We don't need no straight lines.

November 27, 2008 2:44 PM

50 strange buildings of the world. What it says on the tin. via.
posted by jokeefe (45 comments total)

More can be found at Unusual Architecture.
posted by jokeefe at 2:48 PM on November 27, 2008

Some are just strange tourist attractions. The other ones are pretty interesting though!
posted by Deflagro at 2:57 PM on November 27, 2008

Nice to see how many of these are not in Dubai.
posted by rokusan at 2:57 PM on November 27, 2008 [1 favorite]

That library in Missouri is really awesome.

I've always wondered what was inside the sphere in the Fuji TV building. Office space? A studio? A restaurant?
posted by Class Goat at 3:03 PM on November 27, 2008 [1 favorite]

The list has a certain fascination for the way it lets iconic architecture melt into shitty roadside attractions. Habitat 67, meet Mammy's Cupboard.
posted by bicyclefish at 3:07 PM on November 27, 2008 [3 favorites]

Excellent. Some great stuff in there. I suppose some of us saw Allison Arieff's November 20 blog post on The New York Times site. Unusual, and literally green, buildings there, interesting stuff I thought.
posted by IvoShandor at 3:23 PM on November 27, 2008

Class Goat: apparently that sphere is an observation deck.
posted by echo target at 3:27 PM on November 27, 2008

These architects have cojanes.
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 3:34 PM on November 27, 2008

I'm just happy the OCAD eyesore didn't make it to the list.
posted by Krrrlson at 3:39 PM on November 27, 2008

Huh. I was expecting to see exotic architecture from all over the planet - so it was startling to scroll down to see #42, "The Egg" because that's right next door to my office. I walk past or even through it every weekday.

The Egg is fully 30 years old now, and so it no longer looks at all unusual or exotic to my eye. In fact, it seemed downright out-of-place in such company.
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 3:42 PM on November 27, 2008

Oh mommy, why can't all buildings be like these?

_{Huh? Sorry, my inner 8-year-old must have escaped for a moment.}
posted by JHarris at 3:44 PM on November 27, 2008

AsYouKnow Bob: They Might Be Giants have written a song about that very building. With foreword by John "Areas of my Expertise", "I'm a PC", "Deranged Millionaire" Hodgman!
posted by JHarris at 3:48 PM on November 27, 2008 [1 favorite]

This and The Gobbler, all in one day. For this I give thanks.
posted by mazola at 3:57 PM on November 27, 2008

Looks like only one Gaudi house is present. What a shame!
With that said, that's some excellent architecture porn!
posted by archagon at 3:57 PM on November 27, 2008

> What it says on the tin.

Heh. Forsooth.

I remember reading Robert Venturi's Learning from Las Vegas. If I had Venturi to hand right now I would ask him which ones of these are decorated sheds and which ones are ducks.
posted by jfuller at 3:59 PM on November 27, 2008 [1 favorite]

I've always wondered what was inside the sphere in the Fuji TV building.

There's an observation deck, restaurant, studio and gift shop. They call it Hachi Tama.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:05 PM on November 27, 2008

Number 24, the National Library in Minsk, is in the shape of a Rhombicuboctahedron.
posted by Tube at 4:13 PM on November 27, 2008

If I had Venturi to hand right now I would ask him which ones of these are decorated sheds and which ones are ducks.

Ducks.
posted by IvoShandor at 4:13 PM on November 27, 2008

I'm surprised the Chiat/Day building isn't on this list.

And I can't believe I didn't know how cool the Kansas City public library was until now.
posted by lunit at 4:24 PM on November 27, 2008

Birdhouse in northern Bali.
Paddy's Wigwam, Liverpool, UK
Royal Pavilion, Brighton, UK
posted by i_cola at 4:24 PM on November 27, 2008 [1 favorite]

I think I'd add Casa Batlló and the Colorado Sleeper House.
posted by gruchall at 4:31 PM on November 27, 2008

I'm surprised they didn't include the waster treatment plant Hundertwasser designed in Kobe. Or did I miss it?
posted by Grangousier at 4:37 PM on November 27, 2008

There seem to be a lot of these "unusual buildings", "great bridges" kind of threads, so I wasn't expecting much. I was wrong!

Thanks, jokeefe. I really love this.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 4:41 PM on November 27, 2008

The interiors of Casa Milà in Barcelona, also known as "La Pedrera" (the quarry) are no less awesome than the façade.
They had to kick me out at closing time.
posted by _dario at 5:04 PM on November 27, 2008

Also, couldn't visit Hundertwasser's waste incinerator/heating central in Vienna - not the kind of plant they open to the public in Austria - but made it (by recklessly driving through quite incospicuous places) to the parking lot - where even the parking spaces are marked with curved lines and squiggly numbers.
posted by _dario at 5:16 PM on November 27, 2008

> And I can't believe I didn't know how cool the Kansas City public library was until now.

