The Brown science tower library is pretty bad.
Joke is that the tower has the best views in Providence. Because from inside the tower, you can’t see the tower.
I have a warm spot for the Brown SciLi for being one of the first participants in the Goodnight Lights program. Every night at 8:30, multiple buildings in Providence flash lights to say goodnight to the children at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. The SciLi has a clear line of sight to Hasbro. It puts that ugly tower to good use. https://blogs.brown.edu/libnews/goodnight-lights/
University of Hartford, fugly concrete jail. Case Western University, a mixed jumble of ugliness. UMASS Amherst strange architectural mix, like a bad outfit.
UCSD, the whole school.
Cal Poly Pomona’s tower.
Almost all of Stony Brook. Graduated in ‘91, went back recently to attend my niece’s dance recital. They’ve added a bunch of new buildings that are equally ugly. I guess they wanted them to match! :))
The reason I did not start at a four year college is on this list. UMass Dartmouth is just so unattractive and I couldn’t see spending time there. Word is the architect was insane and this article is funny if nothing else: https://www.google.com/amp/s/umdtorch.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2017/03/31/the-hidden-demonic-horrors-of-umass-dartmouth/amp/
@svcamom I was going to say UHartford as well but I thought no one would know that school but ugh, there’s no way I would want my S19 there. We approached from an back entrance I would say and there were all sorts of abandoned buildings like a housing project or something. It didn’t get too much better after arriving on the campus either.
To me, the juxtoposition of the Princeton 1970’s standard brick Engineering building vs. the rest of the gothic campus
Link is long…but this is the Armadillo at U of North Texas. Hideous outside… it a gorgeous performing arts center inside.
Add my vote for the Wisconsin- Madison Humanities building. It was ugly in the 1970’s and should be at the top of the tear-down-rebuild list. Very impractical as a building- try getting from point A to B, inside or out, much less to point C. I read a few years ago how it was terribly arranged for the art classes and hot… Such poor use of space in and out.
Wide variety of new/old buildings on the UW campus some will/won’t like. This one however…
@JenJenJenJen Northeastern has many science buildings all of which are on campus. The new ISEC science building is an amazing structure as my avatar shows. And it is on campus.
I think SUNY budgeted $1 for architects’ fees for all of its campuses combined. After all, brick rectangles don’t require a lot of artistic vision.
Northern Kentucky University. Looks like they got a deal on concrete.
My wife thought the Ithaca College campus was ugly, and I see it’s on the 50 ugliest list. I was there on a gray April day, and I just thought it was weird that all the buildings looked like they were built in my lifetime. S could care less what the buildings look like.
Seriously? You got a problem with armadillos? I mean, they aren’t like sea cucumbers or something.
http://15healthbenefits.com/health-benefits-of-sea-cucumber/
I don’t think this is even close to the ugliest building I saw, but it was one of the most surprising. Hamilton has such a beautiful campus otherwise that they really should replace the library, which is not only plain but also looks aged. There are streaks down the concrete exterior— and as to the inside, it is summed up by what our tour guide said: “I like studying here but a lot of students say it looks depressing.” Williams had an ugly library when I went there, and now their new library is surpassingly magnificent. Hamilton alumni should advocate for a similar upgrade!
Totally agree, TheGreyKing, about Hamilton’s unworthy library.
Which brings up another ugly library question. My daughter and I were kind of charmed by University of Iowa, Iowa City, and U of I’s beautiful medical facilities, Pentacrest (quad), etc. But shocked when they showed us the library. I don’t remember the exterior, but on the inside it looked like an ugly florescent-lit high school library with a coffee bar. For a beautiful old state flagship this didn’t make sense. Was there a flood or something? Did they used to have a nice library?
We moved on from U of Iowa, but I’m still a little puzzled.
I’m liking the Armadillo Building.
This bit of brutality is where I took a lot of my non-STEM classes while at the University of Alaska Fairbanks - http://uafjournalism.com/2013/04/30/the-winter-needs-to-leave/
What makes it especially bad is that it reinforces the gray dreariness than settles upon the campus during the six months of cold and darkness. The Scandinavians have it right - build brightly colored buildings to offset the depression of winter.
The UMASS Amherst library is pretty ugly.
Agree with @TheGreyKing on Hamilton. Most of it is very pretty but definitely has a few sore thumbs, including much of the Kirkland college side. Williams library is spectacular and Midd has a pretty good one too.
Another vote for a Frank Gehry building. This one being the Peter B. Lewis building at Case Wester Reserve. I do not like brutalist architecture but at least they look like places humans would habitats even if they were evil ones. I don’t know what to make of Gehry’s designs. This one looks like a giant roll of tin fell off some celestial truck and smashed into a brick building nearly toppling it. I’m sure for those with an appreciation for such design it’s a masterpiece, for me it’s just UGLY.
Yikes…Lewis Building…imagine whoever was in charge of that project looking longingly at a model of that and saying, “Oh, yeah…THAT’S what I was looking for.”