Dave, I did curtain wall design for about 8 years and I have stuff hanging all up and down the West Coast that I drew. We always tried to design in excess expansion capabilities but the architects didn't like the increased sightlines.
Architects just hate any Big Expansion Joints. The good ones all work it out in advance so that they are harmonious to the design. They conceal the problems or they celebrate them as appropriate.
The poor ones just placed the responsibility on the contractor, with a note on the drawings, for any job that didn't lend itself to a clear path of action.
Because you can get away with that on a simple job, it caused a lot of Architects to stumble on more complicated attempts. Famous architects had such problems on their most famous projects, when they reached a little too far.
Extrapolation can be a very dangerous business.
