Yeah, I can see that, eh.

Toronto has a great museum of shoes. Seriously, check it out.

brap: Toronto has a great museum of shoes. Seriously, check it out.

Yes indeed.

brap: Toronto has a great museum of shoes. Seriously, check it out.

And they advertise the hell out of it on the TTC, too.

brap: Toronto has a great museum of shoes. Seriously, check it out.

My mom dragged me to that once. What a snoozefest (for a guy).

And as far as ugly buildings go, I'm sorry but Mississauga City Hall takes the cake...

brap: Toronto has a great museum of shoes. Seriously, check it out.

Bata watch what you say, they can sneak up on you.

I drive past that thing all the time. At first I thought a new addition to the ROM fell over. Now I just wish it would.

what kind of crap article doesn't even include pictures of the farking buildings?

here

SpongeJamie - NoPants: Bata watch what you say, they can sneak up on you.

what you did there...

It's official: Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum is ugly


TROM-boner?

gopher321: And as far as ugly buildings go, I'm sorry but Mississauga City Hall takes the cake...

Both that and the ROM were designed by big-name, big-ego international architects.

it's nice inside. the dino exhibit is much cooler in that space than the old stuffy one. it should have had more glass though. the original design was nicer.

The Morris A. Mechanic Theatre doesn't belong on the list. It's Brutalist, sure, but Brutalism can be beautiful.

The ROM, on the other hand, is a typically Neo-Romanesque provincial public building fused with a typically Liebeskindian "oooh, aren't i cheeky" crystal.

It's not so much an eyesore as a fusion of boredom and tedium.

What the hell? Am I supposed to know what these buildings look like just by their names?

I guess I'm going to go against the trend and say that I like the ROM addition. Been there a couple times since it was finished, and it's really functional and fun. The unusual shapes do lead to some serious unused interior space. I do like the way they just ignored even trying to match the original architecture.

towatchoverme: The Morris A. Mechanic Theatre doesn't belong on the list. It's Brutalist, sure, but Brutalism can be beautiful.

The ROM, on the other hand, is a typically Neo-Romanesque provincial public building fused with a typically Liebeskindian "oooh, aren't i cheeky" crystal.

It's not so much an eyesore as a fusion of boredom and tedium.

This. Plus the very slightly non-level floors that are (I assume) supposed to draw you into the building have the effect of inducing nausea (or seasickness if you've had anything to drink...)

whatshisname: Both that and the ROM were designed by big-name, big-ego international architects.

One-trick ponies, more like:









Wake me when he discovers the sphere.

brap: Toronto has a great museum of shoes. Seriously, check it out.

Megain 2009-11-23 07:42:41 PM
what kind of crap article doesn't even include pictures of the farking buildings?

here

Thanks for the link.

I nominate the Vancouver Public Library Link (new window)

BUT I WANNA HOTLINK!

Oddly enough I happened to be visiting Toronto when the ROM reopened after the crystal addition and went in on the first day free (before the new space was filled). When I rounded the corner to catch sight of the monstrosity for the first time, it reminded me the most of a bad TV 'sc-fi' series with a beautiful old building getting eaten by a crystalline entity.

Yugoboy: The unusual shapes do lead to some serious unused interior space. I do like the way they just ignored even trying to match the original architecture.

The OTHER problem with the interior is that it's builder's grade paint-on-drywall for the most part. And LOTS of it.

And, yeah, except for the dinosaur exhibit, it's a crap display space.

Oh HAI! It's the 1980s!



/hot like your retinas after staring at this too long.
//Portland
///No, the big Portland.
////Yes, the one in Oregon

SeamusFerrell: What the hell? Am I supposed to know what these buildings look like just by their names?

Maybe it was supposed to be a top-10 list of ugliest-named buildings?

towatchoverme: The Morris A. Mechanic Theatre doesn't belong on the list. It's Brutalist, sure, but Brutalism can be beautiful.

After a quick GIS, I agree. Hell, I rather like it.

Dear_Leader: I nominate the Vancouver Public Library Link (new window)

I like the Vancouver Public Liberry.

It plays nicely with the (exFord) theatre across the street, also designed by Moshe Safdie.

One of the entries should be "Everything by Frank Gehry". Sorry, I just don't understand how he keeps getting work.

Dear_Leader: I nominate the Vancouver Public Library Link (new window)

I loved this part of the city, I was in Vancouver for the first time last weekend. I went to Library Square, it was a nice little club in the back of the Library (wtf?) but they were all singing to Backstreet Boys :( Still Vancouver rocks.

