# The Ugliest Building in the World is Going up next to where I work **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 19, 2022, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845 "2022-09-19T17:42:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/21 "2022-09-20T14:48:47Z")
I don’t have a degree in architecture, I have no artistic talent yet even I can draw a _box_. And this guy is getting _paid_ for it? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/22 "2022-09-21T12:04:11Z")
Drove in this morning and the damned Walls of Mordor are still there, as ugly as ever and visible from way down the street. With the giant cranes on both sides it looks particularly intimidating. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/23 "2022-09-21T18:50:33Z")
There’s a youtube creepy pasta in that somewhere, crane-body and wife looking into the basinet at their baby or something. I sympathize, when they built the amazon warehouse here, they put it right next to the freeway. Totally totalitarian hideousness ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/24 "2022-09-22T13:40:18Z")
It made me laugh to see a subreddit about “evil buildings”. I didn’t know other people used that term. Now this is an evil building: > **[68 Sykes Building Images, Stock Photos & Vectors | Shutterstock](https://www.shutterstock.com/search/sykes-building)** > > Find Sykes Building stock images in HD and millions of other royalty-free stock photos, illustrations and vectors in the Shutterstock collection. Thousands of new, high-quality pictures added every day. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/25 "2022-09-22T13:46:17Z")
Actually, I kind of like that building. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/26 "2022-09-22T14:42:33Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > It made me laugh to see a subreddit about “evil buildings”. I didn’t know other people used that term. > Now this is an evil building: Regular features, no squamous, scabrous, mottle-colored walls. Nope. Nowhere near as evil as my building. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/27 "2022-09-22T14:49:03Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Regular features, no squamous, scabrous, mottle-colored walls. > > Nope. Nowhere near as evil as my building. Regular features? It’s a Tower of Terror! A Cylinder of Sinister! Its nickname is “the Beer Can building”. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/28 "2022-09-22T15:04:32Z")
Pics or it didn’t happen, as they say. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/29 "2022-09-22T15:24:44Z")
The buildings that I have seen that are concrete (no color) and razor-thin windows are either jails or prisons. It doesn’t bode well for the OP. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/30 "2022-09-22T16:37:07Z")
Nahhh. This is gonna be a warehouse. Too ritzy a neighborhood for prisons. And no razor-thin windows. Hardly any windows at all, in fact. If this was going to be a prison it’d be The Black Hole of Calcutta, giant economy size upgrade. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/31 "2022-09-22T22:23:58Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I work in an industrial park, and I know that you have to be prepared for changes, but back in the spring they sawed down most of the trees across from our parking lot. I had a contract job with an insurance company. They actually bought the land across from their building just to prevent another anonymous building to go up and block a rather nice view. I sure appreciated it. But now you know where your health insurance payments go. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/32 "2022-09-22T22:36:35Z")
Insurance companies have to invest the money they’re received in premiums, sometimes for years, before paying it out in claims. So buying an undeveloped property across from their office building might just be a wise investment. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/33 "2022-09-22T22:53:09Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > So buying an undeveloped property across from their office building might just be a wise investment. I’m actually aware of this and consider the property a good investment for the company. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2022, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/34 "2022-09-23T11:36:49Z")
. tastefully done windows, one has to reckon… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/35 "2022-09-24T01:16:10Z")
The University of Wisconsin has a couple of Brutalist buildings. Notably, the Humanities Building, with huge inclined planes on its sides. I remember back in the 70s, getting a running start and sprinting up those, and if I got a good enough head of steam, I could make it all the way up. Thirty years later, my kid and his friends would “skate the shit outta that place”. His generation hated the “style” as much as mine did… [![](https://snworksceo.imgix.net/car/846b6db5-9e9a-4f06-8727-31dc5b8b83be.sized-1000x1000.jpg?w=1000) ](https://snworksceo.imgix.net/car/846b6db5-9e9a-4f06-8727-31dc5b8b83be.sized-1000x1000.jpg?w=1000) Oh, the lack of humanity! ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/36 "2022-09-24T22:57:09Z")
This is the high school I went to. Open concept classrooms for the most part (that is, no back walls) and damn few windows. They have, thankfully, renamed it in the last few years. They’ve also apparently added huge windows, at least to the front of the building. > **[Meet the people who former 'Stonewall' schools in Pr. William County will now...](https://wjla.com/news/local/gallery/prince-william-county-school-board-votes-to-rename-stonewall-middle-stonewall-jackson-hs?photo=3)** > > Following several meetings and discussions, the Prince William County School Board approved therenaming ofStonewall Middle School and Stonewall Jackson High School Monday. The school board renamed Stonewall Middle School as Unity Braxton Middle... ---
**Author:** ![Kzbre5m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kzbre5m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kzbre5m)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/37 "2022-09-25T15:48:01Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > This is a high school near my house, remodeled sometime in the early 00s. First time I drove past it I was certain it was a prison. I remember turning to my wife and saying “Shouldn’t there be a fence or something around that thing?” 😁 I think the architects wrote a secret message on the wall in Morse code In this thread there was an ad for a “Easi-Set Modular Structure” that I first thought was part of the thread examples of ugly buildings, but turned out that the ad provider was matching the ads to the discussion ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/38 "2022-09-25T16:20:26Z")
An entire university in Vancouver was done in Brutalist style by famed architect Arthur Erikson. Lots of sharp planes, exposed raw concrete and mind-numbing greyness. It’s said that he also designed mental institutions, and wanted them to be “prisons of the mind” and to remind the inmates that they are confined, and that their very thoughts are not their own. Early educators knew that naive young students were full of silly things like “creativity” and “individuality”, so they were hoping that by putting them in this soul-sucking architecture, this would help stamp out these thoughts. Well, not really, but it makes a good story that students pass along from generation to generation. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/39 "2022-09-25T16:34:59Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > An entire university in Vancouver was done in Brutalist style by famed architect Arthur Erikson. Lots of sharp planes, exposed raw concrete and mind-numbing greyness. You mean this vision of loveliness (Simon Fraser University)? [![](https://logosgroup.kz/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/1c900771ad67666673ada85b1c6603eb.jpg) ](https://logosgroup.kz/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/1c900771ad67666673ada85b1c6603eb.jpg) There’s nothing wrong with Highway Overpass Style. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845/40 "2022-09-25T16:39:38Z")
Indeed yes. “How do we crush the souls of our idealistic youth?” \< Arthur Ericson puts up hand \> [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-building-in-the-world-is-going-up-next-to-where-i-work/971845.md?page=3)