Criticism has multiplied after the construction in Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom) of a building resembling the famous poop emoji. The W Hotel, whose total cost is estimated at 1 billion pounds, disfigures the urban skyline, denounce its detractors.
They are all the more furious that the building is visible from almost all parts of the city, says The Guardian. Jestico + Whiles, the firm that designed the Scottish building, denied any intention to reproduce a scatological form. The architects explained that they drew their inspiration from the rolls of paper used in the printing houses that the district previously housed.
Edinburgh: a big poo on the horizon 😮https://t.co/IPsxlkcuZV
– Benoît Gallerey (@bengallerey) July 8, 2021
“The hotel of the golden turd”
They especially evoked the influence of haute couture and more especially of a headband imagined by the house of Valentino, claiming to have wanted to imitate the silk ribbons waving above the head of a mannequin. They finally put forward the resemblance of their creation with a local confectionery in the shape of a cone.
🇬🇧 The W Hotel has not yet opened its doors in Edinburgh but it is already arousing the ire of locals. The steel volute that covers it gives it an uninviting silhouette. https://t.co/fPuzgTOG72
– Inter mail (@courrierinter) July 8, 2021
The construction is not finished. The W Hotel and its 250 rooms will open in 2022. Opponents mobilized as soon as the appearance of the building became evident. A Twitter account has been set up in the name of the “Golden Turd Hotel”, described as “pure shit”.
More than 1,400 people, however, signed an online petition asking for eyes to be added to the facade to refine the resemblance to the emoticon. The W Hotel in Edinburgh also received the unofficial title of “worst building of the year” in 2020. For its creator James Dilley, however, it represents “communication, expression and it is supposed to make people happy”.