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@DFP
You know what I hate more than "ugly" or lazy concrete structures?
The average run of the mill new build british house, which is made of those horrid modern bricks and styled in the shape and construction style of houses from victorian times, but cheaply.
I also hate the concept of facades, where buildings have a supposedly dramatic futuristic look, but only because a bunch of crap has been stuck on top of a very dull run of the mill structure underneath. In Birmingham, the selfridges building is the perfect example. It is literally covered in plywood and then had silver discs stuck on top like sequins. They do nothing other than decoration, there is not even any transparent discs letting you see in/out. There is no relationship between function/form and materials.
Decoration on buildings appeals to me as much as hetchins bikes, or a gold plated charge plug. I also cannot stand buildings that will function & age badly, requiring lots of maintenance to upkeep their illogical designs.
Concrete is beautiful both when it is used in functional structures with bold forms, and when it is contrast with natural undeveloped location or amongst fussy/awkward/frilly non modernist structures. BUT, when you are somewhere where everything is made of concrete and not very well designed, like my native land of bangladesh, it sucks big time. You get sick of it.
Even when your national parliament building looks like this;
The way it is "furnished" inside is not in keeping with the theme at all, but hot potch ugly and depressing. The same is true for what was a dramatic and rather impressive brutalist structure in Birmingham, the central library.
Everyone grew to despise it, but I think it was down to the way they filled what was supposed to be the empty tranquil atrium/hall in the centre with shit depressing mcdonalds etc, poorly equipped the interior which made the building claustrophobic and awkward, very few books, lack of maintenance, (whole place full of cloudy perspex and dust infused 30+ year old carpet. But in terms of the design "quality" as a structure, especially from the outside, I think it is massively superior to the very expensive and much loved replacement, which to me makes no sense at all architecturally.
http://i2.birminghampost.co.uk/incoming/article5834316.ece/ALTERNATES/s1023/library-of-birmingham-sept-3-2-5834316.jpg
Largely because of the "lattice" that covers it, ball ache equivalent of a frilly doily. wtf is it for?