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Weird Buildings (Odd Forms / Features; Novelty Architecture)

Regarding the Tsui Tardigrade house ...
Technically ... The official and most common names for the house are Ojo del Sol and The Fish House (respectively).
Ojo del Sol, also called The Fish House by local residents, is a home designed in 1993 by architect Eugene Tssui. The building was constructed between 1994 and 1995 in a residential neighborhood of Berkeley California. The home's name "Ojo Del Sol", Spanish for "Eye of the Sun", originates from the fifteen foot diameter eye-like window that faces south. According to the architect, the structure is based upon the world's most indestructible living creature, the tardigrade.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ojo_del_Sol
 
The smallest house in Britain was lived in full-time until relatively recently (around 1910), now it is a (cramped) tourist attraction in Conwy, Wales:

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It measures just 72 inches across, 122 inches high and 120 inches deep. It has a bedroom upstairs and a living area downstairs, with very basic cooking facilities and a water tap behind the stairs.
 
The smallest house in Britain was lived in full-time until relatively recently (around 1910), now it is a (cramped) tourist attraction in Conwy, Wales:

View attachment 40045

It measures just 72 inches across, 122 inches high and 120 inches deep. It has a bedroom upstairs and a living area downstairs, with very basic cooking facilities and a water tap behind the stairs.
Id live in that fecking great stone shed in the back garden :p
 
In New Brunswick there's a building configured as a 300-foot-long Noah's Ark. It's not a tourist attraction. It was originally the home of a church's Bible school and is now an affordable housing complex.

noah-s-ark-in-new-brunswick.JPG
New Brunswick's affordable ark

For nearly 30 years, the landlocked community of Oakland has been home to an old wooden ship, a vessel its creators imagined as a model of Noah's Ark.

Its location in western New Brunswick has never been advertised or promoted as a tourist attraction.

Even online there's little information about the ark, despite its breathtaking size.

"Three hundred feet long and 30 feet wide and 45 feet high," said Paul Smith, pastor at Burnham Road Cathedral.

Sitting among Carleton County's sprawling potato fields, this ark isn't used for animals.

It's used as affordable housing. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/new-brunswick-s-affordable-ark-1.6064911
 
The smallest house in Britain was lived in full-time until relatively recently (around 1910), now it is a (cramped) tourist attraction in Conwy, Wales:

And whats the story behind such a small building?
 
Id live in that fecking great stone shed in the back garden :p
I know Conwy well.

(Yup, I did indeed once 'ave a bloke there. :wink2:)

The tower is part of the town's defensive wall. Tourists can wander along it, peering into residents' gardens and windows at will. A most illuminating and satisfactory experience. Free too!

I fully recommended a visit to Conwy.
Go for a week.

It has everything you need - one of the best castles in Wales, lovely surrounding countryside, a bird reserve, regular and frequent trains to other interesting nearby resorts, excellent boating/walking/cycling and many more outdoor activities, lovely pubs and restaurants and plenty of ghosts. Place is full of'em.

Plus, you might see Techy and me speeding past in full Lycra. What's not to love!
 
The smallest house in Britain was lived in full-time until relatively recently (around 1910), now it is a (cramped) tourist attraction in Conwy, Wales:

And whats the story behind such a small building?
From the website for the house: http://www.thesmallesthouse.co.uk/history-of-the-smallest-house/

"Two rows of cottages had been built on the quay, each row starting from the town wall towers at the extremes of Lower Gate Street. Because both rows of cottages were built up to the central tower, they didn't quite meet and there was a gap left between them. With the passage of time and a shortage of housing in the town, an enterprising builder realised that, with the side walls and back (the tower!) already in place, all that was needed to create another house was a front wall and a roof and so the Smallest House came into being."
 
Back in 2008 I was in the Philippines, and passed this building built in the shape of a crab ...
I believe it had a short-lived life as a restaurant. I've no idea if it is still standing, I hope so.
As of last month the building is still standing, but it's apparently in poor repair after being abandoned for 3 decades.
Have You Seen This Crab Building in Pangasinan?
BY GIZELLE CAOILE• MAY 2, 2021

This crab restaurant in Pangasinan is trending on Twitter. Have you seen it? If you have traveled along Arellano Street, Dagupan City, you have probably passed by this abandoned building. It might just be “a little” unrecognizable now as it has been closed for 30 years ...

According to the “Dagupan Today” Facebook Page, the crab restaurant and disco bar in the 70s was called “ALIMANGO” and most tourists in the city would take pictures in it. ...
SOURCE: https://www.wheninmanila.com/have-you-seen-this-crab-building-in-pangasinan/
 
The smallest house in Britain was lived in full-time until relatively recently (around 1910), now it is a (cramped) tourist attraction in Conwy, Wales:

And whats the story behind such a small building?
I suspect that when the larger house next door was built, a gap was left for a shed or garage for horse and cart.
A later owner sold the gap to some enterprising individual who built a house for himself.
It'd never be allowed to be built today.
 
This - the world's largest high-heeled shoe structure - is a tourist attraction and famed wedding venue in Taiwan.

HighHeeledShoeChurch.jpg
The High-Heeled Shoe church formally opens in Taiwan village

A woman who lived out her days in a church after her legs were amputated reportedly inspired this new church.

