May 2005 | Eyesore

Commentary on architectural blunders in monthly serial.

Winner of the 2005 Pritzker Prize: Thom Mayne of Morphosis (that's the firm) as represented by his magnum opus, the Caltrans District 7 Headquarters, Los Angeles California. Caltrans is the California DOT. The Pritzker Foundation propaganda says Mayne founded Morphosis "to surpass the bounds of traditional forms and materials, while also working to carve out a territory beyond the limits of modernism and postmodernism."
On voyager! (And pass the soylent green!)

The ominous looming "100" is actually the building's address. From the architect's statement: "Prosaic materials, outsized structural forms, and exposed structural elements are referential to the work of Caltrans and evoke a feeling of being in, under or around the freeways themselves."

What's not to like about that under-the-freeway feel?