When I lived in Hong Kong I often passed by a residential apartment complex commonly known as the “monster building“. 

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This housing estate, originally built in the 1960s, actually consists of five separate buildings: the Fook Cheong Building, the Montane Mansion, the Oceanic Mansion, the Yick Cheong Building, and the Yick Fat Building.

It has become a tourist attraction because of its very unique and – some might say – “dystopian” look. 

Obviously, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so maybe you think that these buildings are pretty. In that case, good on you. But I guess there are also a lot of people who find them quite ugly.

One of the façades stood out to me in particular as being a massive, colossal mess. 

Although this is an extreme example, there are plenty of “monster buildings” in Hong Kong, usually housing estates constructed in the 1960s and 1970s. They have a very specific aesthetic: they look large, thick and heavy, with grubby, boring façades cluttered with protruding AC units. 

The 1960s and 1970s were the era of residential buildings that are, let’s say, controversial. Some examples include the Unité d’Habitation by Le Corbusier, and the Trellick Tower in the UK. 

I often wondered what makes these buildings so ugly and distressing (unless you like them, I’m not questioning anyone’s personal tast