When it comes to viral architecture, readers love a sense of the theatrical. This trend has led to a new internet obsession: ‘evil’ buildings that look like they could be the home of a supervillain or nefarious corporation.

Compiled on sites such as BoredPanda and Reddit, lists of ‘Evil Buildings’ tend to feature structures that feel sterile to non-architects, photographed in dramatic lighting or surrounded in fog. Projects by Zaha Hadid Architects, Frank Gehry and Ole Scheeren are among those represented. But what exactly makes these buildings feel evil?

This phenomenon represents an age-old quandary in architecture: how to make laypersons feel more comfortable with architectural styles they may be uncomfortable with. This issue is most commonly seen in the differences in public and architect opinions on Brutalist buildings, which even publicly elected officials have decried as “”aesthetically worthless” and “ugly.”

Check out BoredPanda’s list of ‘Evil Buildings’ here.

Is it possible for a building to be ‘evil’, or is it simply a product of photography? How should architects react to the way their buildings are perceived?

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© Rafael Gamo

• Architects: ROSETTI
• Location: Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NY 11375, United States
• Area: 125000.0 ft2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Rafael Gamo

© Rafael Gamo

From the architect. Completed this fall, the 125,000 square foot, 8,125-seat Grandstand Stadium is an innovative, lightweight structure that anchors the southwest corner of the United States Tennis Association’s (USTA) National Tennis Center in New York City. Since 2010, ROSSETTI and the USTA have collaborated on redesigning the 46-acre campus for the future of tennis, and expect to complete the final phase for the 2018 US Open. 

Diagram

Relocated from the crowded northeast corner of the campus, the new Grandstand Stadium nestles into the natural setting of Flushing Meadows Corona Park; the trees along the campus edge inspire its unique exterior skin pattern that metaphorically evokes the illusion of peering through the foliage of leaves.

© Rafael Gamo

Teflon-coated fiberglass membrane, or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)”) fabric, the hexadecagon (16-sided) facade is composed of 486 panels, over 26,000 square feet, that were designed using Computational Solver software. The complex geometry of the panels is synthesized while taking advantage of the material play on opacity and translucency, offering glimpses into and out of the stadium.

© Rafael Gamo

Section Detail

© Rafael Gamo

From the ground, fans are drawn into the Grandstand Stadium from multiple staircases alongside the structure. Along the upper walkway, visitors enjoy expansive views of the campus and park, including the new Allée, which connects to the historic World’s Fair Unisphere. Its strategic design allows people to move freely along the perimeter of the stadium while staying underneath the translucent canopy overhead.

Walkway Level Plan

The fan experience includes a lower bowl recessed into the earth, to maintain scalability, which creates the ultimate tennis experience that highlights the player-fan relationship. New concessions, a picnic area and plazas surround the Grandstand Stadium and provide fans with a comfortable, laid-back atmosphere as an alternative to the hustle and bustle of the rest of the campus.

© Rafael Gamo

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© Yuya Hoshino

• Architects: B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio
• Location: Guo Zi Jian Jie, Dongcheng Qu, Beijing Shi, China, 100007
• Architects In Charge: Shuhei Aoyama, Yoko Fujii, Jingjing Tang, Lingzi Liu
• Area: 120.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Yuya Hoshino

© Yuya Hoshino

From the architect. This project is a store renovation for the furniture brand “Lost and Found” located in Guozijian  Street, a historic district in Beijing. As nowadays, more and more people tends to live alone, the concept of a traditional family gradually disintegrated, and the city’s public space is  becoming another “home” for people. Under such contexts, the renovation intends to  bring the sense of “home” into the store, and to introduce a new vision for the future commercial space that connects people with urban public space.

© Yuya Hoshino

By adding an alc, the traditional single-storey siheyuan building is transformed to a loK while most of the original wooden structure were retained. The indoor garden in the centre of the building divides the whole space into four independent areas living room, dining room, bedroom and a study. Since all the rooms open up to indoor courtyard, each space benefits from the sunlight that coming through the large skylight above and gets a view of the indoor garden.

© Yuya Hoshino

Plan 1

© Yuya Hoshino

Natural materials are used in all areas such as terrazzo floor, diatom mud wall paint, and wooden furniture. The rough texture and the plain look bring a warm and friendly feeling to people, waking up people’s initial memories and senses of home and family.

© Yuya Hoshino

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Courtesy of ArchSD

• Architects: ArchSD
• Location: Muk Hung St, Kai Tak, Hong Kong
• Architects In Charge: Alice Yeung, Thomas Wan, Tuesday Li
• Area: 11150.0 m2
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Courtesy of ArchSD

Courtesy of ArchSD

From the architect. A school is a community: a micro-society, a mini city within a city. It is an oasis yet has a direct relationship with the city at large. Our idea is simple; the spatial concept for the Kai Tak Primary School is to bring the students and teachers together with the playground and other spaces and activities, to encourage interactions. Breaking away from the typical densely built 8-storey school building in Hong Kong with the ball court on the ground, this school adopts a low-rise 4-storey design, with the basketball court raised on the first floor, sited in the middle of the school campus, creating a focus, pulling together spaces and activities.

