Stefanie
I’ve been in architecture long enough to know that what’s on the page and what actually gets built are sometimes… wildly different things.
You pour hours into a design, triple-check the specs, dream a little—and then boom. Something in the field goes sideways and suddenly the elegant overhang is a tripping hazard, or the grand entrance is half a meter off.
This post is for all my fellow architects, designers, and chaos enjoyers.
It’s a roundup of moments where the dream met the drywall—and lost. Some are clearly budget cuts, others are just “???” But all of them are a reminder that architecture lives in the real world, and the real world is hilarious.
1. Stanley Milner Library In Edmonton, Alberta
2. Design Submitted By The Architect vs. How The Contractor Ends Up Building It
3. Such A Big Difference Between The Rendered Photo And Reality. Prisma, Helsingborg, Sweden
4. Vizag International Cruise Terminal In Visakhapatnam, India
5. Spektrum In Nya Hovas. Rendering vs. Actual Result
6. The So-Called Stadsberget In Piteå. Although It Is A Parking Garage, The Illustration Shows A Car-Free Environment With A Lot Of Cyclists And Pedestrians
7. Located In Central Halmstad
8. Växjö’s New Municipal Building. Render vs. Real Building
9. The Vision Of This Building Looked Great, But The Reality Is Very Disappointing
10. Söders Höjder In Helsingborg, Sweden
11. Residence Trea In Istanbul, Turkey
12. The Plans For The Marble Arch Mound On The Left Regarded Spectacular In Comparison With The Way It Had Really Been Constructed
13. I Wonder How The People Who Bought Apartments In This Apocalyptic-Leninist Bunker Nightmare Feel About Their Investment
14. If You Can’t Design A Nice Building, You Can Always Try To Hide The Building Completely. Unfortunately, It’s More Difficult In Reality Than In The Picture
15. Tel Aviv University’s “Building Of The Future”
16. Vision vs. Reality. Platinan In Gothenburg, Sweden
17. The Same, But Different
18. The New Hotel At Halmstad’s Travel Center. It Looks Like A Haunted Hotel
19. Sara Cultural Center In Skellefteå, Sweden. In Reality It Looks Very Sad
20. The New Munch Museum In Oslo Opened, And It Might Not Look Exactly Like The Vision Picture
21. A Different Angle But The Message Is Still Clear – Horrendous
22. This Is A Building Concept For A Hofbräuhaus (German Beer Garden-Type Restaurant Chain) In Buffalo, But Failed To Be Built Correctly Or Finished At All
23. This Monstrosity Of Selma Center In Gothenburg, Sweden
24. Vågen Was Sweden’s Fifth Ugliest Building In 2022
25. Malmö’s New District Court In Sweden. Vision vs. Reality
26. Royal Ontario Museum: Expectations vs. Reality
27. Totalitarian New Box In Kungsängen, Sweden. The Gray Color Looks Way Worse Than It Should Be
28. A Skyscraper In Warsaw, Poland
29. Funny How Buildings Just Change Color
30. “Bal Gown” In The Hague, Netherlands. It Had The Potential
31. The Elite Hotel Carolina Tower At Nya Karolinska In Hagastaden, Stockholm, Sweden
32. An Expectation Image Of Metropolia’s Myllypuro Campus vs. An Image From Reality
33. Sven-Harry’s Art Museum In Vasaparken, Stockholm
34. Glasiaren, Gothenburg. The Building Turned Into Something That Resembles An Old Refrigerator With Ugly Magnets
35. An Apartment Building Near Stockholm
36. The Vision And Reality Of Kv. Poolen The New Bathhouse In Frösunda, Sweden
37. The Render One Looked Way Better. Scandic Central In Örebro, Sweden
38. The Render One Looked Way Better. Scandic Central In Örebro, Sweden
39. A New Landmark Was Built In Kallhäll, Stockholm
40. Planned vs. Actual Pune Metro. Left – Sant Tukaram Metro Station, PCMC. Right – Deccan Gymkhana, Pune
41. Elbe Philharmonic Hall. In The Renders Of This Project, Hinged Glass Facade Resembles A Perfect Blanket, Almost Weightless. However, In Reality The Facade Does Not Show The Same Effect
42. From Render To Reality
43. Citygate (Getingboet) In Gothenburg, Sweden. Those Windows Look Really Different
44. Kalmar House Stella In Sweden. At Least They Tried?
45. Vision Picture For Brandbergen Centre. It Didn’t Turn Out Exactly As Planned
46. Reality Is Bleak Compared To The Rendering World
47. The Completed Mast Quay Phase II Built-To-Rent Development Is Substantially Different From The Scheme That Was Originally Permitted
48. In The Renderings, There Are Significantly More People Than Cars On The Roads, But In Reality It Is The Opposite
49. Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Headquarters: Expectation vs. Reality
50. This Disappointing Building In Gothenburg, Sweden
Read Also: 30 Funny Design Fails As Hilarious As They Are Infuriating (March 26, 2025)