This Week’s Crazy Building: Umeda Sky Building

Umeda Sky Building in Osaka by Brücke-Osteuropa Licensed Under the Terms of the CC0 1.0 Universal
This week’s crazy building is the Umeda Sky Building in Osaka, Japan. Those strange construction cranes aren’t cranes at all. They’re actually a part of the building! Specifically, they serve as fire escapes, bridges and escalators to help get around the massive structure. You may think they look unsightly, but you can’t argue with the
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Pirelli Tire Building

Pirelli Tire Building by Gunnar Klack is used under CC BY-SA 2.0 / Cropped from original
This week’s crazy building is the Pirelli Tire Building in New Haven, CT. Built in 1969, this bold-looking building is a love letter to the architectural style known as Brutalism. Like other buildings in this style, the Pirelli building is cold and imposing, with a facade consisting largely of raw concrete. What makes this structure stand out
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Treehouse Apartments

25 Verde, Torino by hillman54 licensed under the terms of CC BY 2.0
This week’s crazy building is the Treehouse Apartments in Turin, Italy. Officially named 25 Verde (“25 Green” in English), it’s unlike any apartment building you’ve ever seen. Included in the structure are 150 massive trees, plus 50 more in the courtyard garden. Each of the 63 residential units are unique and include large terraces to
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Petrova Gora Monument

Petrova Gora Monument by Укларочить (Тоида) licensed under the term of CC BY 3.0
This week’s crazy building is the Petrova Gora Monument in Croatia. This strange and stark-looking structure looks like a surreal, topsy-turvy office building. In truth, it’s one of many oddly alien World War II monuments that dot the countryside of Eastern Europe. Built in 1981, it was dedicated to 300 Serbian peasants who gave up their
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Phra Pathom Chedi

Phra Pathom Chedi at Wat Phra Pathom Chedi, Nakorn Pahom, Thailand by ScorpianPK licensed under the terms of CC BY-SA 3.0
This week’s crazy building is the Phra Pathom Chedi in Thailand. At nearly 400 feet tall, this unusual structure has the distinction of being the tallest stupa in the world. What’s a stupa, you ask? Why, a dome-shaped Buddhist shrine, of course! This particular stupa has its origins way back in 193 BC. The Indian
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Republic of Kugelmugel

Republic of Kugelmugel by MOs810 licensed under the terms of CC BY-SA 4.0
This week’s crazy building is the Republic of Kugelmugel in Austria. Created in 1984, this strange spherical structure was once home to artist Edwin Lipburger. But its “Death Star” appearance is the least crazy thing about it. When Lipburger got into conflicts with building inspectors, he eventually decided to secede from Austria and turn his home into
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This Week’s Crazy Building: UK Pavilion

UK Pavilion by Kimon Berlin licensed under the terms of CC BY-Sa 2.0
This week’s crazy building is the UK Pavilion in Shanghai, China. Part sculpture, part building, this unique box of spikes was created for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai for £25 million. There are 60,000 plastic rods sticking out from the facade. Encased at the end of each rod are a few plant seeds—a total
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Northern Lights Cathedral

Nordlyskatedralen by Christian Theede Christiansen licensed under the terms of CC BY-SA 2.0
This week’s crazy building is the Northern Lights Cathedral in Alta, Norway. Completed in 2013, this strange cathedral is located in one of the northernmost cities on earth. The 154-foot structure spirals higher and higher, leading the viewer’s eye skyward and beckoning them towards the northern lights, which happen frequently at this latitude. In fact,
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Congress Center

Hangzhou International Conference Center by Huandy618 licensed under the terms of CC BY-SA 3.0
This week’s crazy building is Congress Center in Hangzhou, China. Completed in 2010, this massive complex is actually seven buildings in one. It consists of six high-rise office buildings that are all connected by a circular skybridge. These surround a seventh hub building in the center that comes complete with a rooftop garden. The building
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Cayan Tower

Cayan Tower by Guilhem Vellut licensed under the terms of CC BY 2.0
This week’s crazy building is Cayan Tower in Dubai. In 2013, this almost impossible-looking structure became the tallest building in the world to have a twist of 90 degrees. It’s 1005 feet tall, a remarkable feat for something that looks like it’s been bent out of shape by a giant. (If you’re wondering how it
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