Unusual buildings of the world

Architect (Dr.) David Fisher is the creator of the world’s first building in motion – the revolutionary Dynamic Tower. It will adjust itself to the sun, wind, weather and views by rotating each floor separately. This building will never appear exactly the same twice. It is amazing but you will have the choice of waking […]

Architect (Dr.) David Fisher is the creator of the world’s first building in motion – the revolutionary Dynamic Tower. It will adjust itself to the sun, wind, weather and views by rotating each floor separately.

This building will never appear exactly the same twice.

It is amazing but you will have the choice of waking up to sunrise in your bedroom and enjoying sunsets over the ocean at dinner.

In addition to being such an incredible engineering miracle, it will produce energy for itself and even for other buildings because it will have wind turbines fitted between each rotating floor (picture 2). So, an 80-storey building will have up to 79 wind turbines, making it a true green power plant.

The Dynamic Tower of Dubai will be 1,380 feet (420 meters) tall, 80 floors, while apartments will range in size from 1,330 square feet (124 square meters), to Villas of 12,900 square feet (1,200 square meters) complete with a parking space inside the apartment. It will consist of offices, a luxury hotel, residential apartments and the top 10 floors will be for luxury villas located in a prime location in Dubai.

The Dynamic Tower of Dubai will be the first skyscraper to be entirely constructed in a factory from prefabricated parts. So, instead of some 2000 workers, only 680 will be sufficient. Construction is scheduled to be completed this year.

Low impact woodland house (Wales, UK)

From the author: “You are looking at pictures of a house I built for our family in Wales. It was built by myself and my father-in-law with help from passers by and visiting friends. Four months after starting, we were moved in and it was cosy. I estimate 1000-1500 man hours and £3000 put into this point. Not really so much in house buying terms (roughly £60/sq m excluding labour).”

“The house was built with maximum regard for the environment and by reciprocation gives us a unique opportunity to live close to nature.” he says.

This building is one part of a low-impact or permaculture approach to life. This sort of life is about living in harmony with both the natural world and ourselves, doing things simply and using appropriate levels of technology.

When asked why he is doing this, he gave this answer: “ It’s fun. Living your own life, in your own way is rewarding. Following our dreams keeps our souls alive.”

Habitat 67 (Montreal, Canada)

Habitat 67 is a housing complex built as part of Expo 67. It was designed to integrate the variety and diversity of scattered private homes with the economics and density of a modern apartment building. The project was designed to create affordable housing with close but private quarters, each equipped with a garden. The building was believed to illustrate the new lifestyle people would live in increasingly crowded cities around the world.

The National Library (Minsk, Belarus)

In 1989 an international contest took place for the new national library building of Belarus. Architects M.K. Vinogrdov and V.V. Kramarenko and their project “Belarusian Diamond” won this contest, but it took 13 years till the project was fulfilled.

The new library is  72 metre (236 feet) tall and has 22 floors. The building also features a 500 seat conference hall. Main architectural component has the shape of a rhombicuboctahedron.

The National Library of Belarus, having informative resources of 8 million units on different kinds of media,  is the main informative and cultural center of the country. The library has 90 thousand users, annually serving 3.5 million documents. Every day the library is visited by more than 2.2 thousand people. Actually, the new modern building is just one of the six library buildings.

Conch Shell House, Isla Mujeres, Mexico

The Conch Shell Hose is said to be the most outstanding and original house in the island of Isla Mujeres. Surrounded by Caribbean Ocean (180 degrees of ocean views from the windows) it gives you an unique opportunity to experience what it’s like living in a Sea Shell. The conch shell house was built using a fairly traditional foundation, such as concrete, as well as recycled and found materials. The owner of the house Octavio Ocampo is a well known artist, whose brother Eduardo is an architect (he also has a house on that island, but a more traditional).

If you enter the house you would be surrounded by a wonderful shell themed interior. The main room has no corners – it is round. The upstairs bathroom sink is made out of the base of a conch shell, the faucets are made out of coral, the towel racks are made from conch shells and other seashells and items found on the local beach.

Some technical info: 2 Bedrooms, Sleeps 4, 5500 sq. ft., 2 Bathrooms, 1 Half Bath, near the ocean, swimming pool, air-conditioning, internet access.

The Church of Hallgrimur, Reykjavik, Iceland

The Hallgrimskirkja (literally, the church of Hallgrimur)is Lutheran parish church that in addition to being very unusual is also a very tall one, reaching 74.5 metres (244 ft) height. This Lutheran parish church is the fourth tallest architectural structure in Iceland. It is named after the Icelandic poet and clergyman Hallgrimur Petursson.The church is also used as an observation tower. It took incredibly long to build it (38 years!) Construction took time from 1945 to 1986.The Architect of this building is Guðjon Samuelssondesign.

Teapot Dome Gas Station, Zillah, WA, USA

This little funny looking gas station was built in 1922, intended to be a reminder of the Teapot Dome Scandal involving President Warren G. Harding and a federal petroleum reserve in Wyoming. The scandal rocked the presidency of Harding and sent Interior Secretary Albert Fall to prison for his role in leasing government oil reserves.  The building has a circular frame with a conical roof, sheet metal “handle,” and a concrete “spout.” Said to be the oldest gas station in use in the country, it survived partially because it was moved years ago, to be closer to the interstate. It is no longer in operation.

Upside Down House (Szymbark, Poland)

Daniel Czapiewski, Polish businessman and philanthropist, built this house as an artistic statement about the Communist era and current state of the world. Many tourists who visit complain of mild seasickness and dizziness after just a few minutes of being in the structure.

Unusualarchitecture.com