I work by the ROM, I have to see that monstrosity every time I drive into work, it is an ugly building.

towatchoverme: whatshisname: Both that and the ROM were designed by big-name, big-ego international architects.

One-trick ponies, more like:


Wake me when he discovers the sphere.

For some reason, that second one reminds me of cranio-facial deformity. It's so ugly it gives you a mild headache to look at it.

Where did they get the idea that dysfuction, chaos and asymetry were beauty?

Architards!

PopeSchmope: One of the entries should be "Everything by Frank Gehry". Sorry, I just don't understand how he keeps getting work.

That's funny, because the mention the ugly Zizkov tower in Prague, but not Gehry's Dancing/Fred and Ginger Building. But I actually thought it was kinda nice.

I'm kind of a fan of Daniel Libeskind's work. I'm not sure it'll be relevant in 20 years or so...but, still, it's kinda interesting.

Meh, the last relics of a mostly dying, inefficient era. This is the future, the net-zero building:


bonus: those are hops growing up the wall.

gopher321: And as far as ugly buildings go, I'm sorry but Mississauga City Hall takes the cake...

That building in the foreground is pretty cool, though it needs a red brick color scheme. But that...that THING in the back looks like some farmer tried to dress up his silo or something. All the suck is emanating from there.

The Pompidou is decidedly not ugly. Rotten architecture is not simply what you don't like; it's what crushes the soul. Experimental architecture does not do that, or at least not necessarily. Tract housing does. Suburbs do. And so do strip malls.

/rant off
//oh, the Ryugyong Hotel has crushed hundreds of thousands of souls, so it is ugly.

But ugly architecture is so ironic!

/morisette definition

Whatever. I like it. Like Toronto needs another dominion-era Neo-Romanesque clunker or glass-n-steel-n-right angles monstrosity anyway.

Museums look ugly as hell so the crap inside looks that much better.

i think it looks pretty cool actually... pic

modern and futuristic design thrust upon an existing historical local...

Didn't we have a similar topic a few weeks ago?

In any case, this topic isn't complete without the box on stilts known as the OCAD:

Merky: Museums look ugly as hell so the crap inside looks that much better.

I don't get how anyone can think that's ugly. Distracting, maybe. An affront to the senses, possibly. But ugly?

Nope.

Truly an abomination.

MrSteve007: Meh, the last relics of a mostly dying, inefficient era. This is the future, the net-zero building:


bonus: those are hops growing up the wall.

What, really? GTFO.

Obnox: gopher321: And as far as ugly buildings go, I'm sorry but Mississauga City Hall takes the cake...

That building in the foreground is pretty cool, though it needs a red brick color scheme. But that...that THING in the back looks like some farmer tried to dress up his silo or something. All the suck is emanating from there.

That was actually the intent of the architect. A post-modern take on the farm.

From Wiki:



"View of Mississauga City Centre from the southeast. The architecture is based on a "futuristic farm" (the clock tower is the windmill, the main building on the top-right corner is the farmhouse, the cylindrical council chamber is the silo, and the pentagonal building on the bottom left is the barn)"

How do these things even get approved?
Do they draw them as something nice first, and then switch the plans up once they've started building?

/those are some ugly-ass buildings
//the TV tower in Prague sticks out over the city like a sore thumb.

I miss living in Toronto; I could go to the ROM, however ugly it is, whenever I wanted to.

de_Selby: The Pompidou is decidedly not ugly. Rotten architecture is not simply what you don't like; it's what crushes the soul. Experimental architecture does not do that, or at least not necessarily. Tract housing does. Suburbs do. And so do strip malls.

/rant off
//oh, the Ryugyong Hotel has crushed hundreds of thousands of souls, so it is ugly.

I won't out right say the Pompidou is ugly, but it has all the aesthetic value of a refinery. All tubes and sharp angles.

I only agree with about half of the list. I actually like the wild modern architecture.

\Mississauga City Hall is hideous.
\\ROM is actually pretty sweet
///slashies representative of the wild modern architecture

Well admittedly I don't find most of the designs here compelling, but in trying to make something look unique they at least had visual aesthetics in mind even though they failed.

However if you want to see true ugly then go to a small run down town in West Virginia...I'll take a million misguided artistic efforts before one of those sad sad heinous looking hick towns,.

Wanna talk about ugly buildings in Toronto? Can't forget this beauty: