This building, located in southeastern France, was created by Ferdinard Cheval, the town’s postman. Though Cheval was poor, his work has been recognized by major figures in art and literature, from Pablo Picasso to Anaïs Nin.

13. One World Trade Center – New York, New York:

14. Bubble House – Tourettes-Sur-Loup, France:

This house is thirty-five years old and still is yet to be completed. But, the French ministry of culture has already deemed it a historic monument. It’s understandable – this house in the shape of pods is a statement on how futuristic architecture coexts with the organic landscape that often surrounds it. Built by Hungarian architect Antii Lovag, it’s meant to take most advantage of the view of volcanoes and seaside onto which it looks out.

15. Toilet-Shaped House – Suwon, South Korea:

Sim Jae Duck, known as “Mr. Toilet” from his mayoral efforts to improve sanitation during the 2002 World Cup in Suwon City, built the world’s first toilet-shaped house in 2007, to draw more attention to the cause. In 2009, he passed away, and the house was turned into a museum, and then later a toilet-themed amusement park.

16. Space House – Signal Mounta in, Tennessee:

A product of Space Age architecture, this next item goes to the Space House in Tennessee. Ensconced in the middle of the woods, this house is in the shape of a flying saucer and is supported by six concrete beams to look like it’s hovering. It’s almost as though the designer created a UFO fantasy, with a mysterious shuttle alighting in some backwards pasture in Small Town, USA.

17. Bart Prince House – Albuquerque, New Mexico:

The Bart Prince House in Albuquerque appropriately belongs to the architect by the same name. Built in 1983, this house is inspired by the astronautic aspirations of the Cold War. It also has several futuristic features, such as translucent water tubes and a passive solar heating system. Another funky-looking structure stands next door and is rumored to be Bart Prince’s personal studio.

18. Fuel Station + McDonald’s – Batumi, Georgia:

tech rest stop offers two divorced experiences. Although it’s a two-in-one, those eating in the restaurant are isolated from those fueling up by a giant cantilevered canopy covered in vegetation. Those fueling up get to admire to swooping lines of the architecture, as well as feel the thrill of the impending, as the whole structure hangs seemingly precariously above them.

19. Ryugyong Hotel – Pyongyang, North Korea:

At 330 meters tall, this building in North Korea holds the Guinness World Record for the tallest unoccupied building in the world. That’s right: there’s no one in this yet-to-be-completed hotel. The project to build an imposing hotel in the North Korean capital as a symbol of power has been on hold for almost thirty years, leaving the building glittering and beautiful from the outside but with no practical function whatsoever.

 20. The Kansas City Library – Kansas City, Missouri:

What is called “The Community Bookshelf” is a feature that crowns the Kansas City Public Library in Missouri. Along the top of the building, there is a simulated bookshelf, made of signboard mylar, that displays 25’x9’ books that were chosen by the residents of the city. Some of the titles are Heller’s Catch-22, Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham, and Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, all American classics.

21. Sagrada Familia – Barcelona, Spain:

Antonio Gaudi worked on this Cathedral for forty years before he died in 1926. Still today the Cathedral is not complete. The drawings for this Gothic Art Nouveau sculptural masterwork were destroyed during the Spanish civil war and had to be recreated. Construction continues today, and the final stone is predicted to be set between 2017 and 2026.

22. Burj Al Arab building– Dubai, UAE:

This building is 60 stories and shaped like the sail of a sailboat. It’s on its own private island, its awe-inspiring size and solitude meant to elevate it to a national icon. Inside is the world’s tallest atrium at 600 feet high, allowing the Middle Eastern sun to pour in and flood dozens of semicircular balconies.

23. Institute for Sound and Vision – Hilversum, The Netherlands:

Designed by Jaap Drupsteen, this is a media collage made into a building. In order to create the visuals that crown the walls, Drupsteen took images from Dutch television, abstracted them, and then baked them onto cast glass. The effect it creates can be admired from both within and out the building, and it fits with the purpose of the building itself.

