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Belgian Guy Documents Ugly Houses He Sees And They’re So Bad, It’s Hilarious (30 Pics)
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Thanks to blogger Hannes Coudenys and, of course, the architects themselves, Belgium has become notorious for its quirky buildings. In 2012, Coudenys decided to begin documenting the peculiarities of Belgian architecture on an Instagram account called 'Ugly Belgian Houses,' and it has drawn the attention of architecture enthusiasts from all over the world.
But really, how hideously bizarre can a house design really be? Scroll down to check out the list of outrageous examples below, and let us know what you think in the comments!
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"Architect: ‘What kind of windows would you like?’ Client: ‘Yes’"
Coudenys had noticed that for some reason, Belgians have a different understanding of what is good architecture. So he decided that he had to share it with the world. "Normally, if you like architecture you like good houses, but in Belgium, there’s a lot of ugly architecture. So I started taking pictures of it, " he told Bored Panda.
Coudenys explained that when it comes to architecture, people in Belgium like to go against the flow. "Because regulations are quite liberal and we love to design our own quirky dreamhouse," he said.
"FELIX DA HOUSECAT"
Despite rapidly gaining attention online with so many people left in awe of the uniqueness of the buildings, Coudenys admits that many house-owners were not pleased about their homes facing scrutiny online. "I received emails from lawyers and eventually gave in, stopping the blog altogether. I can understand the negative reactions in a way... It's the house of their dreams and I am demolishing it! " he explained.
Luckily, he decided to relaunch his blog in 2013, although this time he encourages people to contact him directly if they are not pleased with seeing their house on the blog. Scroll below for the photos of Ugly Belgian Architecture!
"When u wanted to live in a fairytale but you chose to live in Shrek’s Swamp House"
"Say Cheese!"
"'No, your other left'"
"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who´s the fanciest house of them all??, Oh, me, me!"
"Windows not installed"
"Architect: what do you want
Guy: legs of a lego man
Architect: say no more fam"
Omg, this is in my hometown, the back of the other half goes into the air as well. They've been building this for years but are having problems and it's still not finished.
"When you have a beautiful Belgian House but you really want to be on my website"
Perfect contrast! - Beautiful old architecture Vs We just can't be bovvered 😂
"When you’re on a field trip and you loose the rest of your group"
"Looks like Frodo finally settled down in the suburbs"
That one looks actually pretty nice to me, except the stones taht look a bit dirty and could need a cleaning...It looks a bit sad like that
"For that cosy under the bridge feeling"
"NEIN NEIN NEIN"
"When Belgians move"
There's always that one neighbor that must be different from the others, in a stupid kind of way.
"What did one pyramid say to the other?
– How’s your mummy!"
"Total eclipse of the house"
This is one of those "IS IT UGLY OR IS IT SO FUCKING DEEPLY ARTISTIC THAT WE DONT GET IT..? SMILE AND PRETEND YOU GET IT HONEY.."
"Zaha Hadid from the Aldi"
I wouldn't say they're ALL ugly. ____ But they're certainly unique
Most of them are creative works of art.
I liked quite a few of them. Even ugly is better than cookie cutter boring. Plus they could be spectacular insir.
@Mascha Claessens, I bet you are Dutch and you don't like the Belgians. Right?
A year late, but well... apparently a little joke gets downvoted. I have literally nothing against Belgium or Belgians. I just don't like most Belgian houses I've visited in my life, inside or out. I actually visit Belgium quite often, and even as a kid, the (in my opinion uglyness of the) houses just stood out to me when crossing the border. That's not about the Belgian people, that's just about a general type of houses in Belgium I just really don't care for. On average, I personally find Dutch houses more attractive, outside and inside, and that also says nothing about the people. Everyone's allowed to think differently about that. And there are many more countries with prettier houses (on average) than The Netherlands as well. Politically correct enough?
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I want to live in these houses or a house as strange as these
Headed south on I-95, there was a shoe house on the right hand side in North Carolina, I think it was. It was locally famous and was lived in until the 70s or so by an old woman. It may have become a museum after that because I remember seeing it through the 80s and part of the 90s. I think it may be torn down by this point, but please don't hold me to that. I haven't driven south in years.
which one was the ugly one?
