THE CROOKED HOUSE

SOPOT, POLAND



Polish architect of the Crooked House, Szotynscy Zaleski, was inspired by the fairytale illustrations of Jan Marcin Szancer and the drawings of the Swedish artist and Sopot resident Per Dahlberg. Built in 2004, the Crooked House is the most photographed building in Poland. The 4,000 square meter house is located in Rezydent shopping center in Sopot, Poland








FOREST SPIRAL

DARMSTADT, GERMANY



This building is called Forest Spiral and it's located in Darmstadt, Germany. It's designer is Friedensreich Hundertwasser the world famous Austrian architect. He is renowned for his colorful architectural designs which incorporate irregular, organic forms in an incomparable individualism. He was fascinated with spirals and called straight lines "the devil's tools".

The structure of the altogether 12 floors has 105 apartments. The roof is formed by a garden of beech, maple, and lime trees. Up in the roof there is a restaurant, offering breathtaking view and an opportunity for relaxed dinning. The "Forest Spiral" was built in Darmstadt between 1998 and 2000. Unfortunately, Hundertwasser died in February 2000 a few months before the building was completed.








TORRE GALATEA

FIGUERSA, SPAIN



The first thing you notice are the giant egg sculptures along the roofline. Then you notice that the Salvador Dali Theater Museum in Figueras, Spain, is no ordinary building. The museum's tower, Torre Galatea, was named for the surrealist artist's deceased wife, and Dali himself lived there until his death in 1989. Interestingly, the museum sits next to the parish church where Dali was baptized in 1904; he is buried in an unmarked crypt in the museum's main exhibition hall.








FERDINAND CHEVAL PALACE (THE IDEAL PALACE)

FRANCE



One day, French postman Ferdinand Cheval tripped over a stone when he was out walking. He was so inspired by bizarrely shaped stone that he went back the next day to the same spot and began collecting rocks. Cheval was inspired to create a building out of the beautiful stones and went on to spend 33 years building the "Ideal Palace".








BASKET BUILDING

NEWARK, OHIO USA



Space aliens, bending their eye stalks Earthward, often mistake Newark, Ohio as the center of all world power. After all, it is in this modest city that humankind has erected the grandest monument to the highest pinnacle of achievement by an advanced consumer culture -- the hand-woven gift basket. This monument is, in fact, the world's largest basket, and it's also the seven story corporate headquarters of the Longaberger Basket Company.

Offices are situated around a seven-story, 30,000 sq. ft atrium where employees and guests can enjoy the natural daylight from the skylight.
Two basket handles are attached to the building with replica copper and wooden rivets.
The handles are heated to prevent ice from forming.
Two Longaberger tags are attached to the sides of the building. The gold leaf painted tags are 725 lbs each and measure 25' long x 7' tall x 3" thick.





The basket is a replica (160 times larger) of Longaberger's Medium Market Basket. It's 192 ft. long by 126 ft. wide at the bottom, spreading to 208-ft. long by 142-ft. wide at the roofline. It is a magnificent sight especially at night.