Every day is a school day here at Boriswatch Towers. For example, we didn’t know that Preston was the first city in the UK to use traffic cones. We didn’t know that every month, almost nine out of ten American children visit a McDonalds. And, we didn’t know that there was a Carbuncle Cup – an annual award for the most hideous and ridiculous eyesore.
No, Boris hasn’t won the award. Tut tut.
What has won the 2010 award is that monstrosity over Bozza’s left shoulder. No, it isn’t a giant Remington electric razor (insert “so good, I bought the building!” gag *here*) but the catchily named Strata SE1 Tower at the Elephant and Castle.
This zebra striped eyesore beat off stiff competition from buildings including the Park Plaza Westminster Hotel to win the award, via Building Design magazine.
Boris seems to quite like the Strata. He has nicknamed it ‘the lipstick’ (really?) and has described it as a building “with a bit of oomph about it”.
Not everyone agrees, however. Building Design‘s Ellis Woodman says, “The building’s grim stridency is exacerbated by its sporty livery of alternating black and white stripes, configured, needless to say, in voguish barcode distribution.”
He didn’t stop there. Oh no. “For services to greenwash, urban impropriety and sheer breakfast extracting ugliness, we hereby award the 2010 Carbuncle Cup to the Strata tower.”
Breakfast extracting, eh? It’s surely not that bad….?