China’s bad architecture: voting begins in annual ‘top 10 ugliest buildings’ competition
- A Chinese architecture website has been running the competition since 2010 with the aim of promoting better design and social responsibility
- Chinese authorities have recently begun reining in the worst excesses from the country’s building boom over the last few decades
Since 2010 Chinese architecture website archcy.com has been holding an annual vote for the “Top 10 Ugliest Buildings” in China. The website said that the goal is to: “spark discussion about the beauty and ugliness of architecture and promote architects’ social responsibility”.
As China has undergone rapid urbanisation over the past 40 years, numerous ambitious projects have ended up as follies and eyesores. Many have been denounced by the public – from the “giant trousers” structure of the China Central Television headquarters in Beijing to the half-Temple of Heaven, half-US Capitol building in nearby Hebei province.
The list has proved so successful at drawing attention to bad architecture it has even prompted a government response. In April this year, China issued a ban on “ugly architecture”, nearly seven years after President Xi Jinping famously criticised the “weird” buildings popping up across China over the last few decades.
The National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planning body, said local governments should make sure buildings are “suitable, economical, green and pleasing to the eye”, without elaborating on what could be considered an “ugly building”.
This year, the nomination for the ugliest buildings in China has already begun, with the final results due in December. Let us take a look at some of the buildings currently shortlisted:
‘Welcome to hell’: Jiuhuangshan Glass Bridge in Mianyang, Sichuan province
