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Luxury tower block in London's docklands captures Carbuncle Cup prize

Xinhua, September 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

It's the one prize architects don't want to win, awarded for what a panel of judges see as the worst building of the year.

The architectural journal Building Design (BD) on Wednesday named Lincoln Plaza, a residential development in London's Docklands, as the winner of the 2016 Carbuncle Cup.

BD editor Thomas Lane commented, "This is the worst building amongst a swathe of mediocrity, South Quay is rapidly turning into London's Carbuncle Cluster."

Ike Ijeh, BD's architectural critic described the building as a "grotesque Jenga game of rabid rectilinear blocks without the promise of collapse."

Designed by BUJ Architects for Galliard Homes, the development consists of two residential towers integrated with a hotel and a stand alone drum-shaped building set off to one side.

The winner of the so-called wooden spoon was selected by a panel of judges consisting of Lane; Ijeh; author, architect and BD columnist Ben Flatman; and the London School of Economics' director of estates Julian Robinson.

Comments from BD readers were also taken into account during the judging process.

The towers, named Franklin and Greenwich, rise up to 31 storeys and contain apartments with prices starting at just over 1.0 million U.S. dollars for the remaining 3-bedroom flats.

According to the marketing blurb, the development is "set to provide one of the most prestigious and sophisticated new landmarks on Canary Wharf's iconic skyline."

BD said in its citation: "The judges disagreed, describing the building as a hideous melange of materials, forms, and colors."

Flatman said: "The pressing need for more homes at higher densities is done no favors by this scheme. Lincoln Plaza is the type of project that gives high-rise housing a bad name."

Robinson said: "When you look at the crazy patterns, pick and mix colors, and gimmicky balconies, you can see that it lacks poise, foundation, or clarity of vision. Its neighbours aren't great but this is just an unmitigated mess."

Lincoln Plaza was one of the six developments shortlisted for the Carbuncle Cup.

In its citation, BD said: "Every now and then a project comes along that simply beggars belief. This is one of them. Thirty-one storeys of bilious cladding are piled one on top of the other to create an assortment of haphazardly assembled facades that are crude, jarring, and shambolic."

Another bluntly sums up the question often ask when faced with horror shows like this: "How do these things get planning approval?" Endit