Few things are as embarrassing for an architect than having a building you’ve designed spring a leak. 

Unfortunately for Santiago Calatrava, that is exactly what's happened at the World Trade Center Oculus, a $3.9 billion transit hub built to memorialize the September 11th terrorist attacks. The transit center and subterranean mall contained within the hub are topped by a sculptural pavilion that is itself capped by a 355-foot skylight. The skylight, made up of a dozen glass panels that are designed to open mechanically every year to mark each anniversary of the attacks, has been leaking since at least 2017. 

In 2018, according to The Wall Street Journal, a rubber seal that runs along the length of the roof ruptured as the skylight was opened for the annual remembrance ceremonies. Officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have spent over $50,000 since attempting to repair the tear, and plan on spending at least $200,000 more to seal the entire skylight with a waterproof membrane, according to WSJ. 

Readers as well as New York City residents and travelers will remember the black mop bucket that was periodically deployed to collect leaking water in the gleaming marble halls of the Oculus. The Port Authority told WSJ that the agency is conducting engineering analyses to figure out how to permanently repair the skylight. 

News of the ongoing leak follows recent legal action taken against Calatrava by a judge in Italy due to "negligence" involved in the design of a long-troubled 300-foot-long bridge in Venice. The Ponte della Constituzione, as the glass, steel, and stone structure is known, has been deemed to be inaccessible for people with disabilities and has suffered multiple material failures over its relatively short lifespan, among other issues.