Ugliest architecture in Canberra? A Call for submissions.

one thing i noticed while riding the bus last night, was that all new homes today must have a double garage thrusting out to the street. invariably the house seems smaller and less attractive as a result.

when i was looking to buy i noticed how smnall newer homes were, especially in bedrooms. apart from a bed, not much room for anything else. get rid of the double garage and you could build a mess hall.

ON Limestone Ave there is a bizarre development going up around the outside of the last of those funny little flat roofed houses. It is very very strange. I am fascinated to see what is going to happen to the little house once the units are finished – will anyone live in it, or will it just house the garbage hoppers or laundry of the new flats?

in the tent, I mean

RG: hmmm soooo very tempting….I do however believe crimes against certain religions constitute hate crimes.
Although that tent is a hate crime against my eyes!
Once your link FINALLY loaded I was muchly amused
yaafm….PMSL!
Was it massage tables I saw in there?

I passed that tent today and if I hadn’t read about it here I would have declared it to be the most inane thing I had seen by surprise all week. Unfortunately the surprise was removed and it became somewhat intruiging after the mention here, so it just gets an “ugly monstrosity” vote, just like the multiplex monstrosity in woden.

Jey, how about we go execute a take down of said tent tomorrow lunchtime? 😉

Hey lookie!

Some of the buildings in the Dickson shopping precinct are quite odd. They look fine on the bottom floor, but for some reason they never bothered to paint most of the higher floors exteriror walls. If it was all plain brick it would be nice, if it was all painted it would be nice, but having a nice paint job and a bare wall above doesn’t please me.

Canberra High ain’t too pretty either

Can’t go past the ‘gaol-like’ designs of some earlier made High Schools round town. ie; Kambah High School etc…

On a bit of a tanget someone HAS to take a photo of the giant bright yellow scientology tent in the middle of civic….it’s terrifying!

The only thing ugly about Anzac parade is the order in which the memorials are placed upon it.

Absolutely no forethought was placed into the precedence that memorials had on the boulevard, and so you’ll find the fucking Turkish Nurses Auxillary from Gallipoli higher up the food chain than Vietnam for example.

It’s not that the efforts of the Turkish Nurses Auxillary weren’t valuable, for of course they healed up our enemies of the time so they could fight us some more, it’s just that other things should have higher significance in the food chain.

That is unless I’m getting it completely wrong and the order of priority is indeed towards Parliament house, and not in the direction of the War Memorial as it seems on the ground.

I move to ANZAC Parade stricken from the ugly list…

It would rather bring the Parade to life, wouldn’t it? Especially if some clown accidentally detonated one of the ICBMs.

Terubo, would you like to see that as a celebration of the 100 years of Canberra? Why not submit it…as long as it involves Stanhope as the fearless leader he should be able to persuade the other chief ministers…or just go over their heads.

Coming from North Korea, that is precisely why I like Anzac Parade. But the problem is, I never see battalions of beautifully synchronised, goose-stepping, helmeted, fit young heroic soldiers marching up and down there, followed by row after row of gleaming tanks, rocket launchers and ICBMs. All in the name of our Fearless Leader. That is why, as a former Korean, I find the place so very boring. And worse, no stadium to go to and make glorious pictures with thousands of committed and passionate people waving placards. Instead, we just have mindless cricket, rugby and Canberra Capitals.

Having grown up in Europe, I gotta admit that ANZAC Parade reminds me seriously of Eastern European military grandeur communist crap.

There is some bizarre house which is halved into seperate houses. One side is neat and tidy, the otherside is run down in need of some new paint and a gardener. On Ebden Street, Ainslie, just north of the intersection with Wakefield Avenue (up from the shops).

any house in gungahlin is pretty bad, but there is a shocker on duffy street in Ainslie, can’t remember what number though.

That block of apartments opposite the Braddon Football Oval (I think they call it Nourthbourne Oval now…it’s nowhere near Nourthbourne Avenue) the building is also opposite the Salvation Army hall. It looks like somebody built an elaborate carboard box.

I still think the youth centre on Ballumbir Street is ugly.

By the way, that building opposite the Woden Bus Interchange is all offices.

Thanks bonfire, I think it sucks ass as well. No snaps for mentioning light rail again though.

