Doubtful Design

A 47-story building in Spain lacks elevators on its upper floors to ferry potential residents to their homes. Oops! Is theological doubt like this? No elevators to the truth?

"His elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor."

If you're being less than charitable, that's a euphemism you might use to describe someone who's not very bright -- you know, someone who's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, whose light bulb is a little dim, or who's dumber than a bag of hammers.

But what happens if that person is an architect and his elevators literally don't go all the way to the top floor because, well, he forgot to design the building that way, leaving the multi-million-dollar project standing empty and useless?

The building in question is the InTempo, designed as a 47-story showpiece building in the Spanish coastal town of Benidorm. When (and if) it's finished, it will be the tallest residential building in the European Union. It was supposed to open in 2009, but has been plagued by accidents, bad loans and bankrupt builders, along with one major, hand-slap-to-the-forehead design flaw: The elevator only goes up to the 20th floor, leaving the possibility...