Officially the worst building of the year: 'Frankenstein' student flats with windows that face brick walls
Students are hardly known for their desire to keep their accommodation spick and span, with mould often left growing in the fridge and bins overflowing with half eaten kebabs and empty cans of cider. So perhaps it is only fitting that this year's ugliest building award has gone to the new University College London digs at 465 Caledonian Road, which judges 'struggled to see as fit for human occupation'. Described as a 'Frankenstein concoction', it saw off stiff competition from runner-up Castle Mill - also built as student accommodation - which has infuriated residents for blotting out postcard views of the dreaming spires of Oxford. Such is public anger with that building, calls have been made for a judicial review into how it came to be approved in the first place. But it was 465 Caledonian Road in the London Borough of Islington that stole Building Design magazine's Carbuncle Cup for the worst new building of 2013. Described as an 'outrageous housing scheme', 465 Caledonian Road offered 'deep grounds for offence in it's cavalier attitude to a historic asset,' according to the jury. The magazine accused the architect Stephen George & Partners of knowing 'a thing or two about grotesque overdevelopment', adding: The practice’s solution in Islington has to rank as the mother of all facadectomies.' Stephen George has declined to comment. The new development was built on a site previously occupied by a listed warehouse dating back to 1874. All but the front facade was pulled down to make way for the new building. The bit that was left was stripped of its windows and propped 2m in front of the historic building's replacement. But the retained openings do not align with the new windows leaving students nothing better than a brick wall as a view for the unlucky occupants. According to Building Design: 'Of the 44 student rooms addressing Caledonian Road, more than half have no eye-level outlook.' To compensate for the fact the new building was two storeys higher than the original, the builder removed the top of the old facade and added a new floor, before sticking the original top back on again. By Stuart Woledge
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By: Yahya Al-saeed
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