Ugly Buildings Beyond Imagination, Bizarre Buildings, Weird Buildings in China | Tofu Buildings

Some buildings in China are being referred to as ugly buildings. People may say that beauty is subjective and there is no absolute standard, so we welcome you to leave your comments on what you think of these buildings. Let's take a look at this landmark building that really looks like a Chinese mitten crab, the Ba Cheng Xie Cultural Hall in Kunshan County. It's originally a cafe, but after it closed down, the Kunshan government invested 2 million USD to rebuild it. After reconstruction, the place was designed in the shape of a crab. Many people commented that the crab's shell was grey and looked like a spider instead of a crab, which was incredibly ugly. Some people also commented that it might be better if the shell was painted red and looks more like a cooked crab. Believe me, this is an actual building. Although it looks so much like a pile of hay that Chinese netizens usually call it chicken's nest. This is the Hefei Art Museum, which costed 29 million USD to build, with a floor area of 16,307 square meters, 23 meters above ground and 7 meters underground. The shape of the building consists of 346 metal rods of different lengths stacked on top of each other. Some people commented that the Hefei Art Museum was designed to imitate the bird's nest, also known as the Beijing National Stadium, but it turned into a chicken's nest instead. The museum, which was supposed to be completed in 2011, was still experiencing water seepage problems until 2013, and finally opened in 2015. But wait, there's more, and they're even more ridiculous. This is the Guangxi New Media Center in Nanning City, Guangxi Province. One of the key construction projects for the 60th anniversary of the founding of Guangxi, was the total investment of about 309 million USD. The building started construction in 2016, and was completed in less than two years. The speed is truly admirable. The whole building is composed of three main structures, divided into ABC blocks with heights of 145 meters, 52 meters, and 39 meters respectively. The building gives off a technological vibe with the lines, irregular design, and curved three-dimensional shapes. The three buildings are independent, yet closely related to each other, with one building erected straight into the sky. Many netizens say that although this building design is very distinctive, upon closer inspection, something doesn't feel right. Someone also made a video of fireworks coming out of the building. Some people say this building and the stadiums at Guangxi Sports Center are very matching. Since 2010, China Architecture Talk has been organizing the China Top 10 Ugly Architecture Awards, and is currently on their 12th annual round of selections. The organizers of the event claim that the original purpose of selecting ugly buildings is to provoke people to think about the beauty and ugliness of architecture, and to enhance the social responsibility of people in the construction industry. There are nine criteria for the selection of these buildings, including how unreasonable the building function is, the level of discordance with the surrounding environment, plagiarism, imitation of western and ancient architecture, level of compromise in construction, imitation of organisms, deliberate symbolism, weirdness and vulgarity, and deliberately doing something you shouldn't do. The selection of ugly buildings is first nominated and voted for by many professional architects and the general public, and then studied and discussed by an expert panel before deciding on the winner. The expert panel consists of scholars, experts, artists, architects, and others from the cultural and architectural circles. It is well known that free speech is censored in China, but reviews of buildings are not strictly controlled. However, the judges know that some of the powerful institutions are not to be messed with. In the first ugly building awards in 2010, a total of 7,547 people voted, and the highest number of votes was for the China Central Television, or CCTV, headquarters, which received 1,256 votes, 399 more votes than second place. However, in the announced results of the top 10 ugliest buildings in 2010, there was no mention of the CCTV building. This building is called Big Boxers by the public because its shape resembles the boxer shorts that people wear. The building is 234 meters high, with a floor area of 550,000 square meters. The total cost of the building was 3.1 billion USD, and the design cost was 54 million USD. In a 2004 edition of Content Magazine, the building designer Rem Koolhaas had images of the new CCTV building superimposed with a naked woman. There are many who say that the shape of the building as a whole resembles a person kneeling on the ground with legs spread and butt in the air. There are also many people who believe that Koolhaas intentionally adopted this design to make a sexual joke. The stories of what happens inside Big Boxers is just as fitting as its outer appearance. CCTV is a Chinese state-controlled broadcaster under the leadership of the CCP propaganda department. There are many young, beautiful, and talented girls and boys working in this building. Li Ruiying, the mistress of former CCP leader Jiang Zemin, also worked here. For a few years, Li Ruiying was the must-have CCTV anchorwoman when Jiang Zemin was on a visit. Once, during Jiang's visit, an interview with Li Ruiying was broadcasted on CCTV's evening news, and the viewers were talking about how Li didn't look like she was