20 Fenchurch Street has not exactly been a building that Londoners have taken to heart, but now the so-called Walkie Talkie Tower has been officially voted as the biggest eyesore in the UK.
The squat building, which has acted like a giant mirror and focused sunlight onto cars so intensely that they’ve started to melt, was awarded the 2015 Carbuncle Cup, an annual prize given out by Building Design magazine which highlights bad design in the UK.
The Walkie Talkie was described as “an unwelcome party guest,” and its architects criticised for designing a “bloated carbuncle” at its top in order to increase the amount of lucrative space available at the top of the tower.
Damage caused by sunlight refracted off of the Walkie Talkie onto parked cars below [Pixabay]
"It bulges out towards the top in a cynical move to maximise the amount of high-value space at the upper levels, in defiance of the principle tall buildings should taper elegantly inwards or at least feature parallel sides," said Thomas Lane, who founded the Carbuncle Cup as a satirical alternative to the prestigious Sterling Prize.
20 Fenchurch Street, designed by Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly, now joins the ranks of other Carbuncle eyesores like Liverpool Ferry Terminal, MediaCityUK, and the Cutty Sark Renovation.
