Welcome to an exciting journey through some of the world’s most unique and interesting buildings! Did you know that a postman in southeast France spent 33 years building a palace using stones he collected during his mail route? It all began with one intriguing rock he found in 1879, and today, this palace is a popular tourist attraction.
In the 1940s and 50s, a style called Googie architecture became popular. This style made buildings look futuristic, and a man named Elden Davis helped design many coffee shops in California using this style. Another interesting building is the former headquarters of the Longaberger Company in Ohio, which was shaped like a giant basket! Although it cost around $30 million to build, the company eventually moved because working inside a giant basket wasn’t as fun as it sounds.
In Zaragoza, Spain, there’s a building called Ponda Aragon that resembles a basket, but with a more subtle design using glass and concrete. In Mexico, some cemeteries have mausoleums with modern amenities like air conditioning and cable TV. Poland is home to The Crooked House, a shopping center designed to look crooked, inspired by a children’s book illustrator.
In the US, WonderWorks is an indoor amusement park with buildings that appear upside down, as if a tornado flipped them over. In Verona, Italy, there’s a house called The Villa Girasole that rotates to get the best sunlight, moving slowly on a track.
Some architects have left a significant mark on the world. James Hoban, originally from Ireland, designed the White House in the US. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe expanded the Illinois Institute of Technology campus, while Alvar Aalto shaped Finland’s architectural style with his numerous projects.
Modern architects like Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry have created iconic buildings. Gehry’s designs include the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, which boosted the city’s economy, a phenomenon known as the Bilbao Effect.
Some buildings are famous for their unusual designs. The Michigan Theater in Detroit, once a glamorous movie theater, is now a parking garage. The Cube Houses in the Netherlands, designed by Piet Blom, are tilted and look like cubes standing on their corners.
In New Zealand, Puzzling World features cube-like shapes creating a 3D maze. Vienna’s Museum Moderner Kunst has a sideways house on its roof, a piece of art by Erwin Wurm. The Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea, still unfinished, would be a 105-story building covered in glass.
Some buildings are designed to look like everyday objects. In Marietta, Georgia, there’s a KFC with a 56-ft tall chicken on top. In Flanders, New York, a duck farmer built a big duck-shaped building. The Pickle Barrel House, shaped like two barrels, was a summer home for a cartoonist.
In Bailey, Colorado, there’s a hot dog stand shaped like a hot dog, and the Dog Bark Park is a bed and breakfast shaped like a dog. The Cabazon dinosaurs in California are roadside attractions, with one housing a museum.
The Elephant Building in Bangkok, Thailand, is a skyscraper that looks like an elephant. The Kansas City Public Library has an exterior shaped like giant book spines. The Dunmore Pineapple in Scotland was originally a greenhouse with a pineapple design symbolizing hospitality.
Finally, in Queensland, Australia, there’s the Big Pineapple, a souvenir stand once visited by Prince Charles and Princess Diana. What would you design a building to look like? Let your imagination run wild!
Thanks for exploring these amazing architectural wonders with us. Remember, creativity knows no bounds!
Imagine you are an architect tasked with designing a building that looks like an everyday object. Sketch your design on paper, labeling its unique features. Consider how the building’s shape might affect its function. Share your design with the class and explain your creative choices.
Go on a virtual scavenger hunt to find examples of unique architecture from around the world. Use online resources to discover buildings that resemble objects, have unusual shapes, or incorporate futuristic designs. Create a digital presentation showcasing your findings, including images and interesting facts about each structure.
Choose one of the unique buildings mentioned in the article, such as The Crooked House or the Villa Girasole. Using materials like cardboard, clay, or LEGO bricks, construct a model of the building. Pay attention to its distinctive features and try to replicate them in your model. Present your model to the class and discuss the building’s history and design.
Research a famous architect mentioned in the article, such as Frank Gehry or Zaha Hadid. Write a list of interview questions you would ask them about their design philosophy, challenges they faced, and their most iconic projects. Role-play the interview with a classmate, taking turns being the architect and the interviewer.
Work in groups to design a futuristic city that incorporates elements of Googie architecture and other unique styles. Use drawing software or large sheets of paper to map out your city, including residential, commercial, and recreational areas. Present your city plan to the class, highlighting how the architecture reflects futuristic and creative concepts.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Hi, I’m John Green. Welcome to my salon! This is a Mental Floss video. Did you know that a postman in southeast France spent 33 years building a palace made of stones he picked up on his route? It started with one interesting rock he found in 1879, and eventually, he built a structure that tourists visit to this day.
That’s the first of many facts about unique architecture I’m going to share with you today. Googie architecture was a style popularized in the 1940s and 50s, basically meaning buildings designed to look futuristic. A man named Elden Davis is considered one of the fathers of Googie architecture. He didn’t invent it, but he helped design thousands of California coffee shops in this manner.
The Longaberger Company manufactures home decor, including baskets, and their headquarters in Ohio used to be a building shaped like a giant basket. It cost around $30 million to construct and was 160 times the size of the product it was modeled after. Eventually, they moved offices because it wasn’t that fun to work inside a giant basket.
Speaking of baskets, the Ponda Aragon in Zaragoza, Spain, is also meant to look like one, but it’s a little more subtle, with weaving panels of glass and concrete. In Calo, Mexico, there are cemeteries containing mausoleums with extra features like air conditioning, running water, and even cable television.
In Poland, there’s a famous building known as The Crooked House, a 43,000 sq ft shopping center that went up in 2004, built to look crooked in honor of the children’s book illustrator Jan Marcin Szancer. There’s an indoor amusement park called WonderWorks with several locations throughout the US, and the building itself appears upside down, as if a tornado swept it up and landed it on its roof.
