By Michael Evans
Hot on the heels of China’s ugliest sculptures comes another top ten list of the country’s ugliest buildings. The unlucky winners were nominated by netizens and voted on in an online poll hosted by architecture website archcy.com, though the final decision was made by a panel of experts.
The voting was not restricted to new structures built in the past year, and many familiar entries from previous contests (which has been held annually since 2010) reappeared on this year’s list.
First place went to the 149-meter Namaste Dagoba in Xi’an’s Famen Temple, completed in 2009, while a government office complex in Chengdu won second place. Coming in third was the China pavilion, centerpiece of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
One notable absence on this year’s list was CCTV’s new Beijing headquarters, which placed first in the 2010 popular vote and third in 2011.