Imagethief

I don't think it's the buildings themselves that are necessarily ugly, it's the combination. Individually they have qualities and you can see how they would look good on a design board (OK, apart from Sohu which is just crap) - but put together it's an absolute mess.

Just take Guomao junction on the third ring - you've got the brown Guomao, a totally round building behind which is the Trouser Legs, the blue Motorola buildings and then the boxy Soho...all of which are different colours, different shapes and different styles. This is what happens when you have such loose planning rules (and fistfulls of cash changing hands at planning meetings).

I agree with Pelops above...though i am looking at the very ugly Van Palace building outside my window right now... and then while the Kerry Office Tower is beautiful, the rest of the center doesn't match it at all and is ugly.  But I sorta like Beijing messiness and on a nice evening, going up the 3rd ring road is really quite beautiful.

Give me Beijing's "nasty wreckage" over any Chinese provincial buildings anyday. When you've seen ten,  cities all with the same grandiose marble government buildings in naff white tile and with a cheesy Chinese roof stuck on as an afterthought, well Beijing at least tries something different. Not to mention the tacky condos sprouting up everywhere.

Will,

Good potential candidates in the new Sanlitun, especially that building that looks as though cargo containers have been embedded in its side.

Cheers Boyce

I'm tempted to nominate the new CCTV building for its sheer ridiculousness, but you've got to give them credit for the big, hairy ballsiness of that building. But I do have to nominate Zhujiang Dijing (can't remember the English name- Regal Court or something equally preposterously pretentious) on Xidawang Lu in the Jiulongshan area just 1.5-odd km south of Soho.

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I would have to say the Jianwai Soho buildings.  They just look so cheap.  The just has no sense of character.  That whole area could have had so much potential.

I was surprised to see Wanda on your list. Twin Towers, yes. But I always thought Wanda's granite(like) and glass exterior stood in stark contrast to the plasti-steel constructions across the street. I admit, the bold overhang and techno font make it resemble the breastplate of Optimus Prime from the Transformers movie. But I like transformers.

I dunno; the Wanda buildings remind me of the Vogon spaceships in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and there's something about the place that reeks of despair, grimness ,and coal dust. There's also a large new block-long development not far from my place on Ping'an Da Dao -- the something-or-other Dasha -- that's a definite eyesore, though that might just be because of the contrast with the former Duan Qirui government offices across the street.

My vote for most ridiculous decorative (non-architectural) feature goes to the neon Christmas trees outside the CITIC building -- the ones that occasionally go into screensaver mode. I've never been able to figure out what the hell was up with them.

My vote:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64893753@N00/667958235/

I think its some spa on Chaonei nanxiaojie. I'm not sure if it was built after 2000, but if so, its a contender.

There is also a horribly ugly Shaolin School off of the Badaling Highway near Huilongguan. Its a big square building painted neon red and sky blue. I'm sure it is pre-2000, though.