Six buildings have been shortlisted for architecture’s least illustrious prize, courtesy BD (Building Design) – the Carbuncle Cup for the UK’s worst new building from the last year.
Dezeen writes:
The projects nominated range from a new entrance to a rail station in Peston, Lancashire, to a student halls of residence in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station in London. The annual Carbuncle Cup is organised by architecture website Building Design (BD).
‘Our six-strong shortlist contains a mix of buildings types of differing scales and demonstrates that buildings don’t have to be big to be bad and that poor-quality architecture touches all building types,’ wrote BD magazine editor Thomas Lane in an article revealing the shortlist.
Half of this year’s contenders are in London, as several key areas of the city including Victoria and Battersea undergo drastic regeneration. But a house extension in Malvern, Worcestershire, also makes the list.
The shortlist was drawn up by a jury comprising Lane and BD assistant editor Elizabeth Hopkirk, as well as Twentieth Century Society director Catherine Croft and urbanist David Rudlin, the director of Urbed and chair of the Academy of Urbanism.
Reader comments were also taken into consideration. The six projects have been published on BD ahead of the full shortlist reveal, with the winner of the Carbuncle Cup 2017 to be announced next week.
Past recipients of the prize have included Rafael Viñoly’s Walkie Talkie skyscraper in London and a student housing scheme, also in London, that was deemed ‘prison-like’ by the 2013 jury.
See the full shortlist below:
- Nova Victoria, London, by PLP Architecture
- Preston Railway Station Butler Street Entrance, Preston, by AHR
- Park Plaza London Waterloo, London, by ESA Architecture
- Greetham Street Student Halls, Portsmouth, by Cooley Architects
- 8 Somers Road, Malvern, by Vivid Architects
- Circus West, Battersea Power Station, London, by Simpson Haugh
Carbuncle Cup shortlists six contenders for worst building of 2017
