Sorry if I’m stating the obvious, but the Carbuncle Cup is named after an ignorant crack heartfelt appeal from that eminent architectural critic (ahem) the Prince of Wales, who said in 1984 that the proposed design of the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery was “like a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much loved and elegant friend” and yes, his alternative was anonymously Neoclassical.
Of the past 12 winners of the Cup, I’ve agreed with the decision four times, strongly disagreed four times and thought that the remaining third weren’t really worthy of comment either way. As I mentioned earlier, I think the strongest objection to some of them is that they could be considered out of place; perfectly fine buildings, just a bit jarring in the places they’ve been put.
I think that’s definitely the issue with this year’s winner.
As you said the photo is quite flattering. I’ve seen others including footage of the view as you come out of the Tube station and it is, well, ‘imposing’ is the most flattering term I can come up with.
At least with these buildings you have some sort of effort at creativity. Ann Arbor is suffering under an onslaught of hideous, CAD-library non-architecture mostly put up by the obviously well-connected but talentless J. Bradley Moore. At one of the public hearings where I spoke against one of these monstrosities (he’s done about a dozen) I asked him why his buildings were so ugly. His response? “I give my clients what they ask for.” Well, get some better clients, hack, because you are fouling our built environment for generations with your cookie-cutter Stalinist apartment blocks.
Note that most of these are allowed by our pro-development zoning guidelines to exceed height, massing and setbacks restrictions because they offer so-called “community amenities” like a handful of bike racks, or planting a few trees. Most also displaced a reasonably scaled group of buildings that had some sort of merit or utility to the neighborhood, like being affordable, or mixed use, or under historic designation. Terrible!
Ann Arbor architecture looks like Chicago took a dump on the way to New York.
The Carbuncle winner doesn’t look too bad in the picture in Boing Boing but i went to the link for the “award” and it does a couple of different angles and good lord the building is horrendous. I think the design for the building itself is actually fine but bright red tinted windows? Just awful.
This is probably the explanation for a huge percentage of buildings in the US for the past 20 or 30 years. Lazy architects under unrealistic project deadlines just dragging and dropping.
I particularly like the way all photos of the place have to be taken from really odd angles (or the middle of a busy road) in order to get the damn thing in.
Having said that - I think Preston train station entrance is worse:
as is:
The ‘winner’ is at least a new group of buildings rather than something crap tacked on to an existing building.
That’s pretty much the view one sees on leaving the front of Victoria Station; i.e. that’s what faces this:
Apparently “two art deco buildings, one listed, two stucco-front late-Regency houses, a classical style bank building, and the remaining foyer and decorative frontage of the old Metropole Cinema have all been removed for this steel and glass office development.”
Though I’d be the first to admit Victoria has been a bit grim in recent years!
That’s not a terribly flattering picture of Victoria Station. I’m not sure if it’s the scaling down from this or the fact that the original photo accentuates the local climatic conditions (overcast skies with rain in the offing.)
Meanwhile, the architect of this carbuncle gets to show off his creation in the best possible light-- even though it’s still London.
Well, that’s the advantage of using computer generated imagery rather than a photo. Great lighting conditions, empty streets, happy contented workers strolling to their cubicles/open plan work silos!
I still love how the developer’s images have to have freaky M. C. Escher effects to get anything to fit. I mean, what’s with the incredibly steep slope the bus is apparently battling its way up in the “cathedral to commerce” picture?
