Does this exist in any other country?

[Frozen Hamster]

I'm a uni student in Iceland and the bane of our existence is a law regarding architecture that says that any change in the design of a building, no matter how trivial, has to be approved by the architect who designed the building.
The biology and geology building of the University of Iceland is absolutely horrendously designed but the most annoying fault is the fact that the air-conditioning/ventilation system can not service the building because of it's size and design.
The result is that the lecture rooms are absolutely devoid of oxygen and stiflingly hot to boot. Trying to ask the architect for changes is about as effective as asking a brick wall.
My question is this: do any country have the same stupid law that limit the usefulness of a building by means of the architects stubbornness?

Edit: As you may have guessed I'm not a native English speaker so my grammar and word usage may be a little off.

[lakemonster11]

1. I've never heard of that.

That's really weird.

[Frozen Hamster]

4. Yes it is

This law is so annoying that in at least on case the owners prefered ripping the building down and constructing a new one rather than try to get the architects approval for a new building.

[MrScorpio]

2. Check out the architectural rules of Washington DC some time

Interesting stuff there

[Frozen Hamster]

3. Sure... got any links?

[REP]

5. There May Be Private Buildings Like That

But mostly, the rules governing changes to buildings deal with historic buildings, and those have to do with keeping the as much of the original structure in place while adding plumbing, heating, cooling, etc.

[IntravenousDemilo]

6. Góðan dag! Gleður mig að kynnast þér!

That's bizarre! If the architect has any professional integrity, you'd think he would want his creation to work right.

I also wonder, what happens if it's an older building and the architect is long dead? Can you no longer modify a building or correct problems?

Oh, and your English is perfectly understandable. You should see some of the strange, incomprehensible phrases that come from native-born English-speakers, even on this site.

By the way, "Góðan dag" and "Gleður mig að kynnast þér" is the extent of my Icelandic.

[Frozen Hamster]

7. This particular architect is infamous for his vanity

The man is so bad that several construction companies refuse to work on a building he's designed, and many other ad an extra 10% fee to their budget because invariable at least one engineer is going to be trapped in meetings with the architect for the entire time of construction.
The building I'm currently sitting in is so craptastically designed that about 60% of the space is wasted, the air-conditioning doesn't work and the lecture rooms appear to have been added in as an afterthought.
Here is a picture of the building in question.

And here is a picture of the interior.


I'll admit it is a rather nice looking building, but quite frankly I'd rather be working in a large, ugly concrete box that has a functioning air-conditioning unit and adequate space (this building was too small before we moved into it.)

[IntravenousDemilo]

9. Surely it wouldn't hurt his vanity, would it...

...if you got him to design and supervise the installation of a better-functioning air-conditioning system that wouldn't alter the look of the buildings in any way? He could even think of it as an engineering challenge. If the new work is invisible, he shouldn't be humiliated. First-time visitors wouldn't even know there'd been a problem -- they'd just say, "Wow, what a nice place, and so comfortable, too!" And for those who have suffered in there to this point, there'd be such gratitude for the first while, and then eventually the bad memories of stifling conditions would just fade away over time.

It probably wouldn't hurt if the Board of Governors offered him lots of cash to do it, either.

[rockymountaindem]

12. No, it would hurt his vanity

because that would be an admission that he didn't design the perfect building the first time.

[Frozen Hamster]

14. You hit the nail on the head

Another idiocy I was made aware of today. All the laboratories have an emergency shower as per Health & Safety regulations. However there is no grill or any other opening for the water to go. If we ever have to use the emergency showers we'll flood the entire lab.

[Frozen Hamster]

16. This is a publicly funded University

Ergo the university is incredible under-funded so trying to bribe him into being reasonable is out of the question. I suggested death threats but the professors veto-ed that idea.

[IntravenousDemilo]

17. Are there no other blandishments that will convince him?

How about a hard-core date with someone's hot, nymphomaniacal sister (or brother, if that's what suits his fancy)? Would that work? :)

[KitchenWitch]

8. There are suburbs here that have "approved" colors for the homes

And a kind of funny story.

In Eden Prairie, MN, a few years back, a Caribbean themed restaurant planted a palm tree (Palm trees do not survive the winters here). The city council got all up in arms because the palm tree did not fit with their "vision for the city" and made the restaurant get rid of the palm tree.

:banghead:

[Burma Jones]

10. Your written english is better than most Americans'

But that isn't saying much.

You gotta love a society that takes its artists so damn seriously....

[pitohui]

11. ok what happens when the architect dies?

i assume this is a legpull but given the assumption does this mean the bldg can never be changed once the architect has died?

don't think so

some evildoer can whack the architect & yr worries are solved ta da

[Frozen Hamster]

13. He walked past me today, I was tempted to throw him through a window

As I understand it if the architecht dies his children, SO or siblings aquire the right to the building's architecture. So even if I did kill him it won't help.
I'm not sure how much time has to pass from the intial construction until the rights expire.

[caty]

15. First, I think your

grammar is excellent.
I heard once that in some countries in Indonesia, you cannot build a building that is higher than the tallest tree in that country. That's about the strangest one I've heard of.