2017 Carbuncle Cup
On 6th September 2017, Building Design awarded the dubious honour of the Carbuncle Cup for 2017 to London’s Nova Victoria.
The Carbuncle Cup is an annual 'prize' awarded to the ugliest UK building completed in the last 12 months. A shortlist is compiled from public nominations, and the winner decided by a panel of critics.
Nova Victoria’s victory makes it the sixth consecutive year that London has received the award. It was designed by PLP Architecture.
The development is a bright red £380 million office and residential complex, occupying an entire block opposite the redeveloped Victoria Station. With a pointed peak that reaches 18 storeys-high, the building incorporates a sheer face of red glass criss-crossed with aluminium bracing. Around the side of the 'red wedge' runs a screen of aluminium fins, cut with rippled profiles. At ground level, these aluminium fins form a series of serrated openings.
The project was granted approval in 2009 and was the biggest consent Westminster Council had ever awarded, although the concept was drastically scaled back from its original high-rise intentions.
Awarding the prize, the judges described it as 'one of the worst office developments central London has ever seen', and one that 'sets a new benchmark for dystopian dysfunction'.
The other shortlisted projects that were beaten by Nova Victoria were as follows:
Preston Railway Station Butler Street Entrance, Preston, by AHR
[Photograph © Paul Melling.]
Park Plaza London Waterloo, London, by ESA Architecture
[Photograph © Alex Upton.]
Greetham Street Student Halls, Portsmouth, by Cooley Architects
8 Somers Road, Malvern, by Vivid Architects
Circus West, Battersea Power Station, London, by Simpson Haugh
[Images courtesy of Building Design.]
[edit] Find out more
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
Featured articles and news
Specifying rendered external wall insulation for fire safety
How to interrogate the evidence provided to the specifier.
The benefits of writing articles for your organisation
How to create a profile for your organisation and publish for free.
No Falls Week. The importance of safe working at height
What to expect and what is on offer to avoid accidents.
Scottish Government action to reach net-zero targets
Retrofit expert group highlight critical actions needed.
A forward thinking, inclusive global community of members.
From engineered product life-spans, to their extension.
Circular economy in the built environment
A brief description from 2021. Where are we now?
Mental Health Awareness Week with ABS
Architects Benevolent Society programme of activity.
CLC publishes domestic retrofit competency framework
Roadmap of Skills for net zero.
May 13-19: Moving more for our mental health.
Understanding is key to conservation.
Open industry engagement survey seeks responses
Institutions and the importance of engagement.
National Retrofit Hub unveils new guide
Digital Building Logbooks and Retrofit: An Introduction.
Enhancing construction site reporting efficiency
Through digitisation and the digital revolution.