Unusual Buildings & Homes

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The Shoe

This shoe-shaped building was built in 1948, perhaps in some sort of overzealous post-war fit of creativity. Located in Hellam Pennsylvania, it was used for a while as the guesthouse (it has three bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen and living room) of Mahlon N. Haines, who was the owner of a local shoe empire. It was an ice cream parlor for many years after Haines death, but is now a museum teaching visitors about the eccentric life of its creator.

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This smaller shoe-shaped building was built all the way across the country in Bakersfield, California, in 1947, just one year before its Hellam cousin. It was built to be a shoe repair shop, and later it was sold with the stipulation that it would remain a shoe-related business. The store that the shoe currently houses is called the Big Shoe Repair and was still fixing soles when we called it last week.

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[shadow=black,left,300]Did the wind blow this place over?[/shadow]

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The Toilet

The World Toilet Association recently had its first general assembly meeting — what better way to celebrate than to build an enormous toilet-shaped home? This house contains four bedrooms and four accompanying bathrooms, each with a deluxe toilet and other attractive amenities like whirlpool tubs and motion sensors that turn on classical music when you enter. It's located south of Seoul in South Korea. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by to explore. For just $1 you can increase your awareness and appreciation of fancy porcelain thrones.

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The Basket

Longaberger's 500 employees head to work every morning to be cradled in the cubicles and offices in this enormous basket. This seven-story building with 150-ton handles serves as Longaberger's corporate headquarters and turns 10 years old this year. The company is known for its hand-woven baskets, but we were surprised to find that it also makes wrought-iron furniture and fancy-pants candles. Perhaps they can be inspiration for another office, should the company ever need to expand.

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More Tree Home Pics

Castle in the Trees

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[shadow=navy,left,300]The Cosmic Muffin[/shadow]


While many house-boats over the years have pridefully claimed to be distinctive and unique, the Cosmic Muffin can truly be considered an historic one-of-a-kind amalgam of a rare aircraft and novel vessel.

This most unusual plane-boat has created its share of interest and amazement over the years and even some car accidents.

No other watercraft, before or since, has ever been constructed from a land-based airplane, especially one with such a rich legacy as an historic aircraft owned by a true legend, Howard Hughes, only to be rediscovered years later as a boat by timeless troubadour Jimmy Buffett, musician, author and avid pilot.



The craft has been extensively restored by current owner Dave Drimmer,
left in photo, and Jeff Gibbs, at the right.

More Pics
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The Shell House
sculptural, very dynamic
and in the woods of Japan outside of Tokyo.





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A Rotating House
Makes For One Dizzy Dwelling

Over the last month or so, residents of Tilburg in the Netherlands
have bore witness to artist John Körmeling's bizarre artistic vision.

The project, nearly a decade in the making,
involves a rotating house sitting smack dab in the Hasselt roundabout—
a spot that has been designated to showcase works of art
(not to mention acting as one of the most important gateways to the city).


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The Upside-Down House

Here's a building that's shaped like .. A House.
A house that's been blown over and uprooted by the Big Bad Wolf, that is.

The upside-down house opened in the small town of Szymbark, Poland, and has become one the country's major tourist attractions. It's apparently quite disorienting on the inside and was built by a Polish businessman as a kind of protest against governmental actions that are detached from reality — think Poland under the Communists and the world's current treatment of the environment.

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Geodesic Sphere House

Kingman, Arizona


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I bet it gets HOT in there !!!
And WHY such a long walkway
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This transportable prefab runs a modest 600 square feet
and is located just outside of Phoenix, AZ.



Sourcing suppliers local to the area, the designers decided to go with SIPs
(structural insulated panels) for the surrounding structure, which allowed them
to cut down on on-site construction time while reducing construction waste.

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In addition to the SIP skin,
the project will use a combination of passive and active environmental control systems
including natural ventilation and lighting, and a gray water recycling system
along with water catchment.



