New design idea - World's most unusual houses

What do you consider an unusual house design...?
Is that the house with no front door, the one with funny shaped windows or is it just a den under the ground that makes you feel stuffed and suffocated with no light or ventilation and a serious lack of oxygen...
This is the question I kept on repeating to myself while scanning through these wonderful but weird designs. These few designs are only a few that made the top 10 most unusual houses in the world.

The Haines Shoe House, Hallem, Pennsylvania, USA

This house was built in 1948 by Mahlon N. Haines; also known as the 'Shoe Wizard of York' or the 'Shoe House'. This was a great example of mimetric architecture.

"Mimetric Architecture - Novelty architecture is a type of architecture in which buildings and other structures are given unusual shapes as a novelty, such as a shoe"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimetic_architecture

Haines was born in Ohio in 1875 and later in his twenties moved to York.

From small beginnings he built a shoe sales chain of more than 40 stores. He died at the of 87 in 1962. Haines was an enthusiastic philanthropist and lived by the mantra "I came into this world with nothing and I'd like to leave the same way." 

On his death Haines left the property to his employees who sold it in 1964 to Eleanor Hallman who ran it as an ice cream parlor for over 20 years.

The Hermit's Castle, Achmelvich, Scotland

The beautiful beach at Achmelvich on the Assynt peninsula of North West Scotland is worth a visit for the unspoilt scenery alone.

This tiny concrete castle - said to be Europe's smallest - was built by architect David Scott. Inside is one small room with a single concrete bed and fireplace, now occasionally used as a bothy by walkers. The building clearly held little allure for Scott - he left the area shortly after its completion.

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The Hermit’s Castle was built around 1950 out of concrete and was reputedly built by an artist from the south of England to use as a retreat. From the outside, the castle looks a bit like the concrete pillboxes that you see dotted around the coastlines of Britain. It seems to grow out of the surrounding rock and could easily be overlooked if not for the distinctive windows and chimney stack.

Takasugi-an Tea House, Chino, Nagano, Japan

The literal translation of this statuesque building designed by Japanese architect Terunobo Fujimori is "a teahouse [built] too high". It is six metres above the ground, atop two chesnut treetrunks - once you make it up of the ladders, it's a peaceful place to drink tea and watch the world go by.

Following the tradition of tea masters, who maintained total control over the construction of their tea houses, Fujimori designed and built the structure for his own use.

The interior is covered with plaster and bamboo mats.

The academician and architect, Terunobu Fujimori, has observed that a teahouse is “the ultimate personal architecture.” Its extreme compactness, which would at most accommodate four and a half tatami mats (2.7 square metres) or even just two tatami mats (1.8 square metres) of floor space, makes it feel as though it were an extension of one’s body, “like a piece of clothing.”

The tea masters traditionally maintained total control over the construction of these “enclosures,” whose simplicity was their main concern. They therefore preferred not to involve an architect or even a skilled carpenter – an act considered as being too ostentatious. Following this tradition, Fujimori decided to build a humble teahouse for himself and by himself over a patch of land that belonged to his family.

His interest as an architect, however, lay more in pushing the limit and constraints of a traditional teahouse rather than pursuing the art of tea making, and as a result, he has created a highly expressive piece of architecture.

To see more about these unique designs follow the link provided below:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertypicturegalleries/9313950/Are-these-the-worlds-most-unusual-buildings.html?frame=2240605

http://www.dezeen.com/2009/03/12/takasugi-an-by-terunobu-fujimori/