Canberra's biggest eyesore?

> 1. InTACT (ACT Government) offices in Woden (opposite Woden Interchange)

Callum Offices. The original concept was for the entire Woden town centre to be made up of those “pods”. If they’d have actually done that, I reckon the look would have been pretty cool.

& I’ve lived here my entire life & have never heard of this “National Art Museum” either.

The house in Waramanga that has yet to complete extensions commenced in 1975.

I can’t belive people are saying Parliament House. That is a prime example of great modern architecture.

1 (New) Parliament House

2 National Museum of Australia

3 Canberra School of Music building

Eyesores that are just buildings that went up for function are one thing; architect-designed monstrosities are quite another …

I love Manuka Pool, so Deco

I love OPH.

+1

Add to that Manuka Pool. The new parly is a great piece of modern architecture that was relatively sympathetic to its surroundings. A radical idea.

The National Library. It looks especially good lit up at night.

OPH.

trevar said :

So, vandam, are you tallying these votes? Sky Plaza seems to be out in front at the moment, although I think all apartment buildings should be treated as a single eyesore, as should all shopping malls…

Looking at the overwhelming response, I think the clear winner is:

Sky Plaza. Followed closely behind by the ‘art’ on the GDE, with the bus Interchanges rounding up the top 3.

It seems that most of Canberra was covered, so I put the next question to you all:

What is Canberra’s best attraction / building? (with most of Canberra being a eyesore i’m sure this one will be a toughy!)

shiny flu said :

The National Art Museum is one of the most amazing buildings to not only look at, but to be in.

No such place.

harvyk1 said :

Number 1 without a doubt – The GDE metal mistake (aka the first attempt at a bridge over the barton highway 🙂

Yes I totally agree.

Hmm it would seem that most of Canberra has received a vote, except for the Parliamentary Trian.. oh wait, we even have an eyesore in there too. I guess the easiest thing to do is proclaim Canberra as the Big Eyesore and try and lure tourists away from the other Big tourist attractions around Australia. We’ll certainly give Robertson and its Big Turd a run for its money 😉

Come to think of it, the whole Woden area will be one massive collection of eyesores soon enough.

– SkyPlaza versions 2 + 3 going up behind the new police station and ensuing road chaos.
– Woden Plaza itself.
– Woden bus interchange
– Youth centre
– SkyPlaza and the Southern Cross Club
– The Phillip ‘industrial’ district
– Callum offices (even though I think they look kinda cool)
– Albermarle/everything else built on Furzer St

Maybe the tent embassy could be moved across too?

Tainted said :

There would be no need for the tent embassy if the Aboriginals had fair representation in government/the nation, so we can hardly bitch and moan.

I disagree.

Speak to the majority of the Indigenous people and you will find that the majority of the people hate the tent embassy and everything it stands for. They don’t speak for the majority of the Indigenous people, unfortunately they’re an outspoken, extremist minority that doesn’t even believe or fight for the same thing the original people who formed that tent embassy fought for. This can be seen just by watching the interviews they sometimes get with the local news. They don’t want equality or rights, they want things so far stacked in their favour nobody else would ever have a say. Sure, the original settlers that came across did the wrong thing by todays standards, but why does that entitle a minority (who are better off from the situation anyway), a free run of government and the right to demand whatever they please?

Leave Sky Plaza alone. It provides useful shade in summer when stuck at the Callum St/Hindmarsh Dve lights.

old canberran said :

What must overseas tourists think when they see it, I wonder?

That Australians are allowed to protest and our record on Indigenous rights leaves a lot to be desired, perhaps?

Yep, OC, with the pastel yellow paint. And it won a design prize. No, really, it did.

Postalgeek said :

old canberran said :

Au contraire. Sky Plaza was brand spankingly ugly from day one.

I didn’t mention that building as I am not familiar with it. Is it that horrible block of units next to the Southern Cross club?

Can I add the public housing which lines Northbourne, those which give very a poor “Welcome to Canberra!”

