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Ugly Buildings

Am I the only one here who hates this kind of functionalist housing?

obj.phpi


Who on Earth decided houses were supposed to look completely rectangular, like someone slapped down big blocks of stone or wood and added some windows.
 
I don't get the complaints about Montparnasse tower. I don't think it's even below average looking.

Here in Stockholm, the architect college (yes, architect :D) is considered the ugliest building in town.

12338733_132962b.jpg


image010.jpg
 
Dictator Cheney said:
Herzog & de Meuron's ugliest work i know

[qimg]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/de/b/be/Stellwerk_Basel_SBB.jpg[/qimg]
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It's hideous, but not quite as bad as the monstrosity that Herzog and de Meuron inflicted on San Francisco in the New De Young Museum. At least the above building has a solid look about it, where as that damn tower in the De Young looks as if it will topple at the first strong breeze to come along.
 
Safe-Keeper said:
Am I the only one here who hates this kind of functionalist housing?

[qimg]http://www.media.allerinternett.no/php/obj.phpi?o=2192456&w=222&frame=0&ee=[/qimg]

Who on Earth decided houses were supposed to look completely rectangular, like someone slapped down big blocks of stone or wood and added some windows.
Click to expand...

then you propably would like the old and new Goetheanum in this region.

nothing (ETA: almost, i saw some, thought its against their belive) rectangular in it.

First_Goetheanum.jpg


schweiz_sightseeing_goetheanum7.jpg
 
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Safe-Keeper said:
Am I the only one here who hates this kind of functionalist housing?

[qimg]http://www.media.allerinternett.no/php/obj.phpi?o=2192456&w=222&frame=0&ee=[/qimg]

Who on Earth decided houses were supposed to look completely rectangular, like someone slapped down big blocks of stone or wood and added some windows.
Click to expand...

Pete Seeger?


Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes, little boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All go to the university,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
And there's doctors and there's lawyers
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf-course,
And drink their Martini dry,
And they all have pretty children,
And the children go to school.
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
And they all get put in boxes
And they all come out the same.

And the boys go into business,
And marry, and raise a family,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.



:D
 
bruto said:
I always kind of liked the Guggenheim museum in New York, but back in the 80's they put an addition on. I was discussing its inappropriateness with an artist friend, and he put it very succinctly, by taking out a picture of the new edifice and drawing a flushing handle on the addition.
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The Guggenheim has always been an Art vs Architecture joke. They had the money, he had the idea. The building was a work of art. Never no mind that it was totally unsuited to presenting artworks. Frank wanted to do an inverted spiral and he found someone with enough bucks to let him do it and give him complete control, so he took their money. (They actually leveled off several "landings" because the original design had everything on a downwards spiral.)

Thus.... the wing. It's not thought of as part of the original. It was, however, needed if The Guggenheim was to ever be able to show, well, uh.... "art", ya know. At one point, someone on the board of trustees had actually proposed that they sell off all the original collection and commission works that would be "suitable" to their architectural masterpiece.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the first to notice that a number of the buildings are brutalist. I like the style, but latter day brutalism just started sticking bits out that said, "hey, look at me, I'm a hunk of building". The original works were based on marrying form and function and saying that there was nothing wrong with admitting that a building actually did have a purpose, and then threw that purpose out there.

The worst buildings in that list aren't the worst designs. They're the worst impositions of a style on a landscape or environment. Bombs are too good for that piece of crap in Paris. It is just garish and horrible. And the Boston and Scotland eyesores are for similar reasons. WTF are they doing where they are.
 
The Tricorn centre in Portsmouth that Geni mentioned was hailed as a masterpiece by some architects but was generally loathed by the public because it was bloody depressing. One quote "It was a bold concept for the time and challenged accepted ideas of what a shopping centre was for." Yes - shopping is a bit of cliche for a shopping centre, isnt it? Apparently the concrete was supposed to get weathered and shabby which was one of the key elements in the sense of miserable drabness the dump exuded.
"On 11 March 2004, English Heritage announced their decision not to list it. Portsmouth City Council were so delighted with English Heritage's decision that they turned the demolition into an event with a party atmosphere. A member of the public was chosen by a radio 'phone-in to start the demolition to the cheers of a watching crowd. The demolition began to the strains of the 1812 Overture. Why? Because the Tricorn was once described as symphony in concrete similar to the 1812 overture. The party was accompanied by fireworks. "
Quotes from http://www.retrowow.co.uk/architecture/60s/tricorn/reflections.html
 
gtc said:
Here is the list with some photos.

1. Boston City Hall - Massachusetts
2. Montparnasse Tower - Paris
3. Tuuri LuckyShoe Monument - Finland
4. Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral
5. Port Authority Bus Terminal - NY
6. Torres de Colon - Madrid
7. Liechtenstein Museum of Fine Arts
8. Scottish Parliament Building
9. Birmingham Central Library
10. Peter the Great Statue - Moscow
Click to expand...

Federation Square didn't rate a mention? That place is butt-ugly, especially when you compare it to the buildings on the other 3 corners there.
 
No, this is not a Bunker left over from the Nazi time.
It's also not a nuclear reactor.
And it's not from the early 70th.

It's a catholic church build in 2002.

600px-St.Theodor1_K%C3%B6ln_Vingst.jpg


St. Theodor in Cologne, near where I live.
 
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Safe-Keeper said:
It looks good, although I half expect a squadron of N-1 Naboo Starfighters to come buzzzing out of one of the windows.
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Starfighters?
the only thing that comes to my mind when i see that building is:
Hobits :D
 
Speaking of bunkers, there's a student residence building that should be taken down and rebuilt.

http://www.imtl.org/image/big/IMG_0112.jpg

Who in their right mind would want to live there while they study?

Not to mention this one, which is an appartment building straight out of North Korea (but in Montréal).
 
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