I did, I am happy to say. I smiled to think of this utterly wonderful bulding (a duck, beyond argument, and a strong candidate for best of breed) over the past year or so whenever anybody mentioned What's the Matter with Kansas as lead-in to their sub-Time Cube rant about how stupid Kansans (and others of an entirely imaginary group the folk of Kansas were dragooned into representing) must be.
posted by jfuller at 5:25 PM on November 27, 2008

Oh, and seconding the thank you to jokeefe for the post. I vowed to stay off the series of tubes today until I had my crowd safely fed and hugged and happy (did it too! had a good half hour before the inet-withdrawal DTs would have set in.) jokeefe's post was karma reward and I give j the low bow usually reserved for four-engine pilots.
posted by jfuller at 5:33 PM on November 27, 2008

OCAD really should have been on there, Krrrlson. It almost made non-eyesore status, but then they put corrugated cladding on it that would have looked better on a gymnasium roof.
posted by bicyclefish at 5:44 PM on November 27, 2008

Not on a grand scale but still quirky.
posted by tellurian at 6:04 PM on November 27, 2008

bldgblog's photostream has some beauties too.
posted by tellurian at 6:10 PM on November 27, 2008

> What it says on the tin.

Heh. Forsooth.

I remember reading Robert Venturi's Learning from Las Vegas. If I had Venturi to hand right now I would ask him which ones of these are decorated sheds and which ones are ducks.

Is there an intentional reference to Ronseal Quick-Drying Woodstain here?
posted by tomcooke at 6:13 PM on November 27, 2008

Because if there is, you should probably win some kind of prize.
posted by tomcooke at 6:26 PM on November 27, 2008

JHarris: They Might Be Giants have written a song about that very building.

I knew of the song, but not of the video: Thanks for the link!

The Egg is a theater hall, it has a couple of nice spaces inside - David Byne played there a couple of weeks ago, there was a Nader rally in there back before the election.
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 6:41 PM on November 27, 2008

These are great!

They may not be quite in the same category, but I just to live just down the street from the Boat Houses of Encinitas.
posted by Robert Angelo at 6:54 PM on November 27, 2008

How did Reversible Destiny Lofts not make the list. Lots of buildings I hadn't seen before, so that was good.
posted by mexican at 6:54 PM on November 27, 2008

...I just used to live there
posted by Robert Angelo at 6:55 PM on November 27, 2008

Neat! A lot of really great architecture, then a bunch of weird USA-centric tourist traps... I was thinking about something else (rotating building in Dubai), but a goog turned up Rotating Building [youtube].

I need to find out more about Free Spirit Spheres.

I totally dug all three of the Montreal structures that were noted when I was there a few years back.
posted by porpoise at 7:05 PM on November 27, 2008

I just saw OCAD for the first time last weekend bicyclefish. I love it! The best part is the steel columns are actually structural, not decorative, and look entirely too slender for the job.

But my favourite of the list is Lloyds of London. If you're going to be a mega capitalist corporation that underwrites the priciest assets on the planet, you should have a building that looks the part.
posted by Popular Ethics at 7:11 PM on November 27, 2008

Wow, not the Rochester site I expected, which would be the mushroom house! Technically what appears on page 2 is the butterfly garden at the Strong Museum of Play (note the trees).
posted by knile at 7:18 PM on November 27, 2008

this one's about 3 miles from where i live
posted by pyramid termite at 7:55 PM on November 27, 2008

How did Reversible Destiny Lofts not make the list.

What the - ? Inspired by this, I take it. Never seen mention of the lofts before.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 8:10 PM on November 27, 2008

> The interiors of Casa Milà in Barcelona, also known as "La Pedrera" (the quarry) are no less awesome than the façade.

I've been there, and I agree - it was one of the most amazing places I've ever been!
posted by archagon at 8:22 PM on November 27, 2008

One late night on my only trip to the Boston area I stumbled upon the Stata Center (#20 on the list) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while it was still under construction. I told the people I was with at the time I thought it was by Frank Gehry. It is.

This one's an hour down the road from me in Florida. It was designed as an experiment in wind resistance and has survived Opal, Ivan, Katrina and other hurricanes.
posted by wsg at 10:46 PM on November 27, 2008

I smiled to think of this utterly wonderful bulding over the past year or so whenever anybody mentioned What's the Matter with Kansas

It's in Missouri.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:24 AM on November 28, 2008

That Solar Furnace is such an awesome idea...
posted by heylight at 11:58 AM on November 29, 2008