Ugliest buildings thread

[luiz]

It seems like you are the one engaging in yet another absurd "rant", instead of simply addressing the comment.

But go right ahead and mention even one conservative in this forum who has expressed anything but complete disdain for modernism, including you.

Well I don't know how many conservatives expressed their opinions here. But I can give you several examples of conservatives who not only liked Modernist architecture but commissioned countless works in a colossal scale.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Still can't come up with a single one. Huh?

 

[luiz]

Still can't come up with a single one. Huh?

I don't know what sort of point you're trying to make. If it was a link between conservatism and contempt for Modernist architecture, I already demonstrated it does not exist.

CFC-OT is largely populated by left-wing teenagers and not really the place to go to gauge conservative opinion on anything.

 

[Formaldehyde]

So you continue to strawman my comment while ignoring what I actually stated? Besides, a few exceptions hardly disproves a generalization.

And now you are even trolling by claiming that CFC is "largely populated" by "left-wing teenagers"?

What were you just saying about "rants"?

 

[luiz]

So you continue to strawman my comment while ignoring what I actually stated? Besides, a few exceptions hardly disproves a generalization.

And now you are even trolling by claiming that CFC is "largely populated" by "left-wing teenagers"?

What were you just saying about "rants"?

Again, I don't know what point you were trying to make other than "conservatives hate Modernism" (probably because they're stupid and retrograde).

What I offered was not a few counter-examples (a few and meaningless counter-example would be a conservative CFCer who likes Modernist architecture), what I did was demonstrate that Modernism was not only liked but embraced and generously funded by several conservative regimes, and that even the main name in Modernism could perhaps be called a conservative (though granted that's quite debatable).

As for my comment on CFC demographics, I don't see why it's trolling. Unless you consider "left-wing" a negative quality or something. It was a statement of fact.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Again, I don't know what point you were trying to make other than "conservatives hate Modernism" (probably because they're stupid and retrograde

Which is funny, because Modernism stopped being modern (nevermind Avant-Garde) when my father was growing up.

So if it is, it's "Conservatives hate Modernism, and they're stupid and retrograde because they don't pine for the 1950s."

 

[luiz]

Which is funny, because Modernism stopped being modern (nevermind Avant-Garde) when my father was growing up.

So if it is, it's "Conservatives hate Modernism, and they're stupid and retrograde because they don't pine for the 1950s."

Indeed! Modernist architecture is very 1950's. And 1960's in Brasil's case.

 

[ParkCungHee]

It kind of reached the height here in the 60s too, but that's also when it started attracting criticism and became firmly the old, default way of doing buildings.

 

[luiz]

It kind of reached the height here in the 60s too, but that's also when it started attracting criticism and became firmly the old, default way of doing buildings.

Oh I see.And unfortunately in Brasil it still kind of is the default way of doing buildings. Which is awful, because they new Modernist buildings are just as dysfunctional as the old ones but they new generation of Brazilian architects lack the genius of Niemeyer (I'm not a fan of him at all, but he was undeniably brilliant).

Curiosly I think a traditionalist design would be far more avant-garde and bold than the endless copies of Oscar Niemeyer that characterize contemporary Brazilian architecture.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Oh I see.And unfortunately in Brasil it still kind of is the default way of doing buildings. Which is awful, because they new Modernist buildings are just as dysfunctional as the old ones but they new generation of Brazilian architects lack the genius of Niemeyer (I'm not a fan of him at all, but he was undeniably brilliant).

Oh, it still is. If you want an office, a government building or a university it's almost inevitably going to be some modernist waste. But now at least it's thought of in those terms. Until the 1950s Modernists could at least think of themselves as on the cutting edge.

Speaking of how many of these buildings are failures to live in, never mind look at, this disaster:

Spoiler :

The stairs take you to the odd number floors. The elevators take you to the evens, and least for the first few floors. This means that if its your first time taking classes there, and you have class on the third floor, you'll go in, climb the stairs, open the third door and end up on the fifth! On top of that, every floor from the third up is identical. You have no way of knowing if it even looks like the right place. I was sitting in the lobby one day and this trap won an architectural award when it was put up.

Also, since it hasn't shown up yet, there's this eyesore.

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Somebody knocked down a tree for that.

Now, aside from the obvious objection on the ground that it's just a pin, it's objectionable at two levels:

One, as you can see in the first picture, it seems to deliberately overshadow the much more beautiful statue of Jim Larkin right there. Like Abraj Al Bait, there seems to be an unintended message there. I can't think of any better summary of the Celtic Tiger than a big, purposeless building drowning out the voice of Jim Larkin.

Now, on top of being out of place, it's even worse that Abraj Al Bait to me, because as far as I can figure, this huge spire signifies literally nothing. It's not to commemorate anything, celebrate anything, or draw attention to anything, which is excusable, but not in the case of something that does nothing.

That etching at the bottom is based on a core sample taken from the ground it stands on, which sort of has a feel good, in touch with nature sort of thing going on until you remember they destroyed a rare bit of nature in the city to plunk that thing down. Combined with the astronomical costs to maintain the thing, the project seems to slide from ugly into evil.

Hopefully they make a tradition of spires planted on O'Connel street.

 

[Tee Kay]

Also, since it hasn't shown up yet, there's this eyesore.

Spoiler :

That... that is a thing. Someone built. On purpose?

 

[Hygro]

I want to see a giant finger reverse flick it and have it go "twaannggngngng"

 

[peter grimes]

Finally finishing up construction on a church near me. It's by far the ugliest building I see every day.

 

[Traitorfish]

One, as you can see in the first picture, it seems to deliberately overshadow the much more beautiful statue of Jim Larkin right there.

Ah, so perhaps Luiz can find something to like about modernism after all.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Finally finishing up construction on a church near me. It's by far the ugliest building I see every day. View attachment 375017

That's impossible, because that is my Middle School.

 

[luiz]

Oh, it still is. If you want an office, a government building or a university it's almost inevitably going to be some modernist waste. But now at least it's thought of in those terms. Until the 1950s Modernists could at least think of themselves as on the cutting edge.

Speaking of how many of these buildings are failures to live in, never mind look at, this disaster:

Spoiler :

The stairs take you to the odd number floors. The elevators take you to the evens, and least for the first few floors. This means that if its your first time taking classes there, and you have class on the third floor, you'll go in, climb the stairs, open the third door and end up on the fifth! On top of that, every floor from the third up is identical. You have no way of knowing if it even looks like the right place. I was sitting in the lobby one day and this trap won an architectural award when it was put up.

Yikes, that is one awful building. I'm sorry you had to deal with it!

Speaking of horrendous monuments, how about this obelisk and "walkway" (actually you couldn't walk on it) that used to mark the border of Ipanema and Leblon?

Mercifully the walkway, which was the worst part, was demolished a few years ago. The obelisk remains.

Edit: and also note the ugly Modernist boxes near the obelisk that plague much of Rio...

 

[Kyriakos]

I wouldn't try to walk on that thing, it looks a bit alive, which is always bad for a building

 

[peter grimes]

That's impossible, because that is my Middle School.

Pics or it didn't happen.

 

[Tee Kay]

That cityscape honestly doesn't look that bad. The obelisk doesn't look out of place unlike that Irish thing. And the bridge is even a little charming.

I guess get enough modernist boxes together and vary them enough in shape and colour and it looks... good, like they belong.

Honestly the worst thing aesthetically are the air con units on the side of the buildings, but those are necessary, just needs some prettifying.

 

[Camikaze]

As a late entry to the thread, there's this Radio Building in Bratislava:

Spoiler :

Spoiler :