Shaped like Cinderella's glass slipper, the church on Taiwan's west coast formally opened on Saturday but the public have been allowed inside since February.

The High-Heeled Shoe church in the fishing village Budai has been attracting thousands of tourists every day since opening. ...

The T$23-million (NZ$1.05m) structure in the Budai township measures more than 10 metres wide and is about 17m tall at the heel, the highest point. The towering heel is made of 320 tinted glass panels. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/dest...-shoe-church-formally-opens-in-taiwan-village

High-Heel Wedding Church

... It was officially opened on 23 July 2016.[5] Later in the same year, the church received the Guinness World Records certification as the world's largest high-heel shoe-shaped structure. ...

The church is famous for its use as a wedding venue. Though colloquially referred to as a 'church', the building is not consecrated and has no religious function.
SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Heel_Wedding_Church
 
Novelty architecture is generally claimed to have originated with James V. Lafferty's construction of what's now known as Lucy the Elephant (1881) on the New Jersey seacoast.

LucyElephant.jpg
Lucy the Elephant - Building Novelty Architecture

Buildings that resemble items or animals are very common throughout the world, but Lucy the Elephant is noted as the first example of novelty architecture. Novelty architecture is a fun way for companies to promote their brand and share with people what they do inside of the building. From teapots to the famous original Brown Derby, creating buildings that stand apart from the rest due to form imitating function is more common today; however, there was a day when Lucy the Elephant was the center of attention.

Lucy, whose original name was "Elephant Bazaar," was built in late 1881 of wood and tin by James V. Lafferty as a six-story tourist attraction for his real estate business. With a construction cost of $25,000-$38,000, Lucy was patented by Lafferty with an exclusive 17 year right to make and sell animal-shaped buildings.
SOURCE: https://www.pocketbuildings.com/blog/lucy-elephant-building-novelty-architecture

See Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_the_Elephant
 
Lucy the Elephant is soon to undergo a complete exterior re-skinning. It is planned to reopen in mid-2022.
Jersey Shore landmark Lucy the Elephant to get new skin

The beach-side landmark, Lucy the Elephant, is having all of its metal skin replaced because more than 50% of its exterior has degraded beyond repair.

The six-story high elephant statue in Margate, New Jersey, will close Sept. 20 after architects determined it would be more cost effective to replace the metal siding than to try to restore it ...

The new overhaul will cost $1.4 million and is funded in part by a grant from the Preserve New Jersey Preservation Fund administered by the New Jersey Historic Trust ...

During restorations, a weatherproof scaffolding will be built around Lucy. ...
SOURCE: https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-de310fbe22c0008f62f9704fa04746bd
 
A little thread on Twitter I found rather fun. Guy gets lost in a conference center. Lots of pictures of endless stairwells, empty corridors, clunky old elevators. Fairly mundane events I'm sure but I can imagine the atmosphere of the experience being pretty weird. Apparently the fella went on a 5 mile expedition to get out of this building.

 
A little thread on Twitter I found rather fun. Guy gets lost in a conference center. Lots of pictures of endless stairwells, empty corridors, clunky old elevators. Fairly mundane events I'm sure but I can imagine the atmosphere of the experience being pretty weird. Apparently the fella went on a 5 mile expedition to get out of this building.

That seems like a real-life 'backrooms'. Very odd.
 
One of my favorite pieces of architecture is the fake houses at Leinster Gardens in London.

It was to prevent an ugly gap between the houses when the made the underground train network.

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So, this one haunted me for a bit because I couldn't find it online after seeing it once:

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Someone at the time I first saw it mentioned the Gormenghast Novels. I went to read them straight away, but they inspired me to write something different and I haven't finished them since I haven't finished my book yet and wanted to keep from accidentally taking ideas from the original.

Edit: If this haunted you the way it did me, you can find a little more info here: https://weburbanist.com/2016/01/01/ghostly-floating-farms-abandoned-rural-buildings-of-russia/
 
Here's a few I like:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bart-prince-residence-studio
UFO shaped house on a quiet street in Albuquerque.

LOCATED AT A QUIET STREET corner in the stylish Nob Hill neighborhood of Albuquerque is the residence and professional studio of architect Bart Prince. The home was completed in 1984, with the conical library tower addition completed in 1990 and the gallery added in 2006. The structure is also often referred to as either the “Spaceship House” or the “Bug House.”

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/center-of-the-universe-albuquerque
Center of the Universe building in Alubuqeurque

ON THE CAMPUS OF THE University of New Mexico stands a large concrete structure. Tunnels extend outward in each cardinal direction, and one opens up to the sky, another extends below the surface into the ground. Underneath this skylight, an aged plaque reads “The Center of the Universe.”
 
Buy it and declare independence. Declare yourself King, issue titles, passports, print stamps... all at a handsome price of course.

Nice daydream, but I don't think it's feasible. It appears to me the fort isn't in international waters. It's inside the estuary rather than "out at sea."

BullSandFort.jpg
 
Nice daydream, but I don't think it's feasible. It appears to me the fort isn't in international waters. It's inside the estuary rather than "out at sea."

Still though, we could have a whip around to buy it, rename it Fortean Tower, issue our own currency etc as a souvenir/moneymaker rather than challenging the UK. The bonus is that it's only 70 miles from Cromer by sea
 
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