I'm torn on that house that has few/no windows. On one hand, I want my home to have windows. On the other, I have black-out curtains on all my windows. ;-)
Always fun to see Hannes' pictures pass by and I honestly have to say that these are not that exceptional over here in belgium, we truly have some uuuuugly houses. My old aesthetics teacher used to do a yearly slideshow on kitsch belgian mailboxes, a lot of incredible designs there as well!
I think it is because we all like to do it ourselves :D and better than the neighbours :P
Better is maybe not the ideal word, but in any case not boring ;)
Some are ugly, but a lot I actually quite like. At least they’re original.
about a third of those were amazing, not at all ugly
It looks like they have a thing for houses with "expression" (eyes and mouth)...
Belgian architects are creative artists
There are a lot of ugly houses in Belgium du to lack of uniformity in the rules of building and due to the fact that a lot of Belgian wants to build "their house". But just type "House Belgium" on google and you'll see beautiful houses, we have talented architects don't worry
I love these houses. Much better than in my country where everything is regulated. When you want to build a house there are some lame civil servents that decide what you're allowed to build. Which kind of roof, the slope of the roof, the color of the roof, the bricks, the amount of windows, the size of the windows etc.etc. Just ridiculous.
Nederland?
Haha :) lang leve de burgerlijkheid zeker? Dat is hier soms ook als je echt in een woonwijk ofzo wil bouwen. Dan moet je vaak ook een bepaalde bouwstijl aanhouden. Maar het verschilt van dorp tot dorp, en zelfs straat tot straat. Ons huis is gebouwd in strakke pastorijstijl, onze buren wonen in een witte betonnen blok met spiegelglas...
Ja. Ongelooflijke eikels. Ik moest en zou één rij stenen inspringend laten metselen "om de monotonie van het metselwerk aan de gevel te doorbreken." volgens de "Welstandscommissie" .
We just love building houses :D there is a saying here in Belgium that translates to 'every Flemming is born with a brick in his stomach'. (Flemming: from Flandria, Dutch speaking part of Belgium) Keep in mind that our houses are a lot different than the average American house. We build mostly with bricks and/or concrete (even the interior walls), we use awesome foundations, etc. And we like to do it ourselves :) we built our own house too. Took up to almost 5 years to finish, but we love it!
The saying is "The Belgians have a brick in their stomach", it's not only related to Flemming, but also to Waloons ;)
Whoops :P
I guess they enjoy being unique.
If they pass a law stating you can't build drunk, I think it would solve a lot of this.
I'm surprised you get permission to build houses that don't fit the surrounding houses. Especially when built next to historic looking houses.
That's one of the many beauties of Belgium. There is actually a term that has been coined in architecture called "Bruxellisation" that describes the total mayhem of Brussels architecture :)
Most towns have there own specific regulations. Mostly apply to building height and stuff. But everyone is kind of free to design there own house, 'within regulations'. On the other hand, there are a lot of buildings that are protected. When you buy a protected house and want to update it, you have to follow very strict regulations. Like keep the windows and doors where they are now, keep the barn, don't go up in height, do not touch the facade, ... Those cases are often way more expensive than building a complete new one.
I like it. Old meets new. Besides if you couldn't build modern architecture next to old, our city centres would be a boring mix of old and faux old (often built without the attention to decorative detail that makes many of the old buildings so beautiful). Instead we get to see the contrasts, the living history of architecture. Did I mention I like it?
Now I'm curious what they look on the inside
This post makes me feel weird. And uncomfortable.
nothing strange, its Belgium
None of them are ugly. They are unique, special and beautiful
Someone needs to do this in the Hollywood Hills. There's a ton of ridiculous houses built by wealthy people with no taste.
i think the Belgians put weed in their hot chocolate or whatever they were imbibing.
I'm not sure what the problem is, here. Most of these are just unusual. If you want to see ugly, boring architecture come to Berlin and look at all the new builds: one grey, boring box after the other.