Courtesy of ArchSD

Axonometric

Courtesy of ArchSD

From the school entrance plaza, students follow a staircase route to encounter the covered playground, central ball court and library roof garden, creating a sense of discovery of spaces, to stimulate the passion for self-discovery. This staircase path connects the three major open spaces of the school, setting the orientation of the campus. 

Courtesy of ArchSD

The old tradition of Hong Kong’s walled village is re-interpreted in the design of the school.  In similar way as a village’s ancestral hall, houses, square and lanes would be strategically laid out within the village wall.  Within the wall of the School campus, the assembly hall which reads as the town hall of the school complex, the library and the classrooms are arranged in different blocks around the central ball court, with link bridges, courtyards, street and colonnades, shaping the school as a micro polis, conceived as a whole by using major urban design elements of a city. Courtyards, streetscapes and overlooking terraces bring closer the different spaces and activities, encouraging interactions. 

Courtesy of ArchSD

Gardens and roof gardens are arranged on different levels throughout the campus to provide green scenery for the interiors and attract communications between the indoor and the open spaces. Gardens and vertical greening together with fair-faced concrete, metal and timber screens compose a variety of spatial experiences to be discovered, to stimulate learning. The selection of materials and generous use of greening also create an oasis in the city.

Courtesy of ArchSD

Product Description. Metal screen of weaved mild steel plates was used as window screen of the classroom block close to the main entrance of the school.  Mild steel, along with other natural materials such as fair-faced concrete, timber and vertical greening, creates a variety of spatial experiences to be discovered.  The language of the weaved screen was inspired by the Chinese traditional screen, a common element for windows and partitions in traditional houses of walled-villages in Hong Kong.  By incorporating screens that mediate the outdoor and indoor environments, the design re-interprets the tradition in a contemporary way.

Courtesy of ArchSD

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© Katherine Lu

• Architects: Bijl Architecture
• Location: Mosman NSW 2088, Australia
• Architect In Charge: Melonie Bayl-Smith
• Interior Designer: Vanessa Tang-Lee
• Area: 285.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Katherine Lu

• Builder: Langridge Constructions
• Structural Engineer : Partridge
• Stormwater Engineer: Partridge
• Arboriculturalist : Tree Talk
• Pool Builder: Premier Pools

© Katherine Lu

Set on the edge of a national park, the Burrawong House has undergone a transformation that establishes compelling links between the dwelling and its bushland surrounds, providing opportunities for serenity and retreat. Bijl Architecture was engaged by the owners from the very conception of the project, assisting with identifying an ideal site that captured both tranquillity and suburban amenity.  

© Katherine Lu

Through careful manipulation, alteration and augmentation of the original 1970s brick dwelling, the scheme interacts with its bush surroundings in an interplay of light and shadow. The simple form of the original 1970s dwelling required specific formal responses, with the new additions designed to nestle under and into the existing building form. 

© Katherine Lu

Key design elements such as large picture windows, clerestories, raking ceilings and internal/external spatial flows have been leveraged so as to compete with the shading of the extensive foliage and deal with the difficult bush fire zoning. Utilising this design approach, an equilibrium of spaces come together, making the house work vertically as well as horizontally. 

Floor Plan

A series of careful insertions – under the house to create a music studio, at the side of the house to create a magnificent lap pool that juts into the bush – translates into a multiplicity of soft or transitional spaces for escape and relaxation. The result is a house that bows to the bush, that makes the most of its original, modest form by offering a flexible family home focused on quiet beauty.

© Katherine Lu

Product Description. As the property is in the highest level bushfire planning zone, any new external materials needed to consider not only the aesthetic and form of the original 1970s brick dwelling, but also the ability to withstand stressful bushfire conditions. We also considered how any additions to the existing dwelling would best blend with the highly textured and coloured brickwork as well as the dense bushland surrounds. Thinking about these various parameters, we decided to preserve the original long line of the existing dwelling by placing a ‘pop-out’ addition on the street façade, accommodating a modest extension to the ground floor plane. This addition is clad in Terracade panels, made by Austral Bricks – the terracotta panels comply with the bushfire requirements and allow an efficient wall thickness to be achieved. The panels allow the new addition to make a contemporary reference to the brick ‘units’ of the existing dwelling, while contributing to a slick rectilinear aesthetic. Overall, the box form and its clean, grid-like surface complements the existing building fabric whilst making its own statement as the new street-facing element.

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