Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteThatPainter is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn More
The strangest buildings in the world are not strange for one reason. Some deliberately take the shape of ducks, baskets, fish, guitars, or teacups; others are designed to look melted or upside down; one is an old façade wrapped around a modern headquarters, and another only looks sliced open because its neighbors disappeared. This selection, based on Architectural Digest’s June 29, 2022 feature by Katherine McLaughlin, is an editorial group rather than a ranked global contest.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
What makes a building “strange”?
“Strange” is a visual description, not a formal architectural category. The 12 examples below fall into four useful groups: buildings that imitate an animal or object, buildings that intentionally distort familiar forms, buildings that put old and new construction in tension, and a building whose startling appearance was caused by surrounding demolition. Their functions are just as varied: retail, manufacturing headquarters, a museum, lodging, offices, a hotel and casino, and educational entertainment.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
Descriptions and historical details are attributed to Architectural Digest unless a qualification is given. Ownership, sale prices, listing status, opening figures, and visitor access can change, so time-sensitive information is identified as such rather than presented as a current guarantee.
#1 Best Overall
Buildings that become the object they represent
The Big Duck, Long Island, New York
The Big Duck makes its commercial purpose impossible to miss. Architectural Digest reports that local duck farmer Martin Maurer commissioned the duck-shaped building in 1931 to sell eggs. Instead of placing a conventional shop behind a sign of a duck, Maurer made the shop itself the sign: a giant body, wings, head, and bill visible from the road.
The building is also tied to a major idea in late-20th-century architectural criticism. Architectural Digest says architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown used examples such as the Big Duck in discussing “duck architecture,” a term for buildings whose forms represent the objects or activities associated with them. In that sense, the Big Duck is both a roadside business and a memorable lesson in how symbolism can replace abstract architectural branding. The same source says it is listed in the National Archives of Historic Places; that designation should be checked against the relevant public register before relying on it for current preservation or visitor information.
Longaberger’s basket building, Newark, Ohio
The former headquarters of basket manufacturer and distributor Longaberger is commonly called the Big Basket. Its exterior reproduces a woven basket at enormous scale, complete with handles, turning a company’s product into its corporate headquarters. The resemblance is not a decorative detail: it is the building’s defining silhouette.
Architectural Digest reported that Longaberger moved out in 2016. The article also said the property had been sold to developer Steve Coon, that hotel plans had been discussed, and that it was back on the market for $6.5 million at the time of publication. Those are historical, time-sensitive details—not a statement of the property’s current owner, price, or redevelopment status. The building’s unusualness lies in the directness of its message: a basket company occupied a basket.
Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum, Baku
In Baku, the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum is shaped like a rolled carpet unfurling across the site. The form connects the institution to what is inside it: a collection devoted to Azerbaijani carpets and weaving techniques. Rather than treating the museum’s subject as a label applied after construction, the design turns textile heritage into architecture.
Architectural Digest names Austrian architect Franz Janz and reports that the building took six years to build. The shape also changes how visitors read the museum from a distance. A conventional museum can conceal its subject until a visitor reaches the galleries; this one announces its cultural focus before the doors are reached. Exhibition schedules, opening hours, and access arrangements are separate questions and should be confirmed with the museum before a trip.
Dog Bark Inn, Cottonwood, Idaho
The Dog Bark Inn is a beagle-shaped bed-and-breakfast beside Highway 95. Its novelty is not limited to a façade that resembles a dog: the guest accommodation is organized through the animal’s body. Architectural Digest describes a private second-story patio, sleeping space in the dog’s head, and an alcove in its muzzle.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →That arrangement turns a familiar lodging question—where is the bedroom?—into a spatial joke with practical consequences. Guests are actually staying inside the object represented by the building. Because lodging availability, room configurations, and policies can change, travelers should use the property’s current information rather than assume every feature described in the 2022 article remains offered.
National Fisheries Development Board, Hyderabad
The headquarters of India’s National Fisheries Development Board is widely referred to as the “fish building.” Its architecture takes an aquatic form, with a body and profile that read as a fish rather than a conventional office block. Architectural Digest says blue lighting at night strengthens the illusion, making the structure appear to swim through Hyderabad’s cityscape.
The building shows how lighting can be part of an architectural concept rather than an afterthought. In daylight, the silhouette supplies the metaphor; after dark, color and illumination make the metaphor more legible. It is still an administrative headquarters, so the fish shape functions as a public-facing identity while ordinary office work continues inside.
Rank #3
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hollywood, Florida
The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood is a guitar-shaped tower, one of the most literal examples of a building adopting the form of an object associated with its entertainment business. Architectural Digest describes it as opening in 2019 and gives source-reported figures of 36 stories, 638 rooms and suites, and an entertainment venue holding 7,000 people.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
Those numbers belong to the source’s description and are not independently checked here; room inventory, event capacity, and operating arrangements can change. The architectural idea, however, is clear: the guitar is a giant sign for live music, amplified entertainment, and the resort’s identity. Its height makes the metaphor visible across the surrounding landscape rather than only at street level.
Niimi Building, Tokyo
In Tokyo’s Asakusa neighborhood, the Niimi Building belongs to kitchenware wholesaler Niimi and uses oversized teacups as balconies. The cups project from the façade like practical objects enlarged beyond normal scale, giving an otherwise vertical commercial building a playful rhythm.