They definitely have a thing against windows. I'd love to see them from the inside.
Some of these houses would be great as settings for mysterious supernatural fantasy type novels.
Architects think they're wonderful. (They're not.)
Crazy houses none I would live in , not one
Wow these are amazingly weird! I love them, it's good to see such unique buildings. You would never get away with anything like them here in Britain, everyone is so uptight and boring, generally speaking that is..... The local council planning departments. ;-)
I had to ask for a freaking permit just to change the COLOR or my house when they did the insulation, so no, we don't have "liberal regulations", it's actually the opposite :/
Let's not forget that Belgium lacks architectural supervising (like the Netherlands for instance), so you may build (more or less) whatever you want. You can see almost everywhere the lack of harmony between stiles of close buildings and, not seldom, the complete lack of good taste.
Well, taste is questionable, right? And we do have areas where all the houses are built in the same style. But most regulations are about height, type of roof, slope of the roof, ... not about the style you choose.
We are currently designing our new house. This has given me many ideas of what not to do!
they not that bad.. c.mon!!
The captions on these are very apropos!
I love at least half of this houses. sometimes literally;D
Some of them have me asking do they not have planning permission like they do in the UK?
There are a couple of restrictions that differ from town to town but usually related to the height/size of the house and such, not the style.
I'm from the Netherlands, travel to Belgium almost every day (by train). And, especially if you're travelling by car, you always just know when you have crossed the border: A) the roads are way more crappy, B) the houses are UGLY AS HELL (most of these are kinda funny, but most houses are just plain ugly and depressing), and C) 70 km/h roads right through towns, like right in front of people's front doors. But it's a nice country anyway. Especially the cities (AND BEER) are nice :)
I agree with you on the crappy roads thing :p but we have some of the worlds best architecture and interior design, so I definitly wouldn't call all our houses ugly :D and most of all, we put a lot of love into building it...
I live in Brussels and the things I see here... It seems that belgians have no regard for old OR new, because it's a bit of a mess. Lots of different styles mixed together. Somethimes it works, but sometimes not so much... Still, Brussels is not a beautiful city as a whole.
These truly boggle my mind. Some are definitely cute but they're just so .. weird.
Many of these look like computer glitches while someone was building a Sims4 house! Some are neat, but some I have questions. Either way, I agree with Night Owl, they are unique!
Why would you call them ugly ? Just because it's a different style of architecture than what you have in the US ? These are just Belgian style houses. Educate yourself.
Euhm, Bored Panda didn't name them that. The Belgian guy who started the series did...
Where in Belgium where those pics taken? I'm in West-Vlaanderen and haven't seen any of those whack houses yet. Some are normal like pic 2 (really old houses), but aside from that.... nope
The first one is located in Oostende tho ;)
I am from Antwerpse Kempen, and I see houses like these everywhere I go :D
My first thoughts were: are these photo's taken in Wallonie?
What do you mean ugly, i'd live in all of them
So long for Horta's legacy...
Well, nothing ventured nothing gained. They risc in making new designs but unfortunately most of them are not attractive to the eyes.
They are atrocious. All of them. They are ugly and out of place and is it the same 'architect'. Arrest him or her.
Apparently it's an architectural free-for-all in Belgium. I'm not even sure I can call it architecture...
Efngguhbaen3yr7de9u84twq3ruje fenac
Guys, don't downvote him. It's TJler's new account because he was banned from the last two//three. He's just asking for downvotes. Remember, upvote
Is your keyboard stuck?
I wouldn't say they're ALL ugly. ____ But they're certainly unique
Most of them are creative works of art.
I liked quite a few of them. Even ugly is better than cookie cutter boring. Plus they could be spectacular insir.
@Mascha Claessens, I bet you are Dutch and you don't like the Belgians. Right?