Spitfire; the weird round turret arrangement is part of Questacon; take a closer look next time you’re in the area.

i like the belco bus interchange, and will miss it. its a unique design statement. if only it had been upgraded and modernised instead of left to decay and be run down.

not all east german architecture is crap. take dresden for example. they took advantage of complete annihalation and built wide boulevards and large high-density residential areas. excellent public facilities and fucked off the cobblestones.

of course they also rebuilt in replica all the old significant places like the palace and the cathedral. its bizarre, they look 200 years old, but are less than 50.

and they have lightrail.

from my casual observation, east german architecture is just post 1940’s bauhaus.

canberra centre – atrocious. westfield belco – atrocious. honestly, i dont know how you can design these places correctly. the intent is to funnel you in, maximise opportunities to wrest your money from you, and then funnel you out. you liking being there is not important.

but the ugliest building in canberra – national museum.

what the hell were they on ? crack ?

And by the way, I kind of like the new extension to the Canberra Centre. Please don’t hate me.

The big white cylindrical castle-turret building near questacon in the parliamentary triangle gets my vote. Is that the Edmund Barton Building?

I personally quite like the new museum (as it will always remain in my head). It’s fun.

And the Academy of science is inoffensive nestled away behind its bushes (BTW it’s been nominated in Thumper’s best architecture thread too).

Anyone else see Somersault? The Belco buss interchange looked the most bleak and desolate in that than I’ve ever seen it, even more so than on those freezing, wet winter days when you’re soaked and missed your bus.

How about the flying saucer at ANU? I know some people dig that kind of thing, but I still rate it as fugly…

And while we’re on it, WTF is the NMA? THAT is ne horrendous building, I am amzed it’s been overlooked.

I’m with the team on Belconnen interchange, that place looks like it could use a HE facelift.

And what of the new youth centre and skate-park? We had an article a couple of months ago; it’s allegedly “finished” now yet it still looks underdone to me.

The entire Gungahlin shopping centre and high density living precinct. 4 “shopping centres”, none architectually complimentary of each other, with dodgy apartments tacked on to the shops.

And the entire Yerrabi Pond apartment-athon, and the DHA housing is all abysmally ugly.

I can’t believe it took someone that long to mention Belco interchange.

Then theres the new apartments at Kippax. 250+ grand for a very plain two bedroom flat that will date by the end of the decade. Truely awful!

Well not a building but a design feature, the Belconnen Bus interchange and associated covered overpass that looks like the stuff the set of Blakes7 rejected…

Great Wall of China, Mawson
Sky Plaza
The Canberra Centre monstrosity that took over Ainslie Avenue.

the building kind of opposite woden CIT on easty st is not part of that campus. its actually HQ for InTACT and the Parking Inspectors

Yeah, Thumper. Also the apartments on the northern side of Wentworth Ave at Kingston – around Dawes/Eyre/Giles Sts. They are amazingly ugly.

Some of the old guvvies around Stuart St Griffith should be bulldozed.

As a Garran resident, I have a few. The “ski run” at The Canberra Hospital – the part that sort of faces onto Yamba Drive.

Then try Hartigan Gardens in Hartigan Street, a complex of a number of units that are truly ugly and don’t fit in with the rest of the 1960’s architecture; unfortunately, a similar style dual occupancy managed to breed with it, and established itself next door.

Finally, the ugly dual occupancy on Gilmore Crescent, opposite the shopping centre. Again, truly ugly in any environment, but even worse when located inappropriately amongst 30-year old traditional bungalow style housing.

Good luck!

There’s a long block of flats that overlook the Southland shops in Mawson. Grey brick dog boxes. Ugliest flats ever.

X

Three suggestions:

# 83 or 85 (can’t quite remember) Miller St O’Connor (the one with the front fence AND wall and the extension in the ceiling) – truly must be a nominee for Canberra’s ugliest house.

Questacon.

The new Scarborough House in Woden Town centre (I can just see the archiect saying “I know how we can modernise this building: let’s add a bright red fin with the words “Scarborough House” on it”.

What about the building opposite the Wig & Pen? Act Health I believe. A little bit of East Germany in Canberra.

The Belconnen brutalist troika – Cameron Offices, Benjamin Offices and the ‘egg carton’ UC ressies.

The early 70’s vision of the future. ~shudder~

and Kanangara

“And Sky Plaza. In da gheettttooooo.”
Not sure what ur talking about but speaking of the ghetto, Currong Appartments.

Res schools at UC.
And Sky Plaza. In da gheettttooooo.

LOL… both the Edmund Barton Building and Woden CIT are Hertitage listed buildings!

“The thing in Woden, opposite the Hellenic Club, that looks a bit like the mother ship has landed”

The one that looks like some kind of prison?
Yeah that’s pretty ugly.

I’m not sure what the building is, but I *think* it may be part of the CIT. The thing in Woden, opposite the Hellenic Club, that looks a bit like the mother ship has landed…