80+ Strange and Fantastic Buildings Architecture
The term Architecture can refer to a process, a profession or documentation. As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures by a person or a computer, primarily to provide shelter. As a profession, architecture is the role of those persons or machines providing architectural services. As documentation, usually based on drawings, architecture defines the structure and/or behavior of a building or any other kind of system that is to be or has been constructed.
In the late 20th century many new concept was included in the compass of both structure and function. Now days, before performing any action we keeping future in our visions. same applies in Architecture also. In the selection below, we present over 80 Strange & Fantastic Buildings Architecture of modern world. All photographs are linked and lead to the source – the respective photographers.
To restrict the meaning of (architectural) formalism to art for art’s sake is not only reactionary; it can also be a purposeless quest for perfection or originality which degrades form into a mere instrumentality”.
Among the philosophies that have influenced modern architects and their approach to building design are rationalism, empiricism, structuralism, poststructuralism, and phenomenology.
On the difference between the ideals of “architecture” and mere “construction”, the renowned 20th C. architect Le Corbusier wrote: “You employ stone, wood, and concrete, and with these materials you build houses and palaces: that is construction. Ingenuity is at work. But suddenly you touch my heart, you do me good. I am happy and I say: This is beautiful. That is Architecture”.
Please Amaze yourself by go through with all the Buildings Architecture photographs below which are linked and lead to the source photographers. Also do not forget to explore further works of these talented photographers.
You may be interested in the following Inspiration related articles as well.
- 100+ Best Web Galleries Around for Your Inspiration
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- 90 Inspirational And Creative Portfolio Designs
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- 44 Creative Designs for Inspiration
Please notice that the collection presented here is supposed to only give you brief idea about modern Architecture, it always can and should be extended; Please feel free to join us as you are always welcome to share your thoughts even if you have more reference links related to Architectural Inspiration that our readers may like.
Strange & Fantastic Buildings Architecture
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Resource Link Worth Mentioning
Find Something Missing?
While compiling this list, it’s always a possibility that we missed some other great Architecture. Feel free to share it with us.
Author : DKumar M.Hello, iShift was accidentally founded by a group of professionals. One of them is me, DKumar M., an Asian freelancer who is still single. My work covers advertising, consultation, programming and web design areas.90 Articles posted by DKumar M.. |
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Awesome! I’m proud to present Chang building in my country, Thailand!
http://tariquesani.net/displayimage.php?album=37&pos=4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_Building
Glad to see the MIT Sata Center. It’s my favorite
It’s interesting to see how many buildings China had in your compilation. It seems like it’s really starting to make its way into the architectural scene; in particular with its newer buildings.
Very interesting.
Wow, Its Awesome Awesome ! Nice collection of Buldings there.. Very Cool Post. Thumbsup.
My Favourite the Basket Building.. xD
Dear Author,
We never meant to hurt you or break any of the rules. As you can see the Article is still under maintenance, I’m still setting up image size and all. I was going to link you back at the end of the Post. I’m sorry again. I can remove the artcile if you want.
Enk.
Very interesting…Fantastic collection.Thanks
Amazing! thanks for sharing.
¡Great compilation!, but notice that number 78 and 79 are swapped, the picture in number 78 corresponds to the 79th building (and vice versa).
Hey, #79 (State Department for Traffic (Tbilis, Georgia)) is really Tenerife Auditorium (Canary Islands, Spain).
Google maps: http://maps.google.es/?ie=UTF8&ll=28.456043,-16.25115&spn=0.005594,0.009763&t=h&z=17
Auditorium webpage: http://www.auditoriodetenerife.com
Nice post!
Great!!
16 and 77 are the same
@Pablo, Adrián, alta – Thanks for the info… post updated.
This is also a very nice one:
The Agbar Tower, Barcelona, Catalonia:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arturdebat/2743942567/
nice one…
All captions refer to the next image, which makes me wonder about the first image ?
The National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. ought ot be on this list, it makes all the buildings on the mall seem so old. Here’s a link I Googled up:
http://tinyurl.com/b6uoba
rock and roll hall of fame is def a good one that should be added
One correction. The Atlantis which you listed as being in Dubai, UAE is actually a huge resort located in the Bahamas on Paradise Island (adjacent to Nassau) I know because I’ve been there.
Cheers!
Billy
Hahah, This is just amazing! Really nice architecture!
you left out frank lloyd wrights falling water, which is an absolute masterpiece
this is all memorizing….however, you should add Frank Lloyd Wrights home in western Pennsylvania, Falling Water. A true gem.
@bill, this is definitely the Atlantis in Dubai (ive been there). At the far right you can see the station and rail for the monorail.