So, vandam, are you tallying these votes? Sky Plaza seems to be out in front at the moment, although I think all apartment buildings should be treated as a single eyesore, as should all shopping malls…

Scarborough House at Woden always stands out to me – if only for the giant name sign that I see from miles away as I drive through Curtin towards Woden.

Would have to vote Stuart Flats and the interchanges (and those who spend their days there!)

There would be no need for the tent embassy if the Aboriginals had fair representation in government/the nation, so we can hardly bitch and moan.

old canberran said :

Definitely the tent embassy. It’s been butt ugly from day 1 whereas all the other items mentioned have become eyesores because of age and weathering. How the tent thing has been allowed to remain is beyond me. It spoils the whole view of old Parliament House and surrounds. What must overseas tourists think when they see it, I wonder?

Au contraire. Sky Plaza was brand spankingly ugly from day one.

Definitely the tent embassy. It’s been butt ugly from day 1 whereas all the other items mentioned have become eyesores because of age and weathering. How the tent thing has been allowed to remain is beyond me. It spoils the whole view of old Parliament House and surrounds. What must overseas tourists think when they see it, I wonder?

Nohope’s stacked cement bits, pick-up-stick metal bits or spinny windmill things? What they hey – ALL OF THEM – they are all pointless and hopelessy fugly!

Oh and that awful Bugs Bunny on a pole thing.

The Chicky Stick?

Ok here’s a list in no particular order.

*Woden interchange
*Belconnen Mall
*That horrible building next to the Southern cross club with the weird section left out of it.
*Tuggeranong Hyperdome (or whatever it used to be called)
*Meruci College 😉

And if Bernie Courts were still around I’d put them in too but they aren’t so I can only go over my sweet memories…

OzChick said :

InTACT (ACT Government) offices in Woden (opposite Woden Interchange)

I wondered how long it would take for someone to mention Callam offices. That building is pure shit. I work in it and it is full of problems. Needs to be bulldozed. Sky Plaza is worse though. I’ll give it 10 more years before the National Museum is considered one of the ugliest buildings around.

The junkie flats on Northbourne is probably the worst though. What a crappy entrance to Canberra. No wonder outsiders think Canberra sucks when they see people attempting to cross the road to see their dealer with long neck bottle in hand.

Torrens Shopping Centre.

Yikes.

WanniAss said :

And I believe they have special things to stop the accumulation of snow

Which, curiously, the Darwin Hospital has (see the domes over the windows?), but Canberra does not.

+1 for Ghetto of the future Sky Plaza and the horrible shopping bizzo across the road from it where KFC, $2 shop and the army recruitment place is. The buildings are always covered in graffiti. Don’t like the MCmansions in the far North either – who on earth wants to stick their hand out their bathroom window and shake hands with their neighbour?

Tuggeranong Lake always seems to be full of rubbish too, ugly puddle of useless brown.

And I believe they have special things to stop the accumulation of snow

I’ve read that Woden Hospital and Darwin Hospital were both built using the same plans developed for a Canadian hospital.

Woden also has the plus of being able to generate cyclonic winds in the plaza area

arescarti42 said :

sepi said :

And Woden hospital and John James are both bizarre buildings, of all sorts of different architecture all stuck together.

A little off topic, but for reasons unknown to me, the Canberra hospital and Darwin hospital appear to be exactly the same building.

e.g.

Darwin hospital http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200811/r318618_1416185.jpg
Canberra hospital http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200708/r165477_613185.jpg

Needless to say, they are both fairly ugly.

I read somewhere that the design for woden H was because it was somewhat a-bomb proof being a certain distance out from parliament house.

and sky plaza is the ugliest building i’ve seen

Pearce shops used to have parking out the front, but it was demolished for units.

Dickson shops are really ugly. How much nicer would they be if only there was a nice bit of grass somewhere near the cafes. (Except for some reason in the ACT, we are not permitted any greenery around shopping areas).

