This article was originally published by Ezra Schwartz on LinkedIn. It has been reprinted here with permission from the author.

Following a recent family visit to Chichén Itzá, I became somewhat obsessed with a couple of design enigmas I found there:

Design Enigma 1: The large pyramid in this amazing archeological complex, known as the Temple of Kukulkán, is highly symmetrical. But the first thing I observed when we approached it and stood in front of its west side, is that the structure on top of the pyramid (A above), is not center-aligned relative to the 9 terraces below it, as one would expect*. The visual guides 1 and 2 show the misalignment (images above and below).