A famous house in Verona, Italy, rotates on a track to get optimal sunlight. It moves about 4 mm per second and is known as The Villa Girasole, meaning sunflower in Italian. There’s a chapel in Sedona, Arizona, sitting 200 ft above the ground, embedded in a red rock cliff that’s about 1,000 ft high. The chapel was commissioned in the 1950s by a woman inspired by the look of the Empire State Building.
Local government in Oostkamp, Belgium, repurposed an abandoned Coca-Cola factory into an office building and City Hall, with exterior walls that look like a forest. They also added solar panels and a park. The Kettle House in Texas is a mysterious structure in Galveston; no one knows much about the man who built it or who lives there now. All they know is that it’s a steel building with a round bottom, and occasionally someone shows up to work on it.
Let’s get into some more well-known architects, like James Hoban, who designed the White House. He was born in Ireland and moved to the US in the 1780s. He won a contest for the prestigious job and received $500. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed the Illinois Institute of Technology campus around 1940, contributing significantly to its expansion and changing the architecture department’s curriculum.
Alvar Aalto worked on about 200 projects throughout Finland in the 20th century, gaining credit for the country’s aesthetic. He designed factories, homes, churches, and more. Then we have modern architects like Zaha Hadid, known for her use of curves in design, and Frank Gehry, who designed the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the famous Gehry Residence.
Gehry also designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, which is so interesting-looking that it has been credited with an economic boost in the city, now referred to as the Bilbao Effect. There’s also a Guggenheim Museum in New York, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, commissioned in 1943 but finished in 1959 due to various delays.
Moving on from a beautiful museum to a beautiful parking garage, the Michigan Theater opened in Detroit in 1926 as a glamorous movie theater but was later converted into a parking garage. You may be familiar with the Cube Houses in the Netherlands, designed by architect Piet Blom, who redeveloped an area devastated during World War II.
Puzzling World in New Zealand features cube-like shapes standing at various angles, creating a 3D maze and tourist attraction. The Museum Moderner Kunst in Vienna has a sideways house on its roof in a piece called House Attack, created by artist Erwin Wurm.
Since 1987, about $750 million has been invested into the Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea, which is still not open but would be a 105-story building plated in glass. During the Irish Famine of the 18th century, some commissioned projects to help the economy, including the Wonderful Barn built in Kildare County, which is 70 ft tall and resembles a giant corkscrew lighthouse.
The vacation home Stone House in Portugal, completed in 1974, consists of four separate boulders pushed together with a roof on top and a pool sculpted into the rock. Architect Oscar Niemeyer designed the Contemporary Art Museum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as a narrow round building with a curved ramp, finished in 1996.
The Nord LB building in Hanover, Germany, is an eco-friendly bank completed in 2002, made of steel and glass, resembling intertwining boxes.
Let’s finish up with some quick facts about unique buildings. The Selfridges building in Birmingham, England, is four stories tall and covered in 15,000 aluminum discs. The Winchester Mansion, built in the late 19th century in California, has numerous doors leading to nothing and many secret passages, possibly to confuse ghosts.
In China, there’s a building designed by architectural students shaped like a piano next to a violin, with an elevator inside the violin. There are many buildings that look like other things, such as the Big Chicken in Marietta, Georgia, built in 1963 and featuring a 56-ft tall chicken, now a KFC.
There’s also a big duck in Flanders, New York, built by a duck farmer in 1931. The Pickle Barrel House is shaped like two barrels, built as a summer home for a cartoonist who worked on pickle advertisements.
In Bailey, Colorado, there’s a hot dog stand shaped like a hot dog, and the Dog Bark Park is a dog-shaped bed and breakfast. The Cabazon dinosaurs are roadside attractions in California, with the Apatosaurus containing a creationist museum.
Moving on to the Elephant Building in Bangkok, Thailand, it’s a 32-story skyscraper with three columns that connect, resembling an elephant with eyes, ears, and tusks. The KY Bus Station in Poland is shaped like a UFO and took almost 10 years to build.
You’ve probably seen pictures of the Kansas City Public Library, whose exterior is shaped like a collection of book spines. The Dunmore Pineapple in Scotland was originally a greenhouse, with a big pineapple added around 1777 to represent hospitality.
Finally, I return to my salon to tell you about another pineapple, the Big Pineapple in Queensland, Australia, which is a souvenir stand. Fun fact: Prince Charles and Princess Diana visited!
Thanks for watching this video, made with the help of all these lovely people. Let me know in the comments what you would design a building to look like. And as we say in my hometown, don’t forget to be awesome!
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This version maintains the essence of the original transcript while removing any informal language and ensuring clarity.
Architecture – The art and science of designing and constructing buildings. – The architecture of the new museum is both innovative and functional.
Buildings – Structures with walls and a roof, such as houses, schools, or factories. – The city skyline is filled with tall buildings that reflect different architectural styles.
Design – The process of planning and creating something in a detailed and artistic way. – The design of the art gallery was inspired by natural forms and shapes.
Structures – Objects or buildings that are constructed from several parts. – The ancient structures in the city are a testament to the skills of early architects.
Unique – Being the only one of its kind; unlike anything else. – The artist’s unique style makes her paintings stand out in the gallery.
Modern – Relating to the present or recent times, especially in contrast to the past. – The modern art museum features works from the 21st century.
Creative – Having the ability to create new and original ideas or things. – The creative design of the sculpture garden attracts many visitors.
Architects – People who design buildings and often oversee their construction. – Architects must consider both aesthetics and functionality when designing a building.
Styles – Distinctive appearances or ways of doing things, especially in art or architecture. – The building incorporates several architectural styles, including Gothic and Renaissance.
Attractions – Places or things that draw visitors by being interesting or enjoyable. – The city’s main attractions include its historic architecture and vibrant art scene.
