The Bold and The Pugly

The Pugly award results are in and it seems my west end neighbourhood is doing its unfair share of ugly architecture. The Glenlake condo project at Dundas West brought up the tail, receiving the largest amount of disapproving public votes and therefore a spot in the Hall of Shame. Not so long ago, protesters banded together to show their dissent at the condo project going up in place of an old neighbourhood church; would've been good to harness some of that passion when designing the building too. Also low on the list is the High Park condo building that sprouted up from the facade of a church of Scientology. While it means well, huge columns support the front of the structure and the building as a whole lacks an overall and cohesive design theme.

Arts and science architecture share the top spots. Proud Torontonians gave the most approval to the National Ballet School, with the MaRS project and the Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research following closely behind. All buildings on the list were completed or registered in 2005. With the continued growth Toronto is experiencing, there'll be a steady stream of industrial, commercial and residential candidates for years to come. I just hope developers are paying attention to the Pugly awards and what the public has to say about design and architecture in our city.

(image:seemsArtless)