World's Strangest Houses

From Popular Mechanics: this is a great slideshow of the world's strangest houses.

The Monte-Silo by Gigaplex Architects is a great example of adaptive re-use. Two grain silos were combined to create an 1,800 square foot residence in Utah. The house combines one of the most basic and rudimentary concepts of shelter with high tech heating and entertainment technology.

(Photos: Gigaplex Architects)

The Steel House is a great marriage of sculpture and shelter by artist and architect Robert Bruno.

I have wandered by the Mushroom House many times during walks around Hyde Park in Cincinnati. The neighborhood is an urban treasure of early 20th century homes, and this house certainly sticks out. I was saddened to see the for sale sign. I believe that re-sale should not be the most important consideration when creating a custom home. If you love what you are creating, chances are there is another person out there who will love it. But building a house like this definitely limits the pool of future inhabitants.



I have never lived in a "strange" house, so I wonder: would the novelty wear off? Would you just sometimes wish that you had a straight surface to hang a picture? On the other hand, most of us live in dry-walled boxes. Some of these womb-like homes in a way provide a much more intuitive and natural form of shelter than the standard home of today. They are less about sheltering the person's "stuff", like their dining room table or car, and more about sheltering the person.