A year late, but well... apparently a little joke gets downvoted. I have literally nothing against Belgium or Belgians. I just don't like most Belgian houses I've visited in my life, inside or out. I actually visit Belgium quite often, and even as a kid, the (in my opinion uglyness of the) houses just stood out to me when crossing the border. That's not about the Belgian people, that's just about a general type of houses in Belgium I just really don't care for. On average, I personally find Dutch houses more attractive, outside and inside, and that also says nothing about the people. Everyone's allowed to think differently about that. And there are many more countries with prettier houses (on average) than The Netherlands as well. Politically correct enough?
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
This comment has been deleted.
I want to live in these houses or a house as strange as these
Headed south on I-95, there was a shoe house on the right hand side in North Carolina, I think it was. It was locally famous and was lived in until the 70s or so by an old woman. It may have become a museum after that because I remember seeing it through the 80s and part of the 90s. I think it may be torn down by this point, but please don't hold me to that. I haven't driven south in years.
which one was the ugly one?
I'm torn on that house that has few/no windows. On one hand, I want my home to have windows. On the other, I have black-out curtains on all my windows. ;-)
Always fun to see Hannes' pictures pass by and I honestly have to say that these are not that exceptional over here in belgium, we truly have some uuuuugly houses. My old aesthetics teacher used to do a yearly slideshow on kitsch belgian mailboxes, a lot of incredible designs there as well!
I think it is because we all like to do it ourselves :D and better than the neighbours :P
Better is maybe not the ideal word, but in any case not boring ;)
Some are ugly, but a lot I actually quite like. At least they’re original.
about a third of those were amazing, not at all ugly
It looks like they have a thing for houses with "expression" (eyes and mouth)...
Belgian architects are creative artists
There are a lot of ugly houses in Belgium du to lack of uniformity in the rules of building and due to the fact that a lot of Belgian wants to build "their house". But just type "House Belgium" on google and you'll see beautiful houses, we have talented architects don't worry
I love these houses. Much better than in my country where everything is regulated. When you want to build a house there are some lame civil servents that decide what you're allowed to build. Which kind of roof, the slope of the roof, the color of the roof, the bricks, the amount of windows, the size of the windows etc.etc. Just ridiculous.
Nederland?
Haha :) lang leve de burgerlijkheid zeker? Dat is hier soms ook als je echt in een woonwijk ofzo wil bouwen. Dan moet je vaak ook een bepaalde bouwstijl aanhouden. Maar het verschilt van dorp tot dorp, en zelfs straat tot straat. Ons huis is gebouwd in strakke pastorijstijl, onze buren wonen in een witte betonnen blok met spiegelglas...
Ja. Ongelooflijke eikels. Ik moest en zou één rij stenen inspringend laten metselen "om de monotonie van het metselwerk aan de gevel te doorbreken." volgens de "Welstandscommissie" .
We just love building houses :D there is a saying here in Belgium that translates to 'every Flemming is born with a brick in his stomach'. (Flemming: from Flandria, Dutch speaking part of Belgium) Keep in mind that our houses are a lot different than the average American house. We build mostly with bricks and/or concrete (even the interior walls), we use awesome foundations, etc. And we like to do it ourselves :) we built our own house too. Took up to almost 5 years to finish, but we love it!
The saying is "The Belgians have a brick in their stomach", it's not only related to Flemming, but also to Waloons ;)
Whoops :P
I guess they enjoy being unique.
If they pass a law stating you can't build drunk, I think it would solve a lot of this.
I'm surprised you get permission to build houses that don't fit the surrounding houses. Especially when built next to historic looking houses.
That's one of the many beauties of Belgium. There is actually a term that has been coined in architecture called "Bruxellisation" that describes the total mayhem of Brussels architecture :)
Most towns have there own specific regulations. Mostly apply to building height and stuff. But everyone is kind of free to design there own house, 'within regulations'. On the other hand, there are a lot of buildings that are protected. When you buy a protected house and want to update it, you have to follow very strict regulations. Like keep the windows and doors where they are now, keep the barn, don't go up in height, do not touch the facade, ... Those cases are often way more expensive than building a complete new one.
I like it. Old meets new. Besides if you couldn't build modern architecture next to old, our city centres would be a boring mix of old and faux old (often built without the attention to decorative detail that makes many of the old buildings so beautiful). Instead we get to see the contrasts, the living history of architecture. Did I mention I like it?
