Architecture

Recycled Architecture and Reused Materials

Offbeat Buildings from Standard Recycled Materials: Tin cans, hay bales, tires, glass and plastic bottles - all are ubiquitous urban detritus but each can be re-appropriated in much more creative ways than simple recycling. See how ordinary people have created extraordinary architecture from everyday trash objects.

The Art of Urban Adaptive Reuse: It never ceases to amaze most viewers when a building that seems perfectly sound is demolished and replaced. Could they have not found some use for the old structure? These architects have turned that question into a compelling challenge and in many cases have created something to outdo the original. Bonus: here are 7 more.

The Art of Oceanic Adaptive Reuse: One of the most incredible sets of building types to ever be abandoned and later reused are the army and sea forts found off the coast of Great Britain. These structures have been transformed over time into everything from luxury resorts to pirate radio stations and micronations.

Cargo Container Home and Office Architecture: Shipping container homes are a universal unit, found in the same sizes around the world. When they can no longer handle the hefty duties demanded by the shipping industry, however, this opens up international opportunities to create amazing architectural designs. Bonus here are 10 more and a how to buy, build or design your own.

More Uncanny Architecture, Related Art and Design

Of course, much of the best architectural work won’t fit neatly into a group based on the materials used, the intended purpose or even the type or style of building generated. For that reason, here is a collection of the remaining oddballs - the wonderful topics that simply refused to conform to any conventional categories. Enjoy!

Organic Architecture: Form over Function: Organic architecture can refer to a style, movement, approach or aesthetic. Here are a number of examples of each of these - curvilinear buildings that swoop and swerve, spirals that wrap around like conch shells and more.

Architectural Movement: Sweet Spinning Structures: A rotating building is not what people normally mean when they refer to ‘architectural movements’ - after all, aren’t buildings fixed in place virtually by definition? Perhaps these and other marvelous moving buildings are the exceptions that prove the rule.

Architectural Illusions: The Art of the Third Dimension: There are buildings that challenge our perceptions, defy conventions and bend in ways we never imagined a structure could. There are also architectural optical illusions that play with the second and third dimensions in novel and curious ways.

Architectural Apocalypse: The Art at World’s End: What would the planet be like without us? Many artists, architects and filmmakers have envisioned eye-popping post-disaster worlds in which our tallest buildings and most precious monuments have decayed and turned slowly back to dust.

More Green Architecture and Design from WebEcoist

Want more? The archives of our green sister site are also filled with all kinds of amazing eco-friendly and offbeat designs, from ancient wonders of green design to buildings carved from living rock and even incredible works of animal architecture. From the WebEcoist galleries, be sure to check out elementally themed ecological design and technology revolving around the earth, water, wind and the sun.