Upside Down Other Weird Houses

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August 8, 2012

Upside Down Other Weird Houses

"- And He Built a Crooked House -"

Emily Dick in son said it per fect ly: "Where thou art, that is home." But some very cre ative peo ple, have taken that idea to won der ful extremes by build ing homes that aren't just places to hang their hats but instead are wild ly whim si cal, fan tas ti cal ly fan ci ful, amaz ing ly awe some, and occa sion al ly bril liant ly bizarre.



Tilt ed Flipped!

As any artist knows, inspi ra tion can come from any where and a few these unique builders and archi tects have been inspired by some very... tilt ed ideas. Take, for exam ple, Daniel Cza piews ki's home in the Pol ish town of Szym bark. No, you don’t need to turn your mon i tor upside down: Daniel's home is, indeed, topsy-turvy:



(images via 1, 2)

But Daniel is not the only builder with a unique per spec tive. In the Ger man town of Trassen hei de there's anoth er home with a stand-on-your-head view:



This fur ni ture does not seem to be very func tion al -


(images via 1)

Are we detect ing a theme here? Billed as an "Amuse ment Park For The Mind," Won der Works have flipped mod els of the White House, adding a new dimen sion to the cur rent ly weird polit i cal land­scape, at var i ous loca tions around the coun try:



(images cred it: Won der Works Pigeon Forge)

Sim i lar ly spec tac u lar is the "House of Kat man du" in Spain:


(images via)

In Japan, the flip side of invert ed archi tec ture is not a house but a restau rant. Just don't order the soup:


(images via)

Here is an upside down house in Luna Park in Kou vola, Fin land:


(image via)

In Sabah, Bor neo, even the car is hang ing upside down:


(images via)

... Anoth er one is in Repino, Rus sia (but it does not seem to be fin ished), shown on the left, and anoth er one also in Rus sia, close to St. Peters burg (right):


(images via)

A "crazy House" in Getorff, Ger many:


(images cred it: Sven Her rmann)

On the left is the upside down house in Polyan it sa, Ukraine - and on the right is the one in Paju, South Korea:



In Gangh wa Island, South Korea (right image), and a cafe in Ukraine (left image):


(image cred it: Juliane Eirich)

In Tertens, Aus tria, this upside down house looks like it was dropped by a tor na do:


(images via)

"Head first House" in Put bus, Ger many (left image) and anoth er one in Alanya, Turkey (right):


(images via 1, 2)


Flow ing Psy che del ic

Other archi tects have reject ed the harsh lines of stan dard geom e try for a more organ ic, fluid, float­ing design. These homes were built to look like they'd been poured rather than framed and ham­mered -- and a few even appear to have been taken out of the oven a tad too early.

Again in Poland, this liq uid build ing looks like it might begin to flow down the street any sec ond.


(image cred it: Tomek.pl)

On a side note, when you talk about weird hous es you have to tip the derby to Robert A. Hein lein's clas sic story, "- And He Built a Crooked House -", where a particularly-shaped res i dence in Los Ange les gets shak en up in an earth quake – and twists itself into a whole new dimen sion.

Much more down to earth, if you trav el to Darm stadt, Ger man you'll see a mar velous struc ture called Wald spi rale (For est Spi ral): a sin u ous apart ment com plex full of biologically-inspired details:




(images cred it: Scott R. Mau r er, Joachim S. Mueller, Moritz Kloft, Bock stark Knits)

In Viet nam, the aptly named Crazy House (or, to be more polite, the Hang Nga guest house) is a wild vine cre ation full of nat ur al curves and forms (com plete with a giraffe):



(images cred it: Tom Raven scroft)

If you real ly like flow ing shapes and melted-look archi tec ture, then check out high ly psy che del ic cre ations of Antoni Gaudi - see our pop u lar arti cle for exam ples.


Recy cled!

Then you have the cre ators who have fol lowed the maxim of "waste-not, want-not" to rather unique ways: tak ing an aban doned build ing that was orig i nal ly one thing and mak ing it into their very own:

Got an aban doned grain silo? Then do what this inven tive per son did in Argenti na, and sim ply move in:


(right image: Nau tilus House, Mex i co, via)

Or you can do take this approach to lost and found, this time in Utah ("Monte-Silo House", designed by Gigaplex Archi tects):


(images via)

But if you real ly want to stretch your wings, and hap pen to get hold of a ground ed jet, try your hand at cre at ing a high-flying struc ture like this hotel in Costa Rica:


(images cred it: Costa Verde)

See a lot more of "Air plane Hous es" in our pop u lar arti cle Jet-Obsessed.

Then you have the peo ple who live in a shoe, or a bas ket, or all kinds of other odd i ties. Take, for exam ple, these delight ful footwear homes... This one is in South Africa (left), and this shoe home is in Penn syl va nia (right):


(images via 1, 2)

But if shoes aren't your thing, try liv ing in this Scot tish pineap ple -- a folly built in the 1700s:


(images cred it: Louise Bellin Pho tog ra phy)

Or, if fruit isn't your thing, just try work ing in this 'basket-case' of a struc ture in Newark, Ohio: the Longaberg er Build ing -


(image cred it: Adri ana Hangai)

"Each bas ket han dle weighs 75 tons and con tains heat sen sors to pre vent ice for ma tions":


(image cred it: Scott)

But if you real ly want fan tas tic, whim si cal, or wild, look no fur ther than these Fairy Tale inspired archi tects (the left one could be dis cov ered at Dis ney land Paris, and the right one is locat ed in Tin­jun ga, Cal i for nia):


(right image via)

This fan ta sy struc ture looks like it was more grown than built: part of the "Enchant ed For est" amuse ment park in British Colum bia, Cana da -


(images via)

"Where Thou Art, That Is Home" indeed, Emily. But then there are those truly spe cial peo ple out there who not only have cre at ed art but live in it as well.


M. Chris t ian is also the author of "Wel come to Weirdsville": a won der ful com pendi um of inter­est ing sub jects and fas ci nat ing top ics. This is a high ly rec om mend ed book for all lovers of weird won der ful this side of the Uni verse; order the Kin dle edi tion here.


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