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Does it take years of training for architects to lean how to combine ugliness, poor proportion, cheapness with boring?

All the new buildings on Merseyside seem to have these qualities in excess in some cases.

I feel ashamed that this is what our era will leave to coming generations. Hopefully they will demolish them and build something better.

Agreed, for large buildings steel frames and glass panels are the cheapest form of occupied construction, for warehouses its steel frames and panelling, for smaller buildings its regular brick.

However when you see what architects do when given more money it just gets wild - "lets see what ridiculous design I can come up with". Its a battle between a great architectural achievement and a great visual achievement.

Looking across at Liverpool these days, the Sandcastle building which at one time was considered abhorrent by many is lost against the other visual crimes.

To be fair, there are some reasonable attempts by some companies to do better but the bad examples stand out more. Simple things like brick colour and good brickwork can make a big difference, the low cost housing on Beaufort Road are not at all bad for budget housing despite being relatively plain https://maps.app.goo.gl/crtGzUuBp5kjjamC7

Well the new building I like best (or dislike least) is the black matchbox on the river side of the Strand near Water Street. Its is well proportioned and unfussy, unlike the triangular abortion next to it.

It may look better than it is because the other side of the dock road from Water street to the Baltic fleet is a monument to bad taste. I particularly dislike the acres of aluminium window frames. They are well suited to bus stations but little else in my opinion.