Bisey Reviews: Ugly Buildings

Bisey
2 min readJul 15, 2017

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The Elephant Building, located in Bangkok, Thailand

Resembling a duck more than it does an elephant, the Elephant Building is an iconic feature of the Bangkok skyline due to its unusual shape. At 335 feet in height, the building is qualified to be a skyscraper, despite its non-traditional shape.

Your standard Asian elephant is around 9–13 feet tall and 18–21 feet tall. If we had an Asian elephant that was 335 feet tall, it would be anywhere from 464 to 781 feet in length. This is perfect; the building is 560 feet long. In terms of height and length, the architect was spot on with their recreation. Other traditionally elephantine features, including a proper free-hanging tail, large ears, and tusks, are strangely absent. Additionally, the trunk appears glued to itself, which is not optimal if the elephant ever wishes to drink water. The orange piece, most likely intended to mark the hole at the end of the trunk or a strangely deformed tusk, resembles a duck’s bill more than it does anything else.

Perhaps the architects of Bangkok can learn a lesson or two from the creators of Lucy the Elephant, located near Atlantic City, New Jersey

Disclaimer: Thailand is cool, no disrespect is intended towards the people of Thailand or the creators of the building

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