This Week’s Crazy Building: NASA Vehicle Assembly Building

Aerial View of Launch Complex by NASA is used under public domain
The NASA Vehicle Assembly Building, located in Titusville, Florida has appeared as a backdrop in such movies as Apollo 13 and Contact. At 526 feet tall it is America’s tallest building outside of an urban area and it is one of the largest buildings in the world by volume at 129,428,000 cubic feet. It is
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Guangzhou Circle

Guangzhou Circle viewed from the opposite side of the river by Midip is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
The Guangzhou Circle located in Guangzhou, China may appear to be a strange doughnut-shaped skyscraper to westerners, but to those from the east, it has symbology and meaning. Architect, Joseph di Pasquale drew inspiration from bi-disks or bi, ancient Chinese artifacts. Bi-disks are carved from jade and bear the same shape as the Guangzhou Circle.
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Casa do Penedo

Casa do Penedo, front view by Pablo García Chao is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
Casa do Penedo or House of Stone is located in the Fafe mountains of northern Portugal. Built by an engineer from 1972-1974, it utilizes 4 existing boulders to form the structure. Originally built as a vacation home, current owner Vitor Rodrigues is not quite sure what to do about the increasing number of tourists drawn
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Katskhi Pillar

Katskhi stone column by G.N. by is used under CC BY-SA 3.0 / Cropped from original
Located in the country of Georgia, the Katskhi Pillar is about 130 feet high. A small structure is clearly visible at the top. The pillar was left untouched and unscaled for centuries until 1944 when a group lead by mountaineer Alexander Japaridze and writer Levan Gotua climbed to the top. There they discovered the ruins
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Lonely Castle

Qasr al Farid by Richard.hargas is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
The Lonely Castle or Qasr al-Farid stands alone in the north Saudi Arabian desert. Carved from the top down directly into a massive 4-story boulder its origins are mysterious. Believed to date back to the first century AD, this “castle” was actually created to be a tomb. It is believed that the dry climate has
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Riverside Museum

Glasgow Riverside museum by nuklr.dave is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Situated at the meeting point of the River Kelvin with the River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland, the Riverside Museum was envisioned as a place that would connect the city with the river. The open ends on either side form a channel linking the two. This connection is a nod to the former importance of the
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Hong Kong Design Institute

HKDI Campus at Tseung Kwan O by Srr is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
Although at first glance, it may remind you of a retro spaceship (maybe something from an old video game?), the Hong Kong Design Institute’s campus was built with modern concepts of interaction and cross-pollination in mind. The campus contains cutting edge fabrication facilities and workshops. Completed in 2011, it is approximately 45,000 square feet. Students
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Sagrada Família

Passion façade by Wjh31 is licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sagrada Família, located in Barcelona, Spain was designed by Antoni Gaudí. In it, he blends Gothic and Art Nouveau styles. This was his last work and when he died in 1926 it was still incomplete. It is still under construction and set to be completed by 2026 which is the centennial anniversary of Gaudí’s death.
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This Week’s Crazy Building: Whimsical Houses by Terunobu Fujimori

Takasugi-an by Kenta Mahuchi is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Terunobu Fujimori, a Japanese architect, and architectural historian was virtually unknown until 1991 when he was asked to design a small museum. At first, he was reluctant to do so. His concern was that by becoming an architect himself, he might lose credibility. Well, the museum was a success, and Fujimori has been producing one
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This Week’s Crazy Building: The New Sarawak

Sarawak New Parliament Building by Nicky Tay is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 / Cropped from original
Resembling something from a Star Wars movie, the New Sarawak or New Sarawak State Legislative Assembly Building is located on the island of Borneo and is part of Malaysia. With its distinctive “payung” or umbrella roof, it is easy to spot from a distance. Its many arches and 9 pillars are symbolic of their sovereignty
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