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By Nick Winchester
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A London building known for its bulging proportions has won the 2015 Carbuncle Cupthe annual award for Britain's worst buildingby a unanimous vote of the judging panel.
Dominating the skyline above the City of London, 20 Fenchurch Street, commonly known as the Walkie Talkie, has previously raised the ire both UNESCO and English Heritage, as well as coming under fire for failing to acclimatize to London weather.
In 2014, sunshades had to be attached to the building's curved exterior because of complaints that they had concentrated sunlight and damaged nearby properties and parked cars. In July, the building, designed by Uruguayan architect Rafael Violy, was blamed for causing a strong downdraft impacting those walking below.
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The annual award, which has been judging the U.K.'s ugliest buildings since 2006, is judged by a panel from Building Design magazine. This year the panel included editor Thomas Lane, the writer, broadcaster and historian Gillian Darley and the architectural designer Eleanor Jolliffe, who both write columns for Building Design, and Ike Ijeh, the magazine's architecture critic.
Lane, who chaired the award, said finding anyone who had something positive to say about the building was a challenge. "It bulges out towards the top in a cynical move to maximize the amount of high-value space at the upper levels, in defiance of the principle tall buildings should taper elegantly inwards or at least feature parallel sides."
Lane added that "Londoners now have to suffer views of this bloated carbuncle crashing into London's historic skyline like an unwelcome guest at a party from miles away."
Judge Ike Ijeh likened the Walkie Talkie to "a gratuitous glass gargoyle graffitied onto the skyline of London," while Eleanor Jolliffe described it as a "Bond villain tower, as it could melt your car with a solar beam from space."
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