Architects these days often seem to be large scale sculptors who inflict strange shapes on people who then have to live in or around them, without regard for engineering or human psychology.
Reminds me of the complaints and lawsuits[1] regarding the Stata building at MIT. Apparently in the beginning it had leaks and other lacks of fit and polish.
This is extremely common, check out the book "How Buildings Learn", which has a few chapters on this phenomenon. The type of buildings you are describing are "Magazine" (buildings that get on the cover of architecture magazines)
