Then you get crazy engineers who decide to make their structures lean on purpose. That's the case with Capital Gate, a 35-story skyscraper situated on the island city of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. By design, the structure leans westward a full 18 degrees -- more than four times greater than Pisa's famous tower. To pull this off, engineers drilled 490 piles almost 100 feet (30 meters) into the ground and built a solid foundation consisting of a dense mesh of reinforced steel [source: Salmi]. Then they erected what's known as a pre-cambered core -- a steel-reinforced concrete spine with a case of scoliosis. Because the core curves, the whole building curves with it. Workers had to cut the diamond-shaped panels to slightly different dimensions because each one fit at a unique angle.
In 2010, Guinness World Records designated Capital Gate as the Farthest Man-made Leaning Building. Not to be confused with the Farthest Man-made Leaning Tower, which, unlike a building, doesn't have usable floor space.
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