The Purchase College in the State University of New York has been listed as the ugliest university in the United States by the "Daily Caller."
Resembling a huge security prison, the property was transformed from a farm to a proper college campus by some of the most prominent American architectural firms and architects like Paul Rudolph, Charles Gwathmey, Phillip Johnson, John Burgee, Robert Venturi and Edward Larrabee Barnes.
The buildings and open spaces of the campus are considered to be visually distinctive models of late modernist architecture.
This is not the first time that the "ugly" tag has been attached to the campus. In Travel and Leisure's October 2013 issue, the college was named one of ugliest campuses in the US. Constructed at the height of Modernism in 1967, the use of dark brick and lack of windows created "an ominous vibe more appropriate for New York's Sing Sing Prison".
Purchase is followed by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. The buildings of the campus were designed by the internationally distinguished Modernist architect Paul Rudolph in the early 1960s.
In an attempt to distinguish the campus from the outside world, Rudolph used rough concrete for both the exterior and interior of each building - an essential element of the style Brutalism. He also installed large windows to give insiders the feeling of being connected to the outdoors.
Along with Purchase, Dartmouth College also earned a place in the 2013 list. The magazine compared the library to a concrete spaceship. The Brutalist style of architecture has been mostly ridiculed since its birth in the 1960s.
Top 10 Ugliest Universities in United States:
Purchase College
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
University of Albany
Hampshire College
Rochester Institute of Technology
University of Illinois Chicago
Rutgers University New Brunswick
Brandeis University
Harvey Mudd College
University of Massachusetts Amherst
