Whatever Floats Your Boat


Beauty is in the eye of the beholder; the same applies to landscape architecture and design. 

San Francisco Federal Building, USA (2007)
The building was designed as a green building by Morphosis. It received criticism because it is both 'ugly' and 'impractical'. Many employees labelled working inside the building a 'nightmare'.


Tycon Office Building, Vienna, Virginia, USA, (1983)
This unfortunate looking building is known locally as ‘the Toilet Bowl Building' or sometimes 'the Stargate Building'. Although it’s technically an ugly building, the locals seem to love it as it makes it easy to give directions.


Zizkov Television Tower, Prague, Czech Republic, (1992)
Virtualtourist.com named it the second ugliest building in the world in 2009. In addition to its blight on the landscape, it was also met with criticism for reportedly destroying an old, Jewish cemetery during its construction.


Preston Train Station, UK, (2017)
It’s hard to find positive press on the 2017 Carbuncle Cup nominee. It’s not only attacked for being ugly, it’s also damned as 'impractical'. Often quoted as 'the coldest place on earth'.
'The Preston entry looks like someone pushed a giant dumpster against the building and cut out a hole for entry. Did anyone on this project care about, well, anything, at all?'

The aforementioned sites have attracted a huge amount of controversy; they really are the marmite split, you either love it or your hate it. Compromising with living spaces to make it work for everybody who lives in the space can be problematic, particularly if individuals have strong views on design. 

Who defines what beauty is? 

There seems to be a trend that has become a template for design and this does not encourage individualism. There is a lot to be said for designing your space to suit your needs in a practical way rather than having visual perfection at the fore, a beautiful curved ergonomically designed bench may look fabulous in a glossy magazine but if it is uncomfortable and nobody actually ever wants to sit on it, what is the point of giving it space in your garden. Maybe this is a reflection on how nowadays we do value the photoshopped perfect image that we are bombarded with everywhere. 


There is someone for everyone


Wayne and Waynetta Slob

I was inspired to post this post when I was reflecting on couples and what attracts somebody to another and how somebody's beauty is another person's ugly. 

Meredith Brooks I’m A Bitch ...

'I'm a bitch
I'm a lover
I'm a child
I'm a mother
I'm a sinner
I'm a saint
And I do not feel ashamed
I'm your hell
I'm your dream
I'm nothing in between
So take me as I am'

Leonard Cohen Suzanne ...

'And you know that she's half-crazy but that's why you want to be there'











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