If you’re still not convinced, click on image source….:
T
he Atlantis Hotel at the far end of Jumeriah Palm in Dubai. The hotel is enormous and rooms above the arch will go for $10000 a night when it opens! Start booking now! (sigh). Amazing to think a couple of years ago this was just sea.
Ciao
The title of the 70# picture is wrong, all the building is “La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias” or “City of Arts & Science”… You can see the site in http://www.cac.es
@Billy – please check following two links for clarification.
1. The Atlantis Hotel, Dubai on Palm Jumeirah Dubai – flickr source
2. Atlantis Resort -Paradise Island, Bahamas – flickr source
Now check our listed image – which is from “The Atlantis Hotel, Dubai”
PS: Thanks maarten@dubai for adding up more details.
@Jordi – you are also right as building no. 70# known by many names and one of them is Valencia Opera House. please check following link for more Info
http://gallery.zoom.nl/image/122419/bolwoning.html
Location: ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
I have shaw the all building constructions an i really appriciate the constructor work who has done this great job.
I Loved the 80 buildings – I think you should include the station in Lisbon, Portugal.
I’d be happy to send a picture but somehow I cannot stick it to this message. If you want it let me have an email address.
wow, super…Vay Canına Gerçekten çok ilginç harika yapmışlar ya bayıldım.Yakından görmek isterdim(:
The scottish parliament building Edinburgh Scotland
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3283/2682361608_b295e263fe.jpg?v=0
Wow. I am speechless. I have seen only few of those buildings. I did not know there are a lot of those kinds of fantastic building.
How could you forget Gaudi’s Church in barcelona
Sagrada Familia
http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Sagrada_Familia.html/cid_1171408226_barSagFamGauface_06-37-33.html
The CN Tower, Sky Dome and City Hall from Toronto not in the list?
The CN Tower & Sky Dome example picture *not mine* ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/metropol2/365532582/sizes/o/ )
are of interest not only because of their style but also function CN Tower was for decades the tallest free standing structure in the world that was designed to withstand an impact from a Jet Airliner, only 1 person died in it’s construction (they were standing on the ground), The Sky Dome (unless I was mistaken was/is the worlds largest retractible roof).
The Toronto City Hall simple and neat ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/rodolfonovak/71760124/ ) & ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/wvs/253069800/ ) can be seen in the Resident evil movie AKA Racoon City
Your Message…
I was disappointed not to see the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Calatrava addition missing.
Check it out.
@Arno, Thanks for the link. It’s interesting. Added here
@Vittore, Please send us more info about the station in Lisbon, at contact [at] instantshift.com We would love to list it.
@Stuart, We have included Scottish Parliament Building here . Really cool Architecture.
@Colin, It seems this church is under construction. But we will look into it.
Thank you for your attention.
@Steve, Ouch, I think we missed it again. It’s really fantastic. Thanks Steve.
@Stephen, We will check Milwaukee Art Museum. But it would be great if you can send us some link or may be a picture at contact [at] instantshift.com Thanks.
It is so wondorfu! lol
This is my favorite wierd house:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/6808
Inspiring work. Great architects of the future right here!
Incredible, absolutely incredible.
Pleasant to to link you to photos of the Architectural National Winner in Venezuela, Fruto Vivas.
http://venezuelamultimedia.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_archive.html
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruto_Vivas
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joan_rodes/2702676448/
Enjoy it!
Wow Amazing building, with genius architecture
cool!!
great post
You might want to look at the reflecting pool and buildings surrounding it in Albany New York.
Nice picture selections
Fun blog, thanks
you should put in the denver art museum.
what about the rock and roll hall of fame in Cleveland ohio ???
I study architecture myself and i love weird looking building design. I have seen building no.39 and no.83 in real life while on architectural study tour to Spain in year 1997.
There are also a lots of weird buildings design by A. Gaudi.
I will surely bookmark this for reference. Fantastic Find!!
You should know that number 15, Kansas City Public Library is not actually the library but the parking garage for the library.
very nice buildings luv it!!
Just because a building is in China does not mean the architect is Chinese!
you know whats sad? The United States doesnt have a single artistic building of massive proportions. Sure there are some really cool buildings here and there, but not a single one that is really big. And NewYork City doesnt have a single fantastic building in it! The most populated building in the United states has not a single feat of architectural design in it. The most fantastic building would be the empire state building, but thats just a really tall building, nothing very special about it…
Wow! I’m speechless
this is brilliant!
http://myfacefriends.com
Truly an awesome collection of buildings. Great pics. Thanks for the post
Thanks for that, I also think the people who commissioned the buildings have courage. If you had an architect tell you he wanted to build something upside down for example, with your money I think most people would not take the risk.
Great site
there’s a “pencil” building in Frankfurt am Main, germany..and a “cyber gateway” in hyderabad, india.