Woden plaza is designed for cars, not in human scale (ringing shops by main roads that are hard for pedestrians to cross is a classic design error.)

Fail.

Yo momma

the mcmansions in o’malley have to be close. and the awful exterior to many suburban shops, such as belconnen, dickson or pearce that make you think you’ll be walking into a dump as you park and are met with the ugly rear docks of buildings – someone forgot the approach when these were designed.

benjamin offices – now much demolished – were and are pretty unsightly as is belconnen per se. the mall and that strip at emu bank; ruination of a pretty lake.

i’ll add a voice in support of the national museum (presumably the ‘national art museum’ intimated in the op… it is a wonderful building and brings life, fun and colour to the peninsula and the lake foreshore. i actually think the library is a pretty drab affair, though not so ugly as to be a real eyesore.

the expanse that is gunghalin is another candidate for eyesore, with tuggeranong enjoying the saving grace of that wonderful sunset over the brindibellas that falls as its backdrop

The apartments along Ballumbir St.
Belconnen Mall is quite an eyesore as well.

I’m tempted to through in James Court- It’s just a perfect example of an ideal spot laid to waste by store-catalogue mid 90’s architecture.

Belconnen Mall takes the cake though. Concrete pre-fab at its worst with no real hope at making it look better other than demolition.

The National Art Museum is one of the most amazing buildings to not only look at, but to be in.

rosebud said :

No! Leave the Northbourne Flats alone. The ones that are cubes on stilts especially are wonderful exemplars of modernism. They just need to be either rented out to artists and the like, to create in, or rented out to yuppies and gen xers still in work, to live in. I also believe that knocking down the old Cameron Offices in Belco was a huge mistake – very short sighted. They were brilliant, misunderstood pieces of architecture. Unique and lovely. Like the architect’s drawings had literally peeled off the pages and come to life. Shame on Canberra for not recognising these for what they were and instead of working with them to make them suitable for the new century worker, replacing them with the style of building you see today. Boring, ubiquitous, monotonous.

Good to see that someone else gets it, too. 🙂

Postalgeek said :

I know it’s considered a defining element of Canberra , and I confess to being relieved to see it on many drives back to Canberra, but Telecom/Telstra tower is a pretty big eyesore. I mean, there’s nothing in this town that sticks out from the landscape quite as much as that sucker.

It may stick out, but it’s not exactly ugly.

My number one is the wall to wall McMansions along with all the similar looking unit complexes that are springing up around the place. Ah well, they’ll probably fall down after about 10-15 years given how they look to be constructed.

Sky plaza follows closely behind.

I think the biggest eyesore is the Mugga Lane quarry.

that walkway from the belconnen interchange to the mall… which i assume is getting taken down with the interchange…

so i guess my vote is for belconnen.

Yes, me!

rosebud said :

I also believe that knocking down the old Cameron Offices in Belco was a huge mistake – very short sighted. They were brilliant, misunderstood pieces of architecture.

I take it that you’ve never met anyone who worked in the things then?

1. Sky Plaza
2. National Library
3. National Gallery

No! Leave the Northbourne Flats alone. The ones that are cubes on stilts especially are wonderful exemplars of modernism. They just need to be either rented out to artists and the like, to create in, or rented out to yuppies and gen xers still in work, to live in. I also believe that knocking down the old Cameron Offices in Belco was a huge mistake – very short sighted. They were brilliant, misunderstood pieces of architecture. Unique and lovely. Like the architect’s drawings had literally peeled off the pages and come to life. Shame on Canberra for not recognising these for what they were and instead of working with them to make them suitable for the new century worker, replacing them with the style of building you see today. Boring, ubiquitous, monotonous.

all that awful expensive artwork popping up in odd places around canberra

Still trying to figure out what this National Art Museum is. I know of three galleries and two museums with the word national in their names, but no National Art Museum.