23. The Guggenheim – Bilbao, Spain:

This building is inspired by formal complexity and high art. It’s spooning, undulating, shiny, and possibly wasteful, but also shocking and seductive. The building is clad in titanium. Some lighting angles made it reflect gold, and some make it reflect an almost-bleached whiteness. Designed by Frank Gehry, this location of the Guggenheim upstaged the Frank Lloyd Wright designed one in New York.

24. Mont St. Michel – Normandy, France:

This cluster of abbeys right off the Norman Coast was first started way back in the 700s. Construction continued for hundreds of years. There’s now a walkway across the water, built in the late 1800s and now being renovated, but when the Mont was first built, there was no way of getting across the low and wet ground. However, zealots still wait for low tide to cross in the traditional manner.

25. Brandenburg Technical University – Cottbus, Germany:

This building is shaped like an amoeba. The outside is made of frosted glass, made to look grey, and embossed with letters of various global alphabets. The central staircase, however, is bright magenta and green. The building is especially noticeable because it contrasts with the surrounding long, dull, rectilinear buildings of traditional East German architecture.

26. Gresham Palace – Budapest, Hungary:

Art nouveau architect Zsigmond Quittner designed this palace in 1906. It was meant to represent the Gresham Life Assurance Company of London’s in the eastern European country. During WWII, it was damaged and then in the Communist period it was abused. Now, a $125 million restoration project has turned it into a Four Seasons, with the once-upon-a-time shopping arcade turned into the hotel lobby.

27. Tiger’s Nest Monastery – Bhutan:

The Tiger’s Nest Monastery is about 10,000 feet above sea level. It’s located on a rock outcropping thousands of feet over the Paro Valley, in Bhutan. It was built in 1692, around a cave where the Indian Guru Rinpoche is said to have meditated in the 8^th century, having arrived on a flying tiger.

28. Wat Rong Khun – Chiang Rai, Thailand:

This art exhibit in the style of a temple is new – construction began in 1997. Unlike most Buddhist houses of worship, it is colorless. The outside is entirely alabaster. Deep inside sits a giant gold Buddha. The artist whose project this is spent his own money on it, and given the tremendous size and detail of the exhibit, it is probably a staggering amount of dough.

29. 30 St. Mary Axe building – London:

This place is nicknamed “The Gerkhin” for its resemblance to a cucumber. It also kind of looks like a bargain basement Faberge egg (not a read against this place, but Faberge eggs are crazy ornate). Although only people who work in this downtown office tower can eat at the white-tablecloth restaurant, anyone can go for a drink at the bar.

30. Taipei 101 building – Taipei, Taiwan:

This skyscraper, 1670 feet tall, soars above the rest of the Taipei skyline. Built with high-grade, mineral-flecked concrete, it can withstand the Taiwanese monsoon season and occasional earthquakes. The damper sphere, between the 92^nd and 87^th floors steadies the building in gusts, and is the largest in the world. The building was the world’s tallest between 2004 and 2010.

31. The Palace of Versailles – Versailles, France:

The Palace of Versailles officially became the seat of the French monarch in 1682. The king at the time, Louis XIV, was known for his grandiose taste. He wanted more and added most of Versailles as it is today: the ministries wing, the orange grove, the hall of mirrors, the gardens… As it stands, it’s one of the most beautiful palaces in the world, and represents the glory and the excesses of the French monarchy.

32.Forest Spiral – Hundertwasser Building:

This is a residential building complex located in Darmstadt, Germany. The building has a unique façade which doesn’t follow a regular grid pattern and the windows appear as if they are dancing out of line and appear out of order.  It was designed by Viennese artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser and finally planned and implemented by architect Heinz M. Springmann. It contains 105 apartments, an inner courtyard, a small artificial lake and also a playground for children. The building has 12 floors.

International Conference on Future Smart Cities,

and the topics that will be discussed are:

1- The Development of Cities

2- Transportation in Cities

3- Smart building

4- Sustainability in Cities

5- Computing for Future Cities

So, if you are interested in knowing what is new in architect & urban planning, technology, economic and transportation, don’t hesitate to join us!