The World’s 14 Most Controversial Buildings

Guggenheim Museum, NYC
Guggenheim Museum, NYC | © incamerastock / Alamy Stock Photo
Photo of Tasmin Nicholson
Tasmin Nicholson
28 March 2017

Across the globe, buildings and edifices are rapidly constructed and developed by renowned architects. In many instances the cultural milieu and ethos of the city is reflected in such architecture. Equally however, architects have created controversial buildings for decades – from the Eiffel Tower to Zaha Hadid’s new Al Wakrah Stadium. Here are 14 buildings of contention from around the world.

Antilla Residential Tower, Mumbai

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Antilla house of mukesh ambani ; Bombay ; Mumbai ; Maharashtra ; India
Antilla house, Mumbai | © Milind Ketkar / Alamy Stock Photo
This 27-story apartment tower is one of the tallest in Mumbai, and it belongs to just one person: Mukesh Ambani, the 5th richest man in the world. This 400,000 square-foot family home contains a six-story garage, nine lifts and is situated right next to Golibar slum in central Mumbai. Currently holding the title of ‘world’s most expensive home’ at $1 billion, it perhaps could also win the record for most insensitive house ever built.
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Sagrada Famillia, Barcelona

Building
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Spain Barcelona Spain Barcelona antoni gaudi sagrada familia Barcelona la sagrada familia cathedral Barcelona Spain catalunya catalonia eu Europe
Sagrada Familia, Barcelona | © eye35.pix / Alamy Stock Photo
133 years after its construction, Barcelona’s Sagrada Famillia is the world’s longest running construction project. It is now funded entirely by private donations, amounting to approximately €25 million each year, witn an intended completion date of 2026. After Gaudi’s original designs were lost in the Spanish Civil War, a team of architects has been trying to work from a facsimile of the original plans. It is hoped that we will finally see Gaudi’s masterpiece completed within the next 11 years.
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Sagrada Família, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Guggenheim Museum, New York

Building, Museum
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Guggenheim Museum, NYC
Guggenheim Museum, NYC | © incamerastock / Alamy Stock Photo
Likened to a lavatory basin by Woody Allen, the curling form of the Guggenheim Museum was very controversial after its construction. Designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who was accused of creating architecture for architecture’s sake, its elegantly curving walls are perhaps out of place displaying non-curved art works. In contrast to the critics, the public grew fond of the Guggenheim and now many people who visit go for the architecture, rather than the art.
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1071 5th Avenue, Manhattan New York, New York, 10128, USA
+12124233500
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The Portland Building, Portland

Building
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Portlandia, Portland building
Portland building | © Nikreates / Alamy Stock Photo
The Portland Building has been controversial since its initial conception. When designs were released, the revolutionary, postmodern style was not easy for the many traditionalists of the city to accept. Today little has changed – people still criticize the low ceilings, small windows and ‘gaudy exterior’. 32 years after its construction, the neglected Portland Building is facing imminent renovation costs of $95 million over two years, its future hanging in the balance.
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1120 Southwest 5th Avenue, Southwest Portland, Portland, Oregon, 97204, USA
+15038234000
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The Eiffel Tower, Paris

Architectural Landmark
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View of The Eiffel tower
The Eiffel Tower rises over 320 metres | © JOHN KELLERMAN / Alamy Stock Photo
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Legend has it that French writer Guy de Maupassant would eat in a restaurant at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, as it was the only place in Paris where he did not have to look at it. The Parisian public did not initially welcome this iconic landmark of Paris with open arms. However after the Universal Exposition of 1889, and the wealth that its 2 million visitors brought to Paris, the edifice received (and still receives) high recognition and praise.
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5 Avenue Anatole France, Paris, Île-de-France, 75007, France
+33892701239
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The Louvre Pyramid, Paris

Building, Museum
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Louvre Pyramid and Paris Beyond. The great glass pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre Palace with milling tourists & cityscape
© Marshall Ikonography / Alamy Stock Photo
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‘The scar on the face of Paris’ triggered substantial controversy when it was first built in 1989. Amidst the elegant, classical Parisian architecture, this modern glass pyramid was considered out of place, crude and inappropriate. Since then it has grown on the art world and the people of Paris, now welcoming 15,000 visitors a day. It has become a successful amalgamation of old and new.
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Rue de Rivoli, Paris, Île-de-France, 75001, France
+33140205050
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Scottish Parliament Building, Edinburgh

Building
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A view of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood and Calton Hill behind, Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Scottish Parliament building, Edinburgh | © Ian Rutherford / Alamy Stock Photo
The Scottish Parliament Building is surrounded by contention for numerous reasons: its cost of £414.4m (almost 10 times the initial budget of £55m), the choice of the Holyrood site, the non-Scottish architect, and the approximately 2000 design changes that were made during its six-year construction. To add insult to injury, the building has also recently been featured 29th on the Telegraph’s list of the world’s 30 ugliest buildings.
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Edinburgh, Scotland, EH99 1SP, United Kingdom

