The ugliest building in the world

[Q Classic]

BTW, the name of that first picture is the Ryugyong Hotel, P'yongyang, North Korea.

The concrete used for its construction is so ****ty, they can't complete it--putting in the windows at the top level could cause a collapse--and thus, there are absolutely no windows in the entire structure, just open holes where windows should be.

[Dinner]

This building is also from Albany and it looks like the tower which held the eye of Sauron. Or maybe the architect just really, really liked Batman.

[VetLegion]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
BTW, the name of that first picture is the Ryugyong Hotel, P'yongyang, North Korea.

Thanks for the identification. I've now found better pictures of it, sent a lot to various emails and one is even decorating my desktop

[Bereta_Eder]

Originally posted by Oerdin
This building is also from Albany and it looks like the tower which held the eye of Sauron. Or maybe the architect just really, really liked Batman.

[Dinner]

This is the new central library in Seattle. Time magazine named it the best new architecture in America but I think it is a worrying development. I confess that it looks better then the concrete monstrosities which make up most of the rest of downtown Seattle but the library basically is just a monument to cheap glass and steel construction which is environmentally unfriendly since it requires lots of energy to heat or cool (due to the lack of insulation) plus the lack of architectural detail makes it is inherently uninteresting

The architects have attempted to compensate for the boring & colorless exterior buy adding in a freak show of oddly placed geometric shapes. How does this building relate to the ones around it? Does it fit in or provide a greater sense of community? Are there attractive and inviting open spaces which would enrich the public domain and break up the endless concrete and asphalt which make up the city? 35 years from now people are going to look back at this in dismay just as people now look at the UN building in New York as the ugly P.O.S. it is.

[Dinner]

This is the National Museum of the American Indian in all of its bland windowless glory. Continuing to show the complete lack of taste which has lead them to such poor choices in the past Time magazine named this the 5th best building in America. I really want to know what those losers at time are smoking

Many of Saddam's palaces in Iraq look like this; just poured concrete with a drabe acrose sand mixed in for a monolethic and uniform color. In a vain attempt to create something vaguely interesting they create lots of stupid wavy lines which serve no architectual purpose nor do they beautify anything. The result is just blah but blah is popular these days because it can be built dirt cheap and it doesn't require much thought.

[Kontiki]

Oerdin, as a point of reference, post a pic of a newer building you think does look good.

[Lul Thyme]

That last one looks a LOT like the musee des civilisations\museum of civilizations in ottawa\gatineau!!

[DanS]

I don't know. I think that The National Museum of the American Indian is a beautiful building, but I've only seen it in person a couple of times.

[Jonny]

Originally posted by Oerdin
This building is also from Albany and it looks like the tower which held the eye of Sauron. Or maybe the architect just really, really liked Batman.

That's definitely not in Albany... that's right here in Nashville. It certainly is more unique than the glass rectangular prism skyscraper that was common in the 80s-90s.

And yes, we locals do in fact call it the "Batman Building."

[Dinner]

OK, correction noted.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
The concrete used for its construction is so ****ty, they can't complete it--putting in the windows at the top level could cause a collapse--and thus, there are absolutely no windows in the entire structure, just open holes where windows should be.

I found that hard to believe, since a building that tall requires steel reinforced concrete.

[Solomwi]

Originally posted by Jonny


That's definitely not in Albany... that's right here in Nashville. It certainly is more unique than the glass rectangular prism skyscraper that was common in the 80s-90s.

And yes, we locals do in fact call it the "Batman Building."

, as soon as the page opened that was the first thing I saw. My immediate reaction was, "Hey, now, I kind of like the Batman Building."

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Oerdin
...since it requires lots of energy to heat or cool (due to the lack of insulation)...

If they use double glass panes (two layers of glass with a layer of air in the middle) it would help, since Seattle isn't all that cold to begin with.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger

If they use double glass panes (two layers of glass with a layer of air in the middle) it would help, since Seattle isn't all that cold to begin with.

True, but you'd still have the exposed steel which conducts temperatures extremely well and is horrible for insulation. Don't get me wrong I think it is better then the average glass and steel high rise box they made in the the 1960's and 1970's but not much better. It's the same crap materials and construction methods shaped like a bunch of trapizoids instead of a square box.