Friday, March 31, 2006

 

Ugliest Building in the World Contest

Theodore Dalrymple writes in the New Criterion:
Not having seen every building in the world, I cannot positively assert that the Centre Pompidou in the Place Beaubourg in Paris is the worst, but I should be surprised if anyone were able to point to a building that was very much worse....The building has recently undergone what is described as a facelift, though perhaps enema would be a more accurate metaphor in the circumstances.
Dalrymple has evidently never visited Minneapolis, Minnesota. Not having seen every building in the world, I cannot positively assert that the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis is the ugliest, but I should be surprised if anyone were able to point to a building that was very much uglier.

This public domain photograph doesn't really do justice to the eyesore that is the Weisman:



For more views, see here.

The Weisman will apparently also undergo an enema, according to an article by Geoff Edgers in the Boston Globe (December 4, 2005):
The stainless steel Weisman Art Museum, part of the University of Minnesota, will announce an expansion later this winter. Frank Gehry will design it.
Gehry is also guilty of the original design.



Update: Rick Brannan of Ricoblog nominates another Gehry opus, the Experience Music Project in Seattle, for the ugliest building award:
The patchwork of colors always makes me think it is a monument to vomit when I drive by it. I hope architecture gets through this phase it is in very quickly.
A monument to vomit, but also a provocation to vomit. Click on the photo link only if you have a strong stomach.



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