Comments on: We don't need no straight lines.

We don't need no straight lines.

jokeefe — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:44:45 -0800

50 strange buildings of the world. What it says on the tin. via.

By: jokeefe

jokeefe — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:48:09 -0800

More can be found at Unusual Architecture.

By: Deflagro

Deflagro — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:57:19 -0800

Some are just strange tourist attractions. The other ones are pretty interesting though!

By: rokusan

rokusan — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:57:29 -0800

Nice to see how many of these are not in Dubai.

By: Class Goat

Class Goat — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:03:18 -0800

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?

By: bicyclefish

bicyclefish — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:07:50 -0800

The list has a certain fascination for the way it lets iconic architecture melt into shitty roadside attractions. Habitat 67, meet Mammy's Cupboard.

By: IvoShandor

IvoShandor — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:23:18 -0800

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.

By: echo target

echo target — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:27:37 -0800

Class Goat: apparently that sphere is an observation deck.

By: rageagainsttherobots

rageagainsttherobots — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:34:57 -0800

These architects have cojanes.

By: Krrrlson

Krrrlson — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:39:48 -0800

I'm just happy the OCAD eyesore didn't make it to the list.

By: AsYouKnow Bob

AsYouKnow Bob — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:42:39 -0800

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.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:44:56 -0800

Oh mommy, why can't all buildings be like these? _{Huh? Sorry, my inner 8-year-old must have escaped for a moment.}

By: JHarris

JHarris — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:48:05 -0800

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!

By: mazola

mazola — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:57:21 -0800

This and The Gobbler, all in one day. For this I give thanks.

By: archagon

archagon — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:57:40 -0800

Looks like only one Gaudi house is present. What a shame! With that said, that's some excellent architecture porn!

By: jfuller

jfuller — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:59:50 -0800

> 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.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:05:34 -0800

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.

By: Tube

Tube — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:13:52 -0800

Number 24, the National Library in Minsk, is in the shape of a Rhombicuboctahedron.

By: IvoShandor

IvoShandor — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:13:53 -0800

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.

By: lunit

lunit — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:24:06 -0800

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.

By: i_cola

i_cola — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:24:44 -0800

Birdhouse in northern Bali. Paddy's Wigwam, Liverpool, UK Royal Pavilion, Brighton, UK

By: gruchall

gruchall — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:31:11 -0800

I think I'd add Casa Batlló and the Colorado Sleeper House.

By: Grangousier

Grangousier — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:37:08 -0800

I'm surprised they didn't include the waster treatment plant Hundertwasser designed in Kobe. Or did I miss it?

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:41:07 -0800

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.

By: _dario

_dario — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:04:02 -0800

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.

By: _dario

_dario — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:16:17 -0800

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.

By: jfuller

jfuller — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:25:04 -0800

> 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.

By: jfuller

jfuller — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:33:23 -0800

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.

By: bicyclefish

bicyclefish — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:44:51 -0800

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.

By: tellurian

tellurian — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:04:47 -0800

Not on a grand scale but still quirky.

By: tellurian

tellurian — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:10:34 -0800

bldgblog's photostream has some beauties too.

By: tomcooke

tomcooke — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:13:05 -0800

> 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?

By: tomcooke

tomcooke — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:26:57 -0800

Because if there is, you should probably win some kind of prize.

By: AsYouKnow Bob

AsYouKnow Bob — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:41:11 -0800

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.

By: Robert Angelo

Robert Angelo — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:54:08 -0800

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.

By: mexican

mexican — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:54:34 -0800

How did Reversible Destiny Lofts not make the list. Lots of buildings I hadn't seen before, so that was good.

By: Robert Angelo

Robert Angelo — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:55:17 -0800

...I ~~just~~ used to live there

By: porpoise

porpoise — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:05:20 -0800

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.

By: Popular Ethics

Popular Ethics — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:11:45 -0800

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.

By: knile

knile — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:18:53 -0800

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).

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:55:30 -0800

this one's about 3 miles from where i live

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:10:57 -0800

How did Reversible Destiny Lofts not make the list. What the - ? Inspired by this, I take it. Never seen mention of the lofts before.

By: archagon

archagon — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:22:36 -0800

> 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!

By: wsg

wsg — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 22:46:25 -0800

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.

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:24:47 -0800

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.

By: heylight

heylight — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 11:58:03 -0800

That Solar Furnace is such an awesome idea...