I didn't think it was possible, but I've discovered another reason to consider the Visitor Education [sic] Cathedral to be an architectural monstrosity.
Several days ago in the morning I'm riding my bike past the Inn on the way to the cabins when I notice what sounds like an extremely loud bus running its engine in the West Lot behind the Inn. But as I approach the VE[sic]C, I realize that the noise is not from behind the building, but from the building itself. It's as if a loud bus were parked up under the roof of the north end beside the Inn. And the sound seemed to be directed straight out into the basin and at Old Faithful.
A recording I made doesn't do justice to how offensive this was. The bass rumblings could be felt as much as heard. If Old Faithful had erupted then, it would have overwhelmed its sounds. I'm sure folks on Geyser Hill were treated to it, too. It was a sound that a Harley fan on his way to Sturgis could envy.
I'm sure this wasn't intentional. Then again, I've been told that much of the design of that building was to "showcase" its "green" aspects. One thing that seems to not be "green" are esthetics, considering how this eyesore is now shown that it can also a noisy nuisance.
Years ago the little building across the road from the Lower Ham's Store and gas station, the "Lift Station", used to have a pressurized pump in it that would occasionally (and in the evenings, frequently) vent itself with a sound that could heard all over the southern end of basin, especially at night. It took years for it to finally be silenced. The NPS has now thoughtfully provided a new replacement for that we are going to have to endure for decades to come.