Are these the ugliest buildings in the world?

[M II A II R II K]

Are these the ugliest buildings in the world?


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/...?frame=2159769

21: The ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture and observation tower at the London 2012 Olympic Park. Designed by Anish Kapoor with Cecil Balmond and due to open this year.






20: The Verizon Building or 375 Pearl in New York City. Designed by Rose, Beaton & Rose and opened in 1975.






19: Aldar headquarters building in Abu Dhabi. Designed by MZ Architects and opened in 2010. This coin-shaped building is the world's first circular skyscraper.






18: The Longaberger Basket Company building in Newark, Ohio. Opened in 1997.






17: The Žižkov Television Tower in Prague, Czech Republic. Designed by Václav Aulický and Jiří Kozák and completed in 1992. The tower is adorned with sculptures of crawling babies.






16: Ponte City Apartments in Johannesburg, the tallest residential skyscraper in Africa, at 54 storeys. Designed by Manfred Hermer and completed in 1975.






15: Strata SE1 in Elephant & Castle, London. Designed by BFLS and completed in 2010.






14: The National Library of Belarus in Minsk. Dersigned by Mihail Vinogradov and Viktor Kramarenko and opened in 2006.







13: Grand Lisboa Hotel in Macau. Designed by Hong Kong architects Dennis Lau and Ng Chun Man and opened in 2007.






12: The Slovak Radio Building in Bratislava. This inverted pyramid was designed by Štefan Svetko, Štefan Ďurkovič and Barnabáš Kissling and it was completed in 1983.






11: The Elephant Building in Bangkok, Thailand. Designed by Sumet Jumsai and completed in 1997.






10: The SIS Building in Vauxhall, London, also known as the MI6 Building. The headquarters of the British Secret Intelligence Service was designed by Terry Farrell and opened in 1994.






9: The Mirador Building in Madrid. Designed by Dutch architecture studio MVRDV in collaboration with the Spanish architect Blanca Lleó and opened in 2005.






8: Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia. Designed by Lab Architecture Studio and Bates Smart. Opened in 2002.






7: The Metropolitan Cathedral Church of Christ the King in Liverpool. Designed by Frederick Gibberd and opened in 1967.






6: The Russian embassy in Havana, Cuba. Designed by Alexander G Rochegov, and opened in 1985.





5: The Tours Aillaud (also known as Tours Nuages) in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, France. Designed by Emile Aillaud and built in 1977.






4: The Fang Yuan Building in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province. Designed by CY Lee, who fused together the idea of an old Chinese coin, complete with square cut-outs, with a contemporary modern office block. Opened in 2001.






3: The National Library in Pristina, Kosovo. Designed by Croatian architect Andrija Mutnjakovic and opened in 1982.






2: The 105-storey Ryugyong hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea. Designed by Baikdoosan Architects & Engineers. Construction began in 1987 and stopped between 1992 and 2008. Exterior work is now complete, but it is not known if it will ever open.






1: Torre Velasca in Milan, Italy. Designed by the BBPR architectural partnership and built in the 1950s.

[BrandonJXN]

I can't remember if it's in Louisville or Nashville but there is a building that looks to be maid out of doilies. It's a glaring omission.

That and Guy's Hospital.

[ariesjow]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

I can't remember if it's in Louisville or Nashville but there is a building that looks to be maid out of doilies. It's a glaring omission.

That and Guy's Hospital.

Kaden Tower in Louisville.

[Pavlov]

I would go so far as to say that I love these buildings:

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

[SIZE="5"]


17: The Žižkov Television Tower in Prague, Czech Republic. Designed by Václav Aulický and Jiří Kozák and completed in 1992. The tower is adorned with sculptures of crawling babies.












12: The Slovak Radio Building in Bratislava. This inverted pyramid was designed by Štefan Svetko, Štefan Ďurkovič and Barnabáš Kissling and it was completed in 1983.





6: The Russian embassy in Havana, Cuba. Designed by Alexander G Rochegov, and opened in 1985.





3: The National Library in Pristina, Kosovo. Designed by Croatian architect Andrija Mutnjakovic and opened in 1982.

Verizon and the Elephant Building definitely belong on the list though.

[Jasoncw]

I have a big soft spot for the Elephant Building.

[ardecila]

This article claims the Abu Dhabi building is the world's first circular skyscraper, but then they show another circular skyscraper in Shenyang that's 9 years older.

This is, as usual, a stupid list. 90% of the stuff on the internet is worthless, HuffPo style content mills that add zero value and simply aggregate stuff from other places.

[vid]

The Elephant Building is fun.

[vid]

Made out of doilies.

[Alpha]

The building of the Longaberger Basket Company is really original.

[Arawooho]

This is a fun thread.

[BnaBreaker]

That Stratta SE1 Building is pretty bad ass, and for reasons I cannot put into words, I've always loved that Vodacom building in Jo'burg.

[ardecila]

I could do without the wind turbines but yes, it is super-cool.

So is the building in Louisville, although it would look SO much better without the Ruth's Chris sign (and with a good cleaning). It's so top-heavy, it appears to be floating - perfect for a building that's all about lacy lightness.

Unfortunately the screen is built with exposed aggregate concrete, so it cannot be painted or easily cleaned - it is truly the world's ugliest construction material. If the screen was done in modern precast, it would be a thing of beauty.



Also beautiful at night:


source 1
source 2

[Illithid Dude]

None of those buildings are ugly. Actually, many of them are really bad-ass. Half of them look like they came from Blade Runner. I can take a ten minute walk and find twenty uglier buildings then the ones posted here.

[LSyd]

i like a lot of these. where's the knockoff world trade center twin towers from china? there's also a glut of late 70s and 1980s towers that haven't aged gracefully.

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[mousquet]

I'm actually very pleased to find these in this useless list.

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

5: The Tours Aillaud (also known as Tours Nuages) in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, France. Designed by Emile Aillaud and built in 1977.

Social housing of course. I mean who the nuts wants to live in there? The day when they're torn down or totally restructured will be a party. While modern architecture can often be wonderful, those brutalist, concrete or 'commieblock' looks heavily developed from the 50s to the 70s were a sorry mistake in my opinion. Some may like it, which is nothing wrong, just a matter of taste, but most don't. It's undeniable.

[vid]

As far as commieblocks go, those are probably the least ugly there are.

[ardecila]

Yeah, they're fun!

Reminds me of the Hillard Homes in Chicago.


source

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Yeah, they're fun!

Reminds me of the Hillard Homes in Chicago.


source

These are not terrible.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

These are not terrible.

Neither are the camouflage-spotted towers in Nanterre.

The camouflage is actually an interesting idea, because it means the government agency that maintains the buildings never has to worry about matching the old paint colors when they do patch jobs. They can just add a new one and nobody will ever notice.

[Dense_Electric]

How does a building like #15 make the list? I like it, very futuristic with those windmills up there.