10 Unconventional Roofs, Whose Authors Didn't Limit Their Flight of Imagination (18 photos)

If we compare architectural objects with people, then the roof for them is something like our head. And it must protect everything else, and it must be aesthetically pleasing, and there must be order with functionality too.





But some architects and designers, in an effort to show originality, go very far from generally accepted standards. What do you get? Something interesting, unusual and, however, having the right to exist.

1. Headington Shark



A roof sculpture on the roof of 2 New High Street, Headington, Oxford, UK. It is made in the form of a large shark, “built” head first into the roof of the house.

2. Martello Tower House





This house on a quiet stretch of the Suffolk coast is an early 19th-century Martello tower built on the site of an old fort, designed in collaboration with heritage groups. The domed roof with parasols, lit up at night, resembles a flying saucer rising out of the mist.

3. Butterfly Roof



This idea features an inverted V shape. Not only is this design aesthetically pleasing, it also helps collect water and improve energy efficiency.

4. Haut-Koenigsbourg



Up close, this majestic medieval French chateau, Haut-Koenigsbourg, looks like a gingerbread house.



Rebuilt from ruins 100 years ago for Kaiser Wilhelm II. Located in Alsace, 10 kilometers from the city of Sélestat.

5. "Dunmore Pineapple" in Scotland



Scottish Pineapple House Dunmore Pineapple is an original solution for a greenhouse dome.



The house dates back to 1791. The height of the dome is about 14 meters. The Dunmore Pineapple belongs to the architectural genre of caprice. Such buildings were used to entertain guests of the park of a noble or royal estate.

6. Hundertwasser House



This is a residential building in Vienna, Austria.



Its creator is the Austrian artist and innovative architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser. The roof is made using blue and gold domes, and there is also a real garden on it.



7. House of the Five Senses



It is the main entrance to the Efteling amusement park in the Netherlands. It was designed by Ton van de Ven and opened in 1996.



The traditional reed roof is fixed on five supports, each of which symbolizes its own feeling.

8. Transfiguration Church on Kizhi Island



The Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord is an Orthodox church on Kizhi Island in Karelia, part of the Kizhi Pogost church complex on the territory of the Kizhi Museum-Reserve.



The building is entirely made of wood, and the silver domes are the only element assembled with nails. Legend has it that its creator, a craftsman named Nestor, used one axe. And when he finished the work, he threw the tool into the lake, saying that there was no other like it and there never would be.

9. California Academy of Sciences



This is a scientific organization and a large natural history museum.



And the roof of the building is a whole ecosystem with a forest, planetariums and aquariums used for research.

10. A funny and functional house that consists almost entirely of a roof



And it also has a right to exist.