Solar panels are installed adjacent to the bedroom,
providing both privacy and power to the project while keeping costs down
since the panels did not have to get integrated into the roof.



The hope is that the structure will be entirely self sufficient in the end.



The one-bedroom prototype was designed and engineered
to be transportable by roadway.[/center]

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[shadow=blue,left,300]THE SPHERE HOUSE[/shadow]

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Teapot Dome Gas Station



This little gas station was built in 1922,
a commentary on the Teapot Dome scandal involving
President Harding and a federal petroleum reserve in Wyoming.

Said to be the oldest gas station in use in the country (No longer in use),
it survived partially because it was moved years ago,
to be closer to the interstate.

Neat!
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1/31/2005

SPHERE DWELLING


This is trippy.
These durable spheres can
be hung from the trees as shown,
making a treehouse.

They could also be hung from
any other solid objects or
placed in cradles on the ground.

Ball House
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[gonenglad]

You forgot one.

But I'm sure you are very familiar with it.


lebbeuswoods.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/lwblog-mies1.jpg?w=780&h=601

Just don't throw stones!

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~ Clic Pic For Glass Prison Music ~


'ALL GLASS PRISON'

[Photo: Paul Ott]

Beautiful glass and stainless steel office building?

Nope – that’s a five-star prison in Styria, Austria!

If you look at these figures comparing crime in Austria and crime in the U.S. you’ll notice something odd: although the U.S. has higher crime rates in virtually every category (murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, etc…) the Austrians triumph in one category: burglary.

But why?

Why is the rate of burglaries in Austria a whopping 40% higher than in the U.S.?

I’ll tell you why: because Austrian minimum security prisons are fucking awesome!

gonenglad;
If you’re in Austria, and have a working brain,
you should be trying to get into one right now!

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Warum?

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About 2,680 of these porcelain-steel homes were produced in America between 1949 and 1950 by the Lustron Corporation in Columbus, Ohio. An enormous facility housed the nine-mile Lustron assembly line. The ranch style homes usually had two or three bedrooms. Modern appliances including dishwasher were included.

Heating was provided with a ceiling radiant system. They cost about $10,000 - not including the lot. The homes were shipped on a flatbed and required 350 man hours to assemble. Most were built on a concrete base. The porcelain coated exterior panels came in four colors: 'Maize Yellow', 'Dove gray' 'Surf Blue' and 'Desert Tan'.

The Lustron Truck Arrives With A New Home In Williamstown, Mass. 1949
Photo Courtesy of Peter Rogers & Paige Carter

The durable steel homes have survived well into the 21st Century with minimal maintenance. All interior and exterior panels were of porcelainized steel construction. They were designed for indefinite service without painting. The roof shingles are porcelain-coated steel as well. Carl Strandlund, an engineer noted for his war time metal working innovations, was the creator of Lustron Homes.

Carl Strandlund...Lustron Inventor
(1899-1974)

~ Welcome to the 'Lustron Connection' ~

'Lustron Connection' is produced from an upstate
New York Lustron Home, serial #1692.

Our aim is to present Lustrons as they survive today,
either preserved or modified,
and to tell the Lustron story.

The Lustron pictures and stories you see here
are sent in by people from around the USA.

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Letting Your Imagination Run Wild
at the CCTV Building in Beijing


[Megan Cytron/Trazzler]

When an high-profile architect breezes into town and "breaks the box," he or she better be prepared for some healthy skepticism from the local population.

Finished in 2008, Rem Koolhaas' CCTV Headquarters in Beijing hasn't received as much foreign press as the the bird's nest National Stadium built for the Olympics, but now that is it completed, the building's silhouette on the skyline has served as something of a Rorschach test.

The radical design forms a twisted loop with two leaning towers linked by an overhanging horizontal L suspended 44 stories up.

Some see the essence of interconnected media, others a giant pair of men's underpants, and still others claim that the building is an obscene depiction of male and female genitals.

[Architects: Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren; Completed: 2008]

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