stones while delivering mail. He collected special type of hardened sandstone molded by time and water into amazing shapes. Impressively, using these stones, he built the extraordinary Le Palais Idéal, in Hauterives.
8. “The Sims” was originally designed as an architecture simulator
One of the most famous video games, The Sims debuted in 2000. However, the original concept was something like SimCity where the players design a house and the characters test the design’s success.
9. The Empire State Building generates more revenue from its observation decks than from its 85 floors of office space
Even though The Empire State Building is one of the most famous office buildings in the world, the real moneymaker is the view from the 102-story skyscraper. Furthermore, the two observation decks generated $111 million and the building’s office space just $ 104 million.
10. One of the leaders of the 9/11 World Trade Center attack was an architect
Ironically enough, the person who crashed the first plane into the North Tower, Mohammed Atta, had degrees in architecture. Also, Atta considered the construction of high-rises in Cairo and other cities in the Middle East.
11. The City of Cincinnati, Ohio has an abandoned subway system which was never used
Image © Wikimedia user Jonathan Warren licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
There is a large abandoned subway system beneath the streets of Cincinnati. Proposed in the 1910s the project was interrupted by World War I and abandoned later.
12. The supervisor of the Ouija Board company fell to his death from the roof of a factory that the board told him to build
The supervisor of Kennard Novelty Company, William Fuld, made his fortune selling the boards and opening several new factories. Well, one of these factories, that he claimed the board told him to build, was the scene of his death.
13. More time passed between the beginning and end of the construction on the Great Wall of China than between the start of Christianity and today
First, Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China connected several walls together, built between the 8th and 3rd centuries. And then, the construction continued through 1878. Which means that this epic wall was under construction for more than 2 600 years.