Its really Fantastic Buildings…
#12 is the headquarters of the Longaberger Company in Newark, Ohio, roughly 35 miles east of Columbus. I have seen this in person – I went to college at Denison University in Granville, which is right next to Newark. Denison doesn’t have any fancy architecture but it is, in many people’s opinion, one of the most beautiful college campuses in the country.
As a native of Northeast Ohio, I second the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – and the nearby Peter B. Lewis building (Case Western University).
nice pics and like you said, definitely fantastic buildings architectures..
Check out my post :
9 Worlds Most Creative Buildings
It’s amazing, fantatic
.
lem me love it
wonderful,splendid,fantastic.All in all. Thanks
this is the site of a mexican architect, his architecture is based on organic components http://www.arquitecturaorganica.com/inicio_i.html
Hotel Unique Sao Paolo Brazil is stunning. Morag.
I’m wondering about the two buildings both labeled as Ripley’s, Niagara Falls ON. Should one of those be some thing else, or somewhere else?
But whatever, I sure did love seeing all those creative buildings. Can you imagine how wonderful it would be to live or work in something like these?
@Marilyn - Both the buildings have same name but one of them is museum.
I was glad to see the number of Canadian buildings listed — very pleasing! I second Canadian Steve’s choices, but would like to add a few more:
The Canadian Museum of Civilization, in Hull, Quebec: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/4/7924749_5d227b4f2f.jpg
The Canadian War Museum, in Ottawa, Ontario, where some of the windows are arranged in Morse code: http://www.planetware.com/i/photo/canadian-war-museum-ottawa-cdn1119.jpg
The museum at Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo Jump, Alberta: http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/2169600.jpg
And, my favourite, Robarts Library at the University of Toronto:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robartslibrary.jpg
Every list should start with Faiing Waters
http://www.GreatBuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Fallingwater.html/cid_1126975055_fallingwater10.html
and somewhere there needs to be Thorncrown Chapel in Arkansas
i just see and send others to see —- what is the meaning of creation?
Very interesting…
Fantastic collection.
Thanks
lolol awesome
Esas estructuras son hermosas, estoy estudiando arquitectura y me han encantado!
All of these buildings are great, but I liked the Lotus Temple most of all.
I expected to see the BMW building in Munich in this list.
TThe Tower was built between 1968 and 1972 and was ready just in time for 1972 Summer Olympics. The building stands 101 m (roughly 331 feet) tall and is often mentioned as one of the most notable examples of architecture in Munich. The large cathedral exterior is supposed to mimic the shape of a tire in a race car, with the garage representing the cylinder head. Both buildings were designed by the Austrian architect Karl Schwanzer [1].
The main tower consists of four vertical cylinders standing next to and across from each other. Each cylinder is divided horizontally in its center by a mold in the facade. Notably, these cylinders do not stand on the ground, they are suspended on a central support tower. During the construction, individual floors were assembled on the ground and then elevated. The tower has a diameter of 52.30 meters (roughly 171 feet). The building has 22 occupied floors, two of which are basements and 18 serve as office space. Millions of dollars have been spent on the facility due to high demand in progression.
Amazing buildings. In Seville:
Kuwait Pavillion (Expo’92), with a mobile roof:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/62/224655859_dadfd092fb.jpg?v=0
http://es.geocities.com/maika1esp/sevilla/imagen/expo92/kuwait.jpg
http://www.expo92.es/includes/upload/pabellones/1157763916_6.jpg
http://es.wikiarquitectura.com/images/thumb/d/d0/Pabellon_Kuwait_Expo92.jpg/250px-Pabellon_Kuwait_Expo92.jpg
I’d like to recommend Peter Eisenman’s snake shaped building, the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning at the University of Cincinnati, for the list. It is a delightful interplay of colored planes and intriguing angles in sun-washed corridors. It is a wonderful space inside and out.
did I miss the Centre Pompidou?
The Atlantis which you listed as being in Dubai, UAE is actually a huge resort located in the Bahamas on Paradise Island (…)
super cool!
realy cool post
these are amazing!
Re: Emotikon
“The Atlantis which you listed as being in Dubai, UAE is actually a huge resort located in the Bahamas on Paradise Island (…)”
ACTUALLY there’s a duplicate of the Bahamas resort in Dubai.
Your first entry is not actually a building per se, but a sculpture.
Just an FYI on the Sagrada Família…it’s been under constant construction since 1882. I kept expecting to see it as I scrolled through the list, therefore I think your list is amazing, but incomplete.
I’ve in in one of tose …. The Atomium in Brussles (number56) Its an oversized( I think 9.000.000.000 times real size) Fe molecule .
Wow some stunning buildings, great post.
I am having a hard time finding anything on the “Blur Building” in Yverdon-les-Bains.
