Everyone likes a good Bad Architecture list. CA Home + Design upped the ante by asking 15 architects and their own staff to weigh-in on “what buildings, given the chance, they’d take a wrecking ball to.”
Sure, there are some old familiars (Boston City Hall) and some not-really-buildings (I-95 Freeway through Philadelphia). But what makes this American list intriguing are the choices of demolition-worthy candidates you may not have even heard of:
The Oakley Headquarters in Orange County, CA:
.
The Ascent in Covington, KT:
.
The AT&T Central Office in Houston:
.
I would love to see a list for buildings to demolish in Vancouver.
That is easy to do – why don’t we start a list here? I nominate SFU – the original hill top campus, not just for its hideous buildings but its ridiculous location. The downtown campus is a much better example of booth location and building re-use. Robson Square – because it is unused and unloved. Metrotowers I and II – yaaaaawn
By the way I really like The Oakley Headquarters in Orange County, CA – looks like something from a Saturday Morning Pictures SF serial or Dan Dare.
I would actually strongly disagree with SFU. Yes, the hilltop location was stupid at the time, but the buildings have a strange sort of beauty, and as a former student, I felt surprisingly at home there. And simply destroying the Metrotowers I and II because they aren’t particularly pretty is a huge waste of resources. They aren’t particularly hideous either.
Robson Square however could sure use a rebuild. Won’t disagree there. If we’re going to demolish things let’s demolish things that actively don’t work – Metrotown Mall, for instance, which is the biggest energy suck in the whole region, prevents Burnaby from ever having a true downtown and cuts off pedestrian access over a massive area. In fact, pretty much every mall with above-ground parking next to a skytrain station is a waste of space and should. go I would have also said the plaza of nations but that’s already come down, and it looks like the viaducts will soon follow so no need to add that one as well.
That’s a little short-sighted. Not only is SFU’s hilltop campus a wildly successful piece of an internationally-significant architectural movement, it’s the heart of a thriving campus community. I loved going up there on a near-daily basis for five years.
And, really? The Oakley building is beyond hideous. Yikes.