8 Funny And Strange Architectural Wonders

Are you tired of looking at the same old boring buildings day after day, and wish you could jump into the worlds of say, Dr. Seuss, or some far-flung alien planet where the architecture is as weird as the locale? Look no further. This list contains twenty of the strangest, funniest pieces of earthling architecture, and some of the structures will make you wonder if some of these people actually did visit some extraterrestrial culture, and upon their return, they implemented some of which they saw.

8. London Gherkin—London, England

Situated at the heart of London’s financial district, this rather off-the-wall skyscraper does look somewhat pickle-like, but it’s also been compared to an egg-shape as well. Its external function, however, balances out its weirdness: the outside has solar panels on it, making it one of the greenest buildings in the city. The photo here is of the structure during the day, but like many London buildings, the Gherkin looks amazing at night.


7. China Central Television Headquarters Building

Nicknamed “da kucha,” which roughly translates as “boxer shorts,” this truly odd building consists of two leaning towers, bent at a 90-degree angle at the top and bottom to create an infinite loop. Considering that the building houses the television headquarters for China, it’s actually rather symbolic of the electricity it takes to power a TV. Still, it’s weird.


6. Bird’s Nest—Beijing, China

Built in 2008 for the Summer Olympics and Paralympics, this amazingly beautiful-yet-weird structure rivals the Sydney Opera House for fame, especially when it’s lit up at night. It’s currently being used for other sporting events, which is, of course, smart. After all, who wants to let a cool-yet-weird structure like that just sit there?


5. Cubic Houses—Rotterdam and Helmond, Netherlands

This has to be one of the strangest, yet coolest house concepts. It’s called “living as an urban roof,” and if you back off a ways from the picture, you can see how these “houses” are built something like a group of trees. That’s how architect Piet Blom intended it: his design represents a village in a city, and each house is a tree, and all the “trees” are a “forest.”


4. Dancing House—Prague, Czech Republic

Prague is known for its super traditional architecture. So imagine someone designing a building that curves and leans in the middle on one side. Prague residents have nicknamed it “Ginger-and-Fred,” after the famous dancing duo, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. It’s not hard to see why.


3. Atomium—Brussels, Belgium

The Atomium is one of the truly unique and unusual pieces of architecture out there. So it should be, as it was built for the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels. Most of the cells are commonly used for temporary science exhibits, five of which are permanent, but even if you don’t visit for the science stuff, at least go up in the escalators to get a super panoramic view of Brussels.


2. Cathedral of Brasilia—Brazil

Of all the churches in the world, this cathedral, which serves as the headquarters for the Archdiocese of Brazil, doesn’t even look like a typical church, despite the big cross at the top. It might as well be a strange, pyramidal UFO or something, with the cross serving as an antenna to send messages to space—or God, perhaps?


1. Church of Hallgrimur—Reykjavik, Iceland

All right, so this looks more like a somewhat typical church compared to the Cathedral of Brasilia, but look again from afar at its front facade: it looks something like a rocket ship made of stone. It’s also the fourth-tallest building in Iceland, so it doubles as an observation tower. The equally strange labyrinth-style stone pavement outside truly makes you think of something out of a sci-fi or fantasy novel, if you let your imagination fly.