I would vote for the roads around the airport as our biggest eyesore, closely followed by Barnaby Joyce (although he’s only the biggest eyesore in Canberra on a part time basis, and spends the rest of his time making Queensland ugly).

Most of our schools are pretty damn ugly too. Except for Lake Tuggeranong College and Kingsford Smith (I wonder why they didn’t want those two to match the others?).

I think a poll is in order.

1. Northbourne Flats
2. Sky Plaza
3. Tent Embassy

a toss up between the wonderful bit of art in raymond st Ainslie (if its still there), a prominent purple house in kaleen, most of O’malley, the russian embassy, the planetarium at the old downer club, and the bubble over civic pool (my memory is that the plan originally was take it down each summer, which never seems to have happened).

The old govvy housing in the causeway. Thank god thats going…

The old govvy housing in the causeway. Thank god thats going…

The 60s/70s housing commission architecture down Northbourne I always cringe at when coming back after a trip interstate. It’s hardly a welcoming statement to the city.

“As for the tent embassy, I think it’s meant to be an eyesore. A bit of a F*** You to Australia for all the sh*t the Aboriginals have been through.”

If there were any aboriginals at that hovel the above would have credence. Genuine Aborigines are ashamed of it

I know it’s considered a defining element of Canberra , and I confess to being relieved to see it on many drives back to Canberra, but Telecom/Telstra tower is a pretty big eyesore. I mean, there’s nothing in this town that sticks out from the landscape quite as much as that sucker.

However, I’d like to see Belco mall, Sky Plaza, and National Museum succumb to the wrecking ball before the tower, not to mention every 60s/70s-inspired brutalist apartment block that replaces the original 60s/70s apartment block and which, in a couple of years, will look just the same once grime sets in.

What the hell is wrong with the imagination of developers in this town. There is some beautiful deco buildings in this town, like the Hyatt, Manuka pool, OPH, to draw upon but nope, that sort of aesthetic is just too hard for builders and developers 80 years later.

At Wellington Sludge – I think you’ll find some of those who said Belconnen are probably from there. I’m from Woden, and I’m able to admit that Woden town centre makes Belconnen shopping mall look like paradise.

I can’t imagine a town centre uglier then Woden. There’s no planning at all for things like pedestrian streets combined with restaurant strips, appropriate parking. . . we don’t even have a decent swimming pool.

Winge. . . I think I’ll go and be self absorbed now.

1. Tent Embassy.

2. Woden bus interchange.

Woden and Tuggeranong. Mainly because it’s so populated by those ugly, idiotic bigots who think they’re so superior and clever by saying Belconnen is the eyesore of Canberra. At least we’re not populated by self-absorbed, soulless wankers.

There’s your response. Hope you’re happy now.

National Art Museum ?

Never heard of it.

I do love the National Gallery of Australia though. A fantastic piece of architecture. Not too swish as a gallery and the storage facilities are pretty crap but a fine example of Concrete Brutalism at its best.

The biggest eyesores…. all those ugly McMansions popping up in the old suburbs such as O’Connor and Ainslie.

Sky plaza definitely. All these people designing buildings that are ‘in fashion’ now will have big problems in 30 years time. Look at Benjamin Offices. I’m sure back in the day they looked pretty trendy, now they look ridiculous. Same is happening with some of the houses being built around the place.

As for the tent embassy, I think it’s meant to be an eyesore. A bit of a F*** You to Australia for all the sh*t the Aboriginals have been through.

1. InTACT (ACT Government) offices in Woden (opposite Woden Interchange)
2. Campbell Park offices.

the scuplture on the gde near bruce, the one that looks like a few blokes on bobcats got board at team time and had a few coppers logs and rocks lying around. It is the ugliesr public art anywher in the world i would think.

tent embassy no. 2

oh and the tent embassy, imo a bulldozer could clean that all right up.

sepi said :

And Woden hospital and John James are both bizarre buildings, of all sorts of different architecture all stuck together.

