Collection by Luke Hopping

Surreal Structures that Will Make Your Head Spin

Even architects need to curb their rational sides once in a while. From a spectral synagogue in France to an outdoor optical illusion in San Francisco, these six structures are out of this world.

In lieu of a traditional backyard, Faulders Studio in San Francisco invented the Deformscape: an 'outdoor room' that's also an optical illusion: it looks like it dips around the tree but is actually a flat surface ideal for entertaining. Photo by Digited Image Co.
In lieu of a traditional backyard, Faulders Studio in San Francisco invented the Deformscape: an 'outdoor room' that's also an optical illusion: it looks like it dips around the tree but is actually a flat surface ideal for entertaining. Photo by Digited Image Co.
William Massie relaxes inside the utterly unique interior of his America House 08.
William Massie relaxes inside the utterly unique interior of his America House 08.
Shigeru Ban, Cardboard Cathedral

A testament to the strength, skill, and poignancy of the Pritzker winner’s “emergency architecture,” this A-frame marvel of cardboard tubing and shipping containers served as a potent symbol for Christchurch’s recovery after an earthquake. In another symbolic touch, the stained glass triangle at the front of the church incorporates imagery from the former cathedral’s famous rose window.
Shigeru Ban, Cardboard Cathedral A testament to the strength, skill, and poignancy of the Pritzker winner’s “emergency architecture,” this A-frame marvel of cardboard tubing and shipping containers served as a potent symbol for Christchurch’s recovery after an earthquake. In another symbolic touch, the stained glass triangle at the front of the church incorporates imagery from the former cathedral’s famous rose window.
An American architect in Paris experiments with Corbusian perceptions of interior and exterior space. Installing glass floors, interconnecting different spaces in the home. Photo by: Filippo Bamberghi
An American architect in Paris experiments with Corbusian perceptions of interior and exterior space. Installing glass floors, interconnecting different spaces in the home. Photo by: Filippo Bamberghi
The Wintons commissioned Gehry after reading about his work in The New York Times in 1982. It was the pick of a client with premonition, and as the final structure indicates, an open mind. The architect was asked to create a space for the Wintons' visiting family—five kids and plenty of grandchildren necessitated the extra room—and complement the main home, a brick Philip Johnson “donut” on a 12-acre plot on the shores of Lake Minnetonka. But Gehry followed his own muse, and often talked about the home he created as pure sculpture, according to Victoria Young, the Professor of Modern Architectural History at St. Thomas University and Coordinator of Frank Gehry’s Winton Guest House. “Even the original models have all these disparate shapes,” she says. “The first model he presented to them had a log cabin, referencing the fact that the Wintons' fortune came from Canadian lumber." Since it was a guest house, Gehry felt free to experiment. "You can explore things in a way you can’t in a place people live in all the time.”
The Wintons commissioned Gehry after reading about his work in The New York Times in 1982. It was the pick of a client with premonition, and as the final structure indicates, an open mind. The architect was asked to create a space for the Wintons' visiting family—five kids and plenty of grandchildren necessitated the extra room—and complement the main home, a brick Philip Johnson “donut” on a 12-acre plot on the shores of Lake Minnetonka. But Gehry followed his own muse, and often talked about the home he created as pure sculpture, according to Victoria Young, the Professor of Modern Architectural History at St. Thomas University and Coordinator of Frank Gehry’s Winton Guest House. “Even the original models have all these disparate shapes,” she says. “The first model he presented to them had a log cabin, referencing the fact that the Wintons' fortune came from Canadian lumber." Since it was a guest house, Gehry felt free to experiment. "You can explore things in a way you can’t in a place people live in all the time.”