Problems
When the Green Building was first opened, the isolated prominence of the building and its relative proximity to the Charles River basin increased wind speeds in the high open archway at its base, preventing people from entering or leaving the building through the hinged main doors on windy days, necessitating the use of a tunnel connecting to the other buildings. Large wood panels were temporarily erected in the open concourse to block the wind, and revolving doors were later installed at the ground floor entries to ameliorate this problem somewhat. Several windows cracked, and at least one large pane popped out on upper stories at least in part due to the effects of wind, eventually requiring all the windows to be replaced. A few years later, a similar-appearing problem was repeated in Boston's John Hancock Tower located in Back Bay across the river, a 60-story skyscraper which happened to be designed by the same architectural firm.
It is incorrectly rumored that Alexander Calder's monumental sculpture The Big Sail, was situated in front of the building to deflect the high winds. The sculpture is located too far from the building entryway to have much effect on wind velocities there.
Read more about this topic: Green Building (MIT)
Famous quotes containing the word problems:
“The problems of victory are more agreeable than the problems of defeat, but they are no less difficult.”
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965)
“The problems of the world, AIDS, cancer, nuclear war, pollution, are, finally, no more solvable than the problem of a tree which has borne fruit: the apples are overripe and they are falling—what can be done?... Nothing can be done, and nothing needs to be done. Something is being done—the organism is preparing to rest.”
—David Mamet (b. 1947)
“In many ways, life becomes simpler [for young adults]. . . . We are expected to solve only a finite number of problems within a limited range of possible solutions. . . . It’s a mental vacation compared with figuring out who we are, what we believe, what we’re going to do with our talents, how we’re going to solve the social problems of the globe . . .and what the perfect way to raise our children will be.”
—Roger Gould (20th century)