Carbuncle Cup winner

[Nigel Watts]

What seems to have particularly impressed the judges was the brazen environmental tokenism of including three wind turbines which will at best provide only 8% of the energy needs of this power hungry structure.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01695/Strata-tower-1_1695499f.jpg

 

[JohnB]

Does the whole building turn to face into the wind? :roll:

 

[JoceAndChris]

Gosh, that's certainly assertive! I've decided to like modern architecture, but am not yet at the advanced stage of knowing what's nice or not.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Some modern buildings to like?

Iconic villa by Le Corbusier (great architect but a terribly bad influence):

James Stirling in Stutgart:

Early Foster in Ipswich (the back office of the insurance broker I used to work for). Transparent at night, reflective in the day:

Michael Hopkins's extravagent but elegent HQ for the Wellcome Trust:

Concrete brutalist architecture can be really hard to like, but this by Erno Golfinger has grown on me over the years:

 

[JoceAndChris]

Very nice! (I think)

 

[Flyfisher]

I can't see much merit in the villa Le Corbusier, which seems to have all the charm and design input of a lego building.

I also can't see anything good about the Wellcome facade, although I'd be much happier inside.

I do like the curvy buildings.

As for the brutalist example, it's not only as ugly as sin, it must be an awful place to live as well. A well-named genre, I think. It would quite suit the head of an international crime organisation with Erno Golfinger plotting more brutalist abominations in his top floor headquarters, while stroking a fluffy white cat .

But it's all very subjective, of course.

It'll be interesting to see how much power those turbines really do generate for the building. I suspect that the expected 8% figure is in the noise of the estimating error for such things, unless they already have firm details of the occupants' power demands. Or perhaps they are just using the building lighting, heating and cooling requirements? Still, better than nothing . . . perhaps.

 

[Nigel Watts]

I can't see much merit in the villa Le Corbusier, which seems to have all the charm and design input of a lego building.

Funny you should say that:

The Goldfinger building is in Notting Hill and is now quite a trendy place to live. The same can't be said of his similar tower in the east end.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

This grew on me very quickly at first but I now find the timber sunscreen louvres a bit irritating:View attachment 2View attachment 1

 

[Nigel Watts]

Richard Meier does early Corb villa style quite well and is less austere:

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Richard Meier does early Corb villa style quite well and is less austere:

Indeed, though Blackadder is having some difficulty persuading the locals that that is the case:

http://www.24dash.com/news/housing/...uristic-dream-home-plan-upsets-the-neighbours

 

[Nigel Watts]

And Mario Botta with his use of traditional materials...

 

[Gareth Hughes]

I think he has good days and bad days, but on a good day, Ted Cullinan:View attachment 1

 

[JoceAndChris]

You gentlemen have lost me now. I'm still trying to get my head round the first 3 pics.

 

[LadyArowana]

I walk by Erno Golfinger's former house quite often. The best thing about it is the fact that one of the neighbours has a nice Indian wooden elephant in their window, sadly they don't open to the public, so I don't know where they acquired it.

 

[Penners]

Early Foster in Ipswich (the back office of the insurance broker I used to work for). Transparent at night, reflective in the day

That's a coincidence, Nigel. I lived in Ipswich at the time the Willis Faber Dumas building was constructed. It caused a hell of a furore among local residents, but I confess that I really liked its black glass and fluid lines.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Early Foster in Ipswich (the back office of the insurance broker I used to work for). Transparent at night, reflective in the day

That's a coincidence, Nigel. I lived in Ipswich at the time the Willis Faber Dumas building was constructed. It caused a hell of a furore among local residents, but I confess that I really liked its black glass and fluid lines.

Inside the walls are bright yellow and the carpeting is bright green. When you reach the canteen on the top floor the green carpet is echoed by turf on the flat roof and a low hedge all around, a rather sweet detail. Staff who worked there were convinced that the decor was a deliberate insult. They are the colours of Norwich City Football Club, arch-rivals of Ipswich Town.

There used to be a swimming pool on the ground floor but it leaked and the space was needed for more offices. As a Grade I building Sir Norm had to be brought back in at vast expense to design a floor to cover the pool without damaging it. We then got into trouble with the planners for removing the "deep end" and "shallow end" notices for the pool that was no longer visible, and had to reinstate them.