As China’s economy has soared over the past couple decades, developers have been completing large-scale architectural projects at unprecedented rates. This frenzied experimental atmosphere led to the construction of all kinds of weird structures, some designed by the world’s biggest names in architecture. Some, like The Piano Building in Huainan and the Teapot Building in Wuxi, are like giant sculptures, destined to draw in selfie-taking tourists. Others get mocked relentlessly on social media, like the national broadcaster building in Beijing by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, which has been nicknamed “big pants.”
In fact, there’s now such a huge selection of strange Chinese buildings to choose from, Archy.com started an annual Ugliest Building Survey, and its 12th annual contest has a whopping 87 contenders in the running. That number may dwindle in the years to come, since President Xi Jinping issued a government directive calling for an end to “oversized, xenocentric, weird” projects, and that’s part of the point of the contest. The organizers hope pointing out ugly architecture will “promote architects’ social responsibility” and cut back on wastefulness. Voting is open until December, when a commission of architects will select the final 10 winners. Here are some of the projects currently in the lead:
Donping Poly Plaza, Foshan, Guangdong

Nobody really wants a big imposing building in their city to look ...