The location adds context without changing the building’s purpose. Asakusa is also the neighborhood of Sensō-ji, so visitors may encounter the teacup balconies while moving through one of Tokyo’s best-known historic districts. The design communicates the tenant’s kitchenware business in the same direct way that the Big Duck communicates eggs and the Longaberger building communicates baskets.
Buildings designed to look impossible
Crooked House, Sopot, Poland
Crooked House, completed in 2004, appears to melt, buckle, or cave in along Sopot’s commercial streets. Architectural Digest identifies the designers as Szotyńscy & Zaleski and says they drew inspiration from children’s-book illustrations by Jan Szancer. Windows, walls, and rooflines bend into a continuous visual distortion.
The Tool Desk
Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Rank #4
The crucial distinction is between appearance and performance. The source describes the building as architecturally sound, even though it looks as if gravity has stopped working. Inside are shops, offices, restaurants, and a Polish Walk of Fame. The result is a functioning commercial building that uses a deliberately unstable exterior to create curiosity and foot traffic.
Quetzalcóatl Nest, Mexico City
Architect Javier Senosiain designed Quetzalcóatl Nest as a long, serpentine structure inspired by Quetzalcóatl, the Aztec god represented as a feathered serpent. The building winds through its landscape rather than presenting a simple front-and-back block. Architectural Digest describes rooms in the body of the structure and tunneled walkways that let people move through the serpentine form.
The source calls the property an Airbnb, but a listing description from 2022 is not proof of current availability, access rules, or booking arrangements. Treat it as an architectural example first and verify any present-day visitor option directly. Its unusualness comes from inhabiting a mythic creature: circulation, rooms, and landscape are arranged as parts of one continuous body.
WonderWorks, Orlando
WonderWorks is an educational entertainment center housed in a building made to look upside down. The roof appears to rest on the ground while the entrance and upper structure seem inverted, creating the immediate impression that the building has fallen from the sky.
Recommended Free Tools
The attraction separates a fictional explanation from the real design. Its story says Professor Wonder’s laboratory was carried by a tornado from an island in the Bermuda Triangle. That narrative is part of the entertainment, not an account of how the Orlando building was constructed. Architectural Digest also notes that other WonderWorks locations use the upside-down concept. The design works because visitors understand the normal orientation of a building before seeing it deliberately reversed.
Best Value
Old façades, new structures, and an accidental “slice”
CSAV Headquarters, Valparaíso, Chile
The CSAV headquarters in Valparaíso combines a preserved older façade with a modern structure built behind or around it. Architectural Digest describes the approach as “facadism”: retaining the street-facing historic skin while inserting a new building behind it.
That strategy creates a visible transition rather than a cleanly unified style. From one angle, the viewer reads an older urban frontage; from another, the contemporary volume becomes apparent. The result raises a practical preservation question—how much of a historic building remains when only its façade survives—but it also shows why cities use hybrid solutions when they want to retain a familiar streetscape while adding modern floor space.
Half House, Toronto
Toronto’s Half House looks as if a Victorian row house were cut vertically down the middle. According to Architectural Digest, that was not the design intention. Owners of surrounding properties sold to developers, while the Valkos family did not. When the neighboring houses were demolished, the Valkos home was left standing with its previously shared side exposed.
The result is an accidental architectural remnant: a complete decision by one family produced an incomplete-looking streetscape. Unlike Crooked House or WonderWorks, Half House does not use distortion as entertainment or branding. Its strange appearance records a property dispute and a pattern of redevelopment. The source does not establish the home’s current condition or ownership, so those should not be inferred from photographs or older accounts.
What the 12 examples reveal about unusual architecture
Purposeful imitation versus unintended resemblance
The Big Duck, basket building, Carpet Museum, Dog Bark Inn, fish headquarters, guitar tower, and Niimi Building were conceived to resemble something recognizable. Their forms function as visual shorthand: a passerby can infer eggs, baskets, carpets, dogs, fisheries, music, or kitchenware before reading a sign. Crooked House, Quetzalcóatl Nest, and WonderWorks also rely on deliberate visual surprise, but their goal is to make ordinary building conventions look unstable or fantastical rather than to reproduce a product.
Architecture as a record of change
CSAV Headquarters and Half House show a different kind of strangeness. One intentionally preserves an old façade while adding a modern building; the other acquired its exposed profile because surrounding houses were removed. In both cases, the odd appearance is inseparable from the city’s development history. The buildings are not simply eccentric objects—they are evidence of decisions about preservation, ownership, and redevelopment.
Unusual does not mean unusable
These structures continue to perform ordinary functions. The Carpet Museum displays collections, Dog Bark Inn accommodates guests, CSAV provides offices, the guitar-shaped resort houses hotel and entertainment spaces, and WonderWorks runs an educational attraction. Their unusual exteriors may complicate construction, maintenance, wayfinding, or future renovation, but the designs demonstrate that a building can be highly symbolic without giving up practical use.
PC Slower Than It Used to Be?
A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Crashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?
Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minutePlanning a visit
Do not treat a visual list as a guaranteed itinerary. The source article is from 2022, and several entries involve changing ownership, redevelopment plans, lodging operations, or entertainment capacity. Check an institution’s or property’s current official information for opening hours, reservations, photography rules, construction closures, and whether interior access is permitted. Some buildings are working offices or private properties rather than attractions, so seeing the exterior may be the only lawful or practical option.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
