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Strange Buildings

October 26th, 2009 | by admin |

Interesting and unusual building designs from different parts of the world.’

THE HUNDERTWASSER BUILDING – Friedensreich Hundertwasser, an Austrian architect and painter, designed this building, which contains 105 apartments and a restaurant.

HABITAT67 – This apartment building was built for Expo 67, the 1967 world exhibition held in Canada. Although Habitat 67 was supposed to provide affordable housing after the Expo ended—much like the stated plans for Vancouver’s Olympic Village— its apartments go for luxury apartment prices because of the unique architecture.

CONTAINER CITY – The Urban Space Management company designs various Container Cities like this one for use as homes, offices and stores.

THE CROOKED HOUSE – The Crooked House is located in a shopping center. Built in 2003, the house is used for commercial purposes.

BASKET BUILDING – This building is the home office of the Longaberger Company, which sells baskets.

KANSAS CITYS LIBRARY – This funky building is the parking garage for Kansas City’s Central Library. It features 22 book titles, which the Kansas City Public Library Board of Trustees selected from library members’ suggestions

GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM – Renowned architect Frank Gehry designed the Guggenheim Museum in an industrial city in Northern Spain. Glass walls link the building’s striking curves, which are made of stone, glass and titanium.

FERDINAND CHEVELS PALACE – Ferdinand Cheval, a rural postman, built this palace between 1879 and 1912. He had no background in architecture or masonry, and a uniquely shaped stone was the inspiration for the project. Today, the castle is a popular tourist destination.

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY CHAPEL – It’s an all-faith place of worship, with four separate chapels—one for Protestants, Catholics, Jews and Buddhists.

CUBE HOUSES – The 38 cubes, built on top of a pedestrian bridge in 1984, are residential homes that overlook a commercial area with restaurants and shops.

THE DOME HOME – San Francisco area architect, Jonathan Zimmerman, conceptually created the unique home. Taking into account the pristine white beaches, the dunes, the emerald waters, and the peaceful nature of the environment, Mr. Zimmerman designed a home that would blend with and compliment its surroundings. Designed to be environmentally friendly.

HANG NGA GUEST HOUSE AKA CRAZY HOUSE – This is a complex of unconventional, misshapen concrete structures serving as both a tourist attraction and a place to stay. It is also decorated with animal figures with glowing eyes, wire spiderwebs and other, equally unexpected things. The designer and namesake, Hang Nga, holds a PhD in architecture from Moscow State University.

KETTLE HOUSE, GALVESTON TEXAS – According to the “Weird Texas” by Wesley Treat, Heather Shade and Rob Roggs, the Kettle House in Galveston was “supposedly erected by a gentleman who used to build storage tanks for oil companies.” Neighbors no little of the man, but the house house has been there over 50 years and has survived Hurricane Ike. No one lives there even though a man is sometimes seen there making improvements only to disappear for months again.

NAKAGIN CAPSULE TOWER – a mixed-use residential and office tower designed by architect Kisho Kurokawa and located in Shimbashi, Tokyo, Japan.

UCSD GEISAL LIBRARY – The distinctive original building was designed in the late 1960s by William Pereira to sit at the head of a canyon. The tower is a prime example of brutalist architecture. It rises 8 stories to a height of 110 ft (33.5 m).

THE UFO HOUSE 三芝飛碟屋 – The futuristic-looking house has been abandoned for more than 20 years. Most likely the damage to the buildings has been caused by the strong winds of the summer typhoon season.

SHOE HOUSE – The Shoe House was built in 1948 (and completed in 1949) by Colonel Mahlon M. Haines, the flamboyant “Shoe Wizard,” for advertising purposes. Haines owned forty shoe stores in Maryland and Pennsylvania, was a millionaire and an honorary Indian chief, and knew the value of self-promotion.

WONDERWORKS – A four-story tall, classically-designed building that appears to have landed, upside down, atop a 1930s era brick warehouse. WonderWorks is a fun filled interactive center featuring a myriad of hands-on experiences and activities.

THE TORE GALATEA FUGURAS – Dali spent the last years of his life in the tower. It is now a public museum.

LUCY THE MARGATE ELEPHANT – a six-story elephant-shaped architectural folly constructed of wood and tin sheeting in 1882 by James V. Lafferty in Margate City, New Jersey, in an effort to sell real estate and attract tourism.

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