Carbuncle Awards : Information + Images

The Scottish Design Show saw the return of the controversial Carbuncle Awards which seeks to name and shame Scotland’s Most Disappointing Building and Most Dismal Town. The exhibition will be unveiled at the Scottish Design Show, announcing the shortlisted contenders for the least wanted prize in Architecture. Plook on the Plinth winners further down page Comments welcome on the Carbuncle Awards: info@glasgowarchitecture.co.uk Carbuncles - Carnyx PR 21.10.05: It gives us absolutely no pleasure to announce that four years after the last award was handed out, Cumbernauld has won the Plook on the Plinth Award for the Most Dismal Town in Scotland, again. In 2001, Cumbernauld won the award and this year the public has expressed their displeasure with the state of its town centre by giving it the nod once more. Over 6,000 individuals have accessed our voting pages for the Award. Cumbernauld received 28% of the vote with its closest rival Ardrossan in second place with 17%. The Awards are decided firstly by public nomination then whittled down by a judging panel to six. These six short-listed towns were then put to a public vote. So it isn't really our place to say why Cumbernauld won. We have included a selection of some of the nominations we received for the town on the website. As is clear from reading the list, a large number come from local inhabitants, who are particularly incensed at the state of disrepair that its town centre has fallen into. Described as "a rabbit warren on stilts" in 2001 by a judge it was described as "the Lego fantasy of an unhappy child", this year. "Reading between the lines, people in Cumbernauld and the surrounding regions are rightly annoyed. Cumbernauld is an affluent town that is failing to live up to its potential. According to the Information & Statistics Division of NHS Scotland, and Communities Scotland, in 2004 the Average Gross Household Income in Cumbernauld was higher than the national average. The number of children in workless households and the number of income support claimants was lower than the national average. And yet the average house price in Cumbernauld is £357K a full ten grand less than the mean cost of a house throughout the country," said Tim Abrahams, Deputy Editor of Prospect Magazine. In addition two other awards have been voted on by the public. The Zit Building for the Most Disappointing building, has gone to The Pinnacle on St Vincent Street in Glasgow. A description of the building by Penny Lewis is enclosed. The Worst Planning Decision has gone to the proposed M74 extension on the south side of Glasgow. End of Carbuncle / Plook on the Plinth Awards PR The Awards were organised by Prospect Magazine The inaugural Scottish Design Show will bring together politicians, academics, public agencies, the private sector and the public to discuss and debate the development of Scotland’s urban and rural landscape. With a varied programme aimed at local governments, masterplanners, architects and developers, this event will provide an opportunity for individuals to grasp a better understanding of the country’s infrastructure, planning and master-planning proposals and the role of design in the development process. The two-day show opens on 6 October and runs until 7 October at Glasgow’s Tramway Theatre. It will feature a robust programme of lectures, master classes, workshops and debates. Leading architecture figures are set to inspire at the show by presenting and discussing their most notable projects and the design processes employed. A series of Master Classes will run throughout the duration of the the two days, with Amin Taha, Anthony Hunt, Isi Metzstein and Patrik Schumacher all set to appear. Patrik Schumaker is a director at Zaha Hadid Architects and the project architect for the new proposed museum for Glasgow Harbour. Leading Scottish architects from Elder & Cannon, Reiach & Hall and Richard Murphy Architects will also give a series of presentations on their most recent work and the approach of their practice. The show will draw to a close with a bit of blue sky thinking as four designers are invited to invent buildings, designs and initiatives that they think can dramatically improve the life of Scotland. With ideas solicited from the audience, Imaging the Future is for those that entertain ambitious plans for the future. Exhibitions The Scottish Design Show will also provide a platform for numerous exhibitions, which will be open throughout the event. The 100 Best Buildings will feature the very best buildings built in Scotland in the last 50 years, chosen by a panel of leading architects, and is set to provoke debate.