Top 17 Most Foolish Engineering Fails

With all of the various engineers and engineering professions across the globe, there are endless hilarious examples of engineering failures. Sometimes it’s the engineer’s fault and others it is the builder being unable to read the plans. Regardless, here are 17 of the most insanely stupid engineering fails we could find from across the web.

The “late to class” door

That’s probably the door you have to come in if you don’t make it to class in time. You would be surprised at how many buildings have doors leading to nowhere.

Do you think the person responsible forgot about elevation when they were drawing the room; if not, what do you think was the cause of this weird quirk?

Extra balcony

While this extra balcony was likely put there so that the building looked uniform from a distance, the architect or engineer could have done a better job making it look functional.

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Too many manholes

Manholes are used at bends of sanitary sewer pipes, and this is probably the most closely spaced collection of them ever. The engineer in us is wondering what the pipes underground look like if the road is this crazy.

A close fit

We can’t think of a practical use of having urinals this close together. Nope.

The best seats around

While engineers know how to design structures, they often forget that their products actually have to be usable, not just do the job.

Maybe this is the result of improvements made to the field. If it were us, We’d hang some flat-screen TVs up on that wall and call it the “digital premiere section” of the stadium. Maybe we should’ve gone into marketing.

Long Reach

Handicapped stalls are the limos of bathroom stalls, but sometimes you can end up in a little bit of a predicament when you need to wipe.

“Where do we exit?”

The tolerances in the design specs must have been set to a couple feet rather than a few inches.

The reverse phone booth

Whoever built this obviously has no idea about the purpose of a phone booth is. 

Stairs for giants

This is what happens when you accidentally press the scale command in AutoCAD and don’t fix your mistakes. Steps for giants.

Out of place window

While there is nothing wrong with having a window there, We really want to know what makes that room so special… Perhaps the owner of the apartment decided to install it themselves?

The electrical water outlet

We like to call this the ‘electrified death socket.’ It’s what happens when a plumber and an electrician have a baby who then goes on to start his own business. We have so many questions about how this even happened.

Unsafe installation

This picture is more of what happens before the fail. It’s also proof of why women live longer than men. However, any engineer looking at this and will see a clear force diagram. These guys sure seem to know their way around levers and mechanical systems.

Stairway to wall

Ah, a stairway to nowhere. It’s a lot like the stairway to heaven except much more depressing.

The quick way down for wheelchairs

This is what happens when the regulating authorities say you need disability access and you don’t want to spend a lot of money. This is also what happens when you tell an engineer to solve the problem with as little budget as possible.

Half toilet

In case you only “kind of” needed to go.

Train collision

My assumption here is that the railroad is just being built due to the exposed ties and that the building and pole have yet to be moved. We just hope they don’t send a train down this track too soon.

Misplaced structural support

This engineer was too focused on making sure that the structure would stand up and they forgot that people have to be able to walk about in the building.