interviewing, but rather like she was playfully flirting. One of CCTV's most popular anchors, Wang Xiaoya, married a senior official 13 years older than her named Cao Jianming, after being introduced by then-deputy director of CCTV, Li Dongsheng. According to rumors, the beautiful journalist Jia Xiaoyue married senior state official Zhou Yongkang, who is 28 years older than her, also because of Li Dongsheng's matchmaking. Later, Li Dongsheng received a promotion. Many of CCTV's good-looking anchors and reporters are mistresses of high-ranking officials who has their backs. This is why CCTV is also known by the public as the harem house of senior officials. Oftentimes, if a senior official is investigated and removed from their position, a CCTV anchorwoman also disappears from public view. If a female anchor suddenly becomes very prominent, that means her backstage official must have gained power. In fact, the male anchors are in a similar situation, and many of them are the lovers of the wives of senior officials. In July 2014, CCTV's handsome male anchor Rui Chenggang was arrested, and afterwards, more than 20 women who were the wives of senior officials tried to rescue him from prison, including Gu Liping, the wife of senior official Lin Jihua. In September 2014, French public radio RFI reported that Rui Chenggang claimed to have been raped by Gu Liping. There are many people saying that CCTV's big boxers and the 180-meter high People's Daily building are a good match. There are also many people who believe that since the building is not far from big boxers, that there are sexual metaphors between them, but designer Zhou Qi denies it. Of course, in mainland China, there are lots more ugly buildings like these all over the place. Many netizens jokingly say that there is no ugliest building in China, as they only get uglier. Some people say that there is no absolute standard for beauty and ugliness. No one has the goal of making something ugly at the beginning of design and construction. It's true that there is a certain degree of professionalism in judging the beauty and ugliness of buildings. But these large public buildings are the defining features of the city, so if they differ from what the general public deems to be attractive, then don't blame the public for labeling it as an ugly building. One of the important reasons why people can't stand these ugly buildings is that most of these buildings are public buildings. They're in conspicuous locations, and people have to face them every day. Most of these buildings are heavily invested in, and the taxpayers' money is spent on their construction. Once these ugly buildings are built, you know they'll be there for a long time. If they're not demolished, it's unsightly, but if they are demolished, it's too wasteful. Especially some landmark buildings that present the city's style and image. Liu Yijun, deputy chief engineer of China Urban Construction Design and Research Institute, analyzed that some architectural practitioners do not have the correct aesthetics and blindly pursue new, strange, and weird designs. Some people disregard the regional, historical, and cultural characteristics of the city, and blindly copy European, American, and foreign architecture, resulting in disharmony between the building and the surrounding environment. At the same time, the ugly buildings also reveal some problems and chaos in the construction industry, such as wastefulness of resources. Zhou Rong, an associate professor at the School of Architecture of Tsinghua University, said that, from a social perspective, it's obvious that whether a building is ugly or not is not a mere aesthetics judgment, but depends first of all on whether it contradicts the public opinion and whether it can gain public recognition. What we reject as ugly architecture is actually the implicit social values of pursuing size and weirdness, lacking cultural self-confidence and copying Western architecture, worshipping power and money, and crude construction. The increasing number of ugly buildings in China is a manifestation of the excessive centralization of government power, the lack of transparency in decision-making, and the low aesthetic taste of these officials. The construction plans of public buildings are approved directly by officials, and professionals are not consulted before decisions are made, let alone the public. There are many similarities between the current situation in mainland China and the Italian city of Pompeii more than 1900 years ago. It looks prosperous and wealthy on the surface, but the overall moral level is low. In China today, there is no supervision and control over the power of CCP officials at any level, and the pursuit of money and pleasure drives the moral level of society down rapidly. After investigations, there are many corrupt officials who have embezzled more than 100 million USD, while 600 million people in China earn less than 155 USD per month. According to Chinese official media, Lai Xiaomin, a former Chinese finance official, took 276 million USD in bribes over 10 years. Lai Xiaomin has more than 100 mistresses who all live in a community together, and all of the children in that community call Lai Xiaomin dad. Of course, each ugly building has its own story, but they are an overall reflection of the low moral value of society. When people only pursue money and satisfying their desires without any moral restraint, how long do they have before extinction? In 79 AD, the town of Pompeii was buried overnight, in which more than 20,000 people died. Is that not a warning to mankind?