The Walkie-Talkie, 20 Fenchurch Street, London

Building
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20 Fenchurch Street (The Walkie Talkie Building) and The City Of London Skyline, London, England
20 Fenchurch Street (The Walkie Talkie Building), London | © GRANT ROONEY PREMIUM / Alamy Stock Photo
The curvilinear modernism of 20 Fenchurch Street caused it to be renamed, not so affectionately, ‘The Walkie-Talkie’. Whether the bulging balloon-like structure is to your taste or not, there is one fault that everyone agrees on. Renamed ‘The Walkie-Scorchie’ in the summer of 2013, the curved glass of the building had raised street level temperatures to over 100 degrees Celsius, melting Jaguars and burning carpets like ants under a magnifying glass. It is now agreed that the developers ‘made a mess of it, and are the architects of their own misfortune’.
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20 Fenchurch Street, Bridge, London, England, EC3M 3BY, United Kingdom

CCTV Building, Beijing

Bridge, Building
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China, Beijing City, Guomao District CCTV Television Headquarters Building
CCTV Television Headquarters Building, Beijing | © mauritius images GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo
Dubbed ‘the most scandalous skyscraper in history’ the CCTV Building in Beijing is still not loved today. Just after its completion, a fire on the construction site almost destroyed a neighboring hotel, putting 20 people in prison for negligence after a firefighter was killed. The unusual bridge-like format has caused some to call it the most modern building in existence and others to describe it as being similar to ‘big boxer shorts’. Like it or not, the CCTV Building is classed as the second biggest office space after the Pentagon – pretty impressive for a TV station.
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32 Dong San Huan Zhong Lu, Guo Mao, Chaoyang Qu Beijing Shi, China

Woman’s Building, World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago

Building
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Dedicated to women’s success in the field of arts and crafts after its opening in 1893, the Woman’s Building accumulated controversy, predominantly from the male-dominated architectural committees. With adjacent buildings being rather more ‘flamboyant’, it was dismissed as ‘delicate’, ‘timid’ and ‘feminine’, but supposedly represented the contemporary ‘need’ for a space dedicated solely to women in art and architecture. Arguments about the inferior design of the building may have been sparked by the fact that it was designed by Hayden Bennett, the first female graduate of the MIT.
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8, 3543 18th Street, Mission District, San Francisco, California, 94110, USA
+14154311180
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Al Wakrah Stadium, Qatar (Zaha Hadid)

Bridge, Building, Stadium
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Al Janoub stadium inAl Wakrah landmark of Qatar build specially for the soccer world cup
Al Wakrah Stadium, Qatar (Zaha Hadid) | © camhi franck / Alamy Stock Photo
Still under construction in time for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Doha, Qatar, the Al Wakrah Stadium has already become one of the most controversial ever designed. First and foremost, the allegedly poor conditions experienced by the many migrant workers working on the project has purportedly resulted in over 1000 of their deaths. The second controversy revolves around the view that the building resembles female genitalia, something that Hadid denies.
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Al Wukair, Al Wakrah Municipality, Qatar
+97444641010

Tower Bridge, London

Bridge
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Tower Bridge, London, UK
Tower Bridge, London, UK | © incamerastock / Alamy Stock Photo
Built in 1886, Tower Bridge did not have a welcome reception. Architect and critic, Henry Heathcote Statham, said that the bridge ‘represents the vice of tawdriness and pretentiousness’ and others have declared that it is ‘excellently situated for our ugliest public work’. In 1894 it is rumored that a dog disliked it so much that even he would not cross it. It’s safe to say that since then it has become a much-loved addition to the London skyline.
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Tower Bridge Road, London, SE1 2UP, United Kingdom
+442074033761
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PATH Station at Ground Zero, New York

Building, Train Station
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WORLD TRADE CENTER STATION, OCULUS NEW YORK
PATH Station at Ground Zero, New York | © frederic REGLAIN / Alamy Stock Photo
Ground Zero’s PATH terminal is on its way to becoming the most expensive train station ever built. Before the budget skyrocketed, there was enough debate about whether or not such architecture would be appropriate for a location that resonates with the echoes of the 9/11 attacks. Inspired by a child releasing a bird, you would expect this to be a rather more placid building than it is, but the recent issues have all been around the cost, at an estimated $3.9 billion.
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Financial District, Manhattan New York, New York, 10006, USA
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Pruitt-Igoe Housing Development, Missouri

Pruitt-Igoe Housing Development earned the title ‘the most notorious failure in the history of public housing’. Low-income residents described the building as ‘inherently prison-like’ causing mental health problems and issues of racism among occupants. Less than 20 years after its completion the building was demolished, and has since been featured in architecture lectures as an example of ‘what not to do’ in urban design.

Pruitt-Igoe Housing, MO, USA

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