Every year I post the same thing, but I really dislike the Pug Awards.
- They encourage web-browser armchair architectural comment, where people make judgements based on a few images (albeit, images that are much improved over past years). I don't think this is a useful way of making such judgements, as the context in which a building appears is very important.
- The judgements that can be made, including this year's addition of "like it", really don't allow one to say anything interesting about a building. Like, what exactly is wrong with it - if you don't like it. I've always felt there are two quite distinct ways to appreciate a building - from a purely aesthetic point of view (is this a beautiful building?) and from a city-building point of view (is this the right building in the right location? Is it permeable to the neighbourhood in which it exists? What does it offer to its setting? Is it too large, too tall, or too small? Is an office building or a residential building more appropriate on this site?). For me, both of these are interesting, but the Pugs allow no place for this kind of basic distinction. For instance, some low-rise buildings on major streets are ugly to me, but I welcome them anyways because in their built form they will certainly add vibrancy to the setting in which they exist. What do I do with the Pugs on that? There's really nothing interesting to say about a building given three options.
- Though they've moved from this I will never forgive their first years when they were the Pugly awards and they seemed designed to encourage bitching, which I think is the last thing the city needs. Now they're called the "Pug" Awards, which is a silly and stupid name for architectural awards in the first place, but they are saddled with it from a historical perspective.
- Finally, I'm actually quite strongly disinterested in populism when it comes to architectural critiques anyways, and in any given year it is not uncommon for buildings that I think are good additions to the urban fabric to be under-ranked to lesser buildings.
(end of rant).
I have to say, the issues like those above are best discussed over time by many people who can make longer comments and arguments about the way our city is taking shape. Frankly, with the existence of UrbanToronto and the great folks who post here, who need the Pugs? They're completely irrelevant, and in my mind do more harm than good.