The “hole house” in 17, which was in Houston, actually doesn’t exist anymore. That building was set to be knocked down, and an artist created that after it was emptied out. It stood for a few weeks, and then was completely demolished. More pics here:
http://www.artleaguehouston.org/Inversion.htm
There is a coffee shop where it used to stand :-\
hi friend
g i hope u will enjoy
thank you for looking
ur friend
roshan
don’t miss these!!
http://paulparsons.wordpress.com/2008/08/15/the-eight/
http://www.abbeville.com/interiors.asp?ISBN=0789202875&CaptionNumber=05
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/13083
very nice collection!!!congratulations!!
you could also add the new acropolis museum in Athens,Greece:
http://www.dezeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/new-acropolis-museum-by-bernard-tschumi-architects-cr3849-090-small.jpg
more info:
http://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/
why is the ROM expansion included?
Wow
Interesting 
There is in Poland another one strange building. It’s headquarter of Radio Station RMF FM located near the Cracow. It look like the balls lying on the ground or some space station on the other planet 
http://www.onedigitallife.com/images/rmf-radio.jpg
http://i.pinger.pl/pgr496/82e11e4100216e0e4988982c/Warszawa,nowa+siedziba+TVP.jpg
headquarter of public television in poland
You forgot Spodek [Poland]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spodek
http://mapy.pomocnik.com/img/photos/Katowice_Spodek_blue.jpg
I missed the Cathedral at Rio de Janeiro.
Here’s a picture:
http://www.citypictures.org/data/media/175/Catedral_Rio_de_Janeiro.jpg
I present some buildings from Buenos Aires Argentina in the next links:
Biblioteca Nacional de Buenos Aires
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CPtUSP1MzEE/SbrPATsOfcI/AAAAAAAABBI/NfRMuFEiaEI/s1600-h/Biblioteca_Nacional_Buenos_Aires.JPG
Banco Hipoterio Nacional
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/5066/78956888zs5.jpg
Planetario de Buenos Aires
http://tecnicaarca.com.ar/imagenesblog/PLANETARIO.jpg
You missed the “Tholos” building at the “Hellenic Cosmos” Cultural Centre in Greece.
Look at http://www.tholos254.gr/
(http://www.tholos254.gr/images/tour_02_bg.jpg & http://www.tholos254.gr/en/tour/ )
Very good collection.
Someone wrote comments like: “you forgot that…”, “you miss this… ” etc… In my opinion “they forgot” to think that there are hundreds of millions of buildings worldwide and of course missings are unavoidable. Anyway I think that`s important to add the “hundertwasserhaus2 and the 2hundertwasser incinerator”, both en Vienna:
http://media.photobucket.com/image/viena%20hundertwasserhaus/dollusa/Wien%202006/cafd.jpg
http://www.checkonsite.com/wp-content/gallery/hundertwasserhaus/hundertwasser_04.jpg
http://www.ojodigital.com/foro/attachments/urbanas-pueblos-y-ciudades/13879d1197482133-fabrica-art-deco-stitched_004_ojo_2.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1111/575502697_0dae93f9bb_b.jpg
tttThe Atlantis Hotel is located in the Bahamas, not in Dubai. Please correct pic information.
I stand corrected. Your Atlantis Hotel pic is correctly identified as located in Dubai. Its twin & nearly identical building is the one located in the Bahamas… sorry
WEIRD! Some give me eye-strain just looking at them, not to mention the migraine at the thought of ever going inside!
Neato!
Amazing, a great list of bizarre and modern art. thanks for sharing
Those are just amazing! Thanks for sharing them in this post. Most I had not seen before.
I love the upside down buildings!! They are soooo COOL!
GREAT compilation!
I believe #26 is the Ripley’s Believe it or Not in Branson, MO. http://www.reservebranson.com/blog/2009/01/bransons-ripleys-believe-it-or-not.asp
It is so wondorfu! lol
Great and Amazing……
Well, as a fifth year student in architectural engineering i can say that some of the buildings are really awesome ! the designs are astonishing although we learned in school to always stay realistic and practical !!
20. Erwin Wurm: House Attack (Viena, Austria) [ I've been wondering all day about the flipped house, how would someone live in such a building?! is it built for someone to live in or its a useless object stuck into the facade to make it look strange !! ]
all cars wallpapers
Great website, amazing photos.
oonly thing I deplore, is that it is only about famous,
very big buildings at the international level (opera
concert hall, official gouvernment buildings, etc). I
would like to see ordinary house (in the sense of their
size) with strange architecture.
I remember seeing very odd houses in Montreal’s West Island
many years ago (cement and stone, rounded walls) and I would
like to see them again, and share it with others.
Thanks
Your NameJanuary 28, 2010
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