Now I'm curious what they look on the inside
This post makes me feel weird. And uncomfortable.
nothing strange, its Belgium
None of them are ugly. They are unique, special and beautiful
Someone needs to do this in the Hollywood Hills. There's a ton of ridiculous houses built by wealthy people with no taste.
i think the Belgians put weed in their hot chocolate or whatever they were imbibing.
I'm not sure what the problem is, here. Most of these are just unusual. If you want to see ugly, boring architecture come to Berlin and look at all the new builds: one grey, boring box after the other.
They definitely have a thing against windows. I'd love to see them from the inside.
Some of these houses would be great as settings for mysterious supernatural fantasy type novels.
Architects think they're wonderful. (They're not.)
Crazy houses none I would live in , not one
Wow these are amazingly weird! I love them, it's good to see such unique buildings. You would never get away with anything like them here in Britain, everyone is so uptight and boring, generally speaking that is..... The local council planning departments. ;-)
I had to ask for a freaking permit just to change the COLOR or my house when they did the insulation, so no, we don't have "liberal regulations", it's actually the opposite :/
Let's not forget that Belgium lacks architectural supervising (like the Netherlands for instance), so you may build (more or less) whatever you want. You can see almost everywhere the lack of harmony between stiles of close buildings and, not seldom, the complete lack of good taste.
Well, taste is questionable, right? And we do have areas where all the houses are built in the same style. But most regulations are about height, type of roof, slope of the roof, ... not about the style you choose.
We are currently designing our new house. This has given me many ideas of what not to do!
they not that bad.. c.mon!!
The captions on these are very apropos!
I love at least half of this houses. sometimes literally;D
Some of them have me asking do they not have planning permission like they do in the UK?
There are a couple of restrictions that differ from town to town but usually related to the height/size of the house and such, not the style.
I'm from the Netherlands, travel to Belgium almost every day (by train). And, especially if you're travelling by car, you always just know when you have crossed the border: A) the roads are way more crappy, B) the houses are UGLY AS HELL (most of these are kinda funny, but most houses are just plain ugly and depressing), and C) 70 km/h roads right through towns, like right in front of people's front doors. But it's a nice country anyway. Especially the cities (AND BEER) are nice :)
I agree with you on the crappy roads thing :p but we have some of the worlds best architecture and interior design, so I definitly wouldn't call all our houses ugly :D and most of all, we put a lot of love into building it...
I live in Brussels and the things I see here... It seems that belgians have no regard for old OR new, because it's a bit of a mess. Lots of different styles mixed together. Somethimes it works, but sometimes not so much... Still, Brussels is not a beautiful city as a whole.
These truly boggle my mind. Some are definitely cute but they're just so .. weird.
Many of these look like computer glitches while someone was building a Sims4 house! Some are neat, but some I have questions. Either way, I agree with Night Owl, they are unique!
Why would you call them ugly ? Just because it's a different style of architecture than what you have in the US ? These are just Belgian style houses. Educate yourself.
Euhm, Bored Panda didn't name them that. The Belgian guy who started the series did...
Where in Belgium where those pics taken? I'm in West-Vlaanderen and haven't seen any of those whack houses yet. Some are normal like pic 2 (really old houses), but aside from that.... nope
The first one is located in Oostende tho ;)
I am from Antwerpse Kempen, and I see houses like these everywhere I go :D
My first thoughts were: are these photo's taken in Wallonie?
What do you mean ugly, i'd live in all of them
So long for Horta's legacy...
Well, nothing ventured nothing gained. They risc in making new designs but unfortunately most of them are not attractive to the eyes.
They are atrocious. All of them. They are ugly and out of place and is it the same 'architect'. Arrest him or her.
Apparently it's an architectural free-for-all in Belgium. I'm not even sure I can call it architecture...
Efngguhbaen3yr7de9u84twq3ruje fenac
Guys, don't downvote him. It's TJler's new account because he was banned from the last two//three. He's just asking for downvotes. Remember, upvote
Is your keyboard stuck?