From the great Ottoman palaces of old to the graceful late-19th-century apartment buildings lining many of Beyoğlu's winding streets, Istanbul has much for the architecture-lover to appreciate. Even some of its umpteen malls are award-winning.
But as you venture out further into the city's endless sprawl, the situation gets grimmer: kilometer after kilometer of cheaply put-together apartment blocks, office towers, industrial facilities, and strip malls. Amid that drab parade, however some buildings still stand out -- for their absolute atrociousness.
Since Turkey has yet to follow Britain's lead and invent an "award" for the ugliest new building of the year, let's get the competition going ourselves...
A friend threw down the gauntlet on Twitter, asking "Is there an uglier building in #Istanbul than #Bakırköy Adalet Sarayı?"
Can't deny it, that's pretty ugly. My money, however, has always been on the 212 Power Outlet in Bağcılar, a landmark on my former daily commute:
And the nominations kept rolling in...
The Perpa Ticaret Merkezi in Şişli:
The rather phallic (and completely out of sync with its surroundings) Ritz-Carlton hotel near Taksim:
The TRT building in Tepebaşı (of which I must admit I've become strangely fond):
The Doubletree hotel in Moda:
The so-kitschy-it's-almost-cute Mustafa Kanat Camii (aka "the Darth Vader mosque") in Ataşehir:
And last, but certainly not least, the under-construction Andromeda Plus residence in Ataşehir, aptly described by a friend as a design that "has to be modelled on [developer Ali] Ağaoğlu's infant son's first Lego creation. No other explanation":
Now it's your turn to weigh in:
But as you venture out further into the city's endless sprawl, the situation gets grimmer: kilometer after kilometer of cheaply put-together apartment blocks, office towers, industrial facilities, and strip malls. Amid that drab parade, however some buildings still stand out -- for their absolute atrociousness.
Since Turkey has yet to follow Britain's lead and invent an "award" for the ugliest new building of the year, let's get the competition going ourselves...
A friend threw down the gauntlet on Twitter, asking "Is there an uglier building in #Istanbul than #Bakırköy Adalet Sarayı?"
Can't deny it, that's pretty ugly. My money, however, has always been on the 212 Power Outlet in Bağcılar, a landmark on my former daily commute:
And the nominations kept rolling in...
The Perpa Ticaret Merkezi in Şişli:
The rather phallic (and completely out of sync with its surroundings) Ritz-Carlton hotel near Taksim:
The TRT building in Tepebaşı (of which I must admit I've become strangely fond):
The Doubletree hotel in Moda:
The so-kitschy-it's-almost-cute Mustafa Kanat Camii (aka "the Darth Vader mosque") in Ataşehir:
And last, but certainly not least, the under-construction Andromeda Plus residence in Ataşehir, aptly described by a friend as a design that "has to be modelled on [developer Ali] Ağaoğlu's infant son's first Lego creation. No other explanation":
Now it's your turn to weigh in:
What building deserves the title of Istanbul's ugliest?
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20 comments:
Jen, I have to say that some of the contenders you have listed, ugly though they may be, don't hold a candle to some of the 'creations' in Ataşehir. I know since they're right across the Marmara from me! Of course, there are also the 'sites' - my, one could go on and on. But I do like the power outlet - it's a doozy.
Got two listed in Ataşehir already! Please nominate more :)
For it's sheer dystopian vileness and the apocalyptic movie reference in the name (The Andromeda Strain; a film about an alien virus coming to Earth), I voted for Andromeda Plus by Agaoglu, a company that is itself an architectural disease.
This was one of the hardest choices I've recently made... As much as I hate them all, I had to go with Perpa.. the monstrous cement block, no sense of even a hideous sense of aesthetics, scary and creepy inside-out
There are many of these ugly building in Istanbul. One of them is Lapis Han for me located on the E5(D100) in Kartal.
Already voted other because u missed 4winds tas yapi in ciftehavuzlar!
The Grand Tarabya Hotel
I feel this one, located at Cevizlibağ, also deserves a shout
https://www.flickr.com/photos/omerkanipak/5363983217/in/photostream/
toya plaza
well well, this is a tough decision. Perpa Building is the ugliest one but its very old and not close to city center. On the other hand Ritz-Carlton (aka Gok Kafes) located in the heart of Istanbul, bosphorus and you can see it from everywhere. So yes, my votes goes to Ritz.
As a resident in istanbul, I found all of them equally ugly.
All of them
Sapphire Avm 4.Levent
As far as esthetics go the gargantuan "mall of istanbul" is the worst. Akasya, four winds, moda double tree and 16:9 in zeytin burnu all deserve honorable mentions. But the clear winner
But the clear winner is Ritz Carlton for defecating not only into the hearth of the bosphorus but also on the faces of all of us who live in istanbul.
“Four Winds Residence”
First, the land was donation to the Meteorology Institute of Turkey.
So, there had to be Public Benefit while doing something new over the land.
Second, this ugly buildings can be seen from everywhere even if you sail on boat through the Marmara sea.
All of the above
I imagine the Agaoglu building as Sauron's new tower which is missing only the big eye on top of it. New Mordor Headquarter
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