The Blue Goose, owened by Marymount University in Arlington VA. But they tore it down and the new building is better looking.
https://s26551.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Blue-Goose1-630x420.jpg
Yes, Humanities at Wisconsin is a winner. It isn’t just ugly outside, but ugly inside.
And the winner is: the George L.Mosse Humanities Building at UW Madison. Disturbingly ugly. Just plain “wrong.” Kinda wish I hadn’t clicked on the link!
Though there are some good runners-up!
Meyer Library at Stanford used to be one of the ugliest buildings there. Thankfully, they tore it down a few years ago and replaced it with an open green space.
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Stanford-Replaces-Library-With-Green-Space-353311441.html
And while UCLA has some really beautiful buildings like Royce Hall, there are also some much uglier, more modern buildings like Bunche Hall, sometimes referred to as The Waffle.
The only thing I remember from walking around Union College one day was the Nott Memorial. Truly a freaky looking building that reminded me of a mausoleum or a crypt. I’m sure others would think it’s a beautiful building.
https://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/richard_lev/37267116024
(Seems like we should eliminate dorms and power plants from consideration. Those are almost always among the ugliest buildings on any campus.)
I think the new Mansueto library at Chicago defies my sense of aesthetics- and I can’t help but wonder how hot it must get in summer. Or whether there’s such a thing as too bright inside. Or too much money spent on form.
Agree about Gehry.
I remember that Northeastern was on a list of the ugliest college campuses, and I think one of the reasons for this ignominy is NEU’s science/engineering building…although it’s not even on campus, it’s a shuttle or train ride away!
I agree with everyone that New Brutalism was a really unfortunate period in architecture. The one at Carnegie Mellon - is as ugly inside as it is outside. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wean_hall.jpgAnd honestly the new one is just as ugly and has a really stupi d spiral ramp wasting tons of space inside: https://en.wikipedia.org /wiki/CarnegieMellonSchoolofComputerScience#/media/File:Gates-HillmanComplexatCarnegieMellonUniversity_3.jpg
I think the saddest though is the library at Caltech. This is what they built: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_A._Millikan_Memorial_Library_at_Caltech.jpg Which is kind of a bland 60’s office tower, on a campus of low rise Spanish Colonial revival buildings. But what Bertram Goodhue had planned for that site was a lot cooler: https://www.acmartin.com/portfolio/caltech-master-plan (you have to wait for it to pop up in the slide show - but there are only a few slides.) That blue dome would have been stunning!
Science center at Harvard in the shape of a Polaroid camera-obsolete and ugly.
Andrew Melville Hall at St.
Andrews is new brutalism plunked in the a medievel town. What were they thinking?
- Boston U. Law building. Looks like it was designed by 5 people who didn't communicate with each other. https://www.google.com/search?q=bu+law+building&client=ms-android-sprint-us-revc&prmd=imnv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiUubvTxvXbAhUH1oMKHXobA-UQ_AUIESgB&biw=360&bih=560#imgrc=uv-eKxJvOgINuM:
- Robarts Library at U of Toronto. Brutalism meets peacock. https://www.google.com/search?q=robarts+library&client=ms-android-sprint-us-revc&prmd=imnv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwinydbHx_XbAhVE1IMKHbM5B9AQ_AUIESgB#imgrc=6Iwumlxj8epqnM:
I never went inside it, but I used to walk by this building every day on my way to my classes, and I thought it was the ugliest, biggest eyesore imaginable – and pulling up a picture 40 years down the line doesn’t change my opinion:
https://ced.berkeley.edu/assets/made/images/uploads/features/Wurster_front_sm_400_300.jpg
The irony is that this it the UC Berkeley College of Architecture and Environmental Design.
https://www.uea.ac.uk/economics/news-and-events/workshop-on-behavioural-game-theory
Whatever the hell these buildings at UEA are. They’re what I imagine the Pyramids of Giza would look like if Cosmo ran a before and after article on them.
@YaleMomOf7 @moooop I adore your descriptions
I kind of love those buildings at East Anglia! I saw them on British Antiques Roadshow. As long as I see lots of windows, I’m happy.
The “warts” on the buildings at Harvey Mudd are pretty silly. We liked Mudd, and were willing to overlook the fact that it looks like a middle school campus with warts added.
https://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/harvey-mudd-college/6025712481
UMASS Amherst had a slew of them. Ugly poured concrete like parking garages with windows. No form at all. Built solely for function with the cheapest materials available.
Newhouse 1 & 2 at Syracuse. In my day they weren’t helped by the (intentionally) rusty Anthony Caro post-industrial abstract art on the lawn in front.
Here us a list with pictures
https://www.complex.com/style/2013/09/ugly-college-campuses/
Wow, I scrolled through all fifty. Some great schools with super ugly architecture. Oh, well! The architecture doesn’t show up on the diplomas…
To cleanse my palate, I looked at Google images of University of San Diego (Princeton Review #1 Most Beautiful Campus 2017). Trying to make those checks for my daughter’s tuition a little less painful. It’s working just a little–and then there’s value to the climate, too, right?