A little off topic, but for reasons unknown to me, the Canberra hospital and Darwin hospital appear to be exactly the same building.

e.g.

Darwin hospital http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200811/r318618_1416185.jpg
Canberra hospital http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200708/r165477_613185.jpg

Needless to say, they are both fairly ugly.

I was in the habit of taking visiting Poms to see the tent embassy, but over the years it has declined and become shabby and lost it’s purpose.

Belconnen ftw!!…of the eyesore that is.

I don’t mind the NMA or the tent embassy.

But Sky Plaza is hideous, the GDE sculpture is not my favourite, and Belco Mall is a disgrace.

I’m also not a fan of the houses with columns at the front door which are springing up throughout Ainslie.

And Woden hospital and John James are both bizarre buildings, of all sorts of different architecture all stuck together.

ahappychappy said :

I don’t understand how you guys can look past the tent “embassy”?
Not only is it ugly, but it ruins the surrounds. The whole viewpoint from Anzac parade all the way through to Parliament House is ruined by a tiny shack with “Save Redfern” painted into it, a few tents, an outspoken minority group of bums (yes I said it…) that don’t actually speak for the aboriginal community and a few firepits.

Oh and I forgot all the rubbish and junk that gets left around.

+1

1st: John Stanhope 🙂
2nd: Belconnen
3rd: Aboriginal Tent Embassy

I don’t understand how you guys can look past the tent “embassy”?
Not only is it ugly, but it ruins the surrounds. The whole viewpoint from Anzac parade all the way through to Parliament House is ruined by a tiny shack with “Save Redfern” painted into it, a few tents, an outspoken minority group of bums (yes I said it…) that don’t actually speak for the aboriginal community and a few firepits.

Oh and I forgot all the rubbish and junk that gets left around.

TP 3000 said :

But those that hate Sky Plaza, an even uglier building is planned to go up in that Woden East development.

How will it be possible to be uglier? I guess if they put eyebrows on it, or something.

Am I alone in thinking the new buildings at the airport have been built in a “trendy today, dated cr@p tomorrow,” style?

Having said that, I’ll tip my hat towards Sky Plaza, as well as and most of the public art which is inflicted on us, with special mention for the collapsed pylons, the rock egg cups and the broken clock.

Oh and that awful Bugs Bunny on a pole thing.

plus one for belco

The National Museum – the architect was having a wank when he designed that bloody awful skitube thingy.

New (Circus Top) Parliament House.

But those that hate Sky Plaza, an even uglier building is planned to go up in that Woden East development. It could be described as “modern architecture”

I jumped on to say “that bloody awful yellow undercoat thing sticking up above the southern cross club at Woden” but I apprehend that is in fact Sky Plaza and everyone else has got in before me.

Did you know, that shocker won a prize? True. It did. Now we can give it another one: Worst Eyesore.

Running second is the Tent Embassy… get rid of it! Someone grow a backbone and bulldoze the lot of it.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy said :

Belconnen. No doubt at all.

+1

Definately Sky Plaza. Boxy badness, pastel nightmare. It is our No. 1 architectural stylistic queeff.

Although it was recently demolished, the Belco bus interchange was one ugly mofo.

i also hate Sky Plaza in Woden – probably because it sticks out like the proverbial…

On the other hand, I don’t mind the NGA – although that modernist/brutalist style is an acquired taste.

The best thing they ever did to the NGA building was the night-time slide show to celebrate its 25th birthday. Found some pics on Flickr if you missed it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozjulian/1583902362/

pity they never published a commemorative calendar.

Belconnen. No doubt at all.

Definitely Belconnen

The north side.

Number 1 without a doubt – The GDE metal mistake (aka the first attempt at a bridge over the barton highway 🙂

Sky Plaza is pretty ordinary, but nothing more or less ugly than what is found in other cities. (or other buildings found in Canberra)

Belconnen

The new Centrelink building in Tuggeranong. Ugly concrete and not in keeping with the rest of the Town Centre buildings.