14 of the most unique buildings in the world

Atlantis The Royal is a hotel in Dubai that looks like it was made with Jenga blocks. The 1,640-foot-long, 584-foot-tall structure features rectangular blocks stacked on top of each other — the spaces in between are used as pools, lounges, and cabanas, according to its WAF bio.

The Artyzen Singapore is a hotel designed by Ong&Ong that was completed in 2023. According to Arch Daily, it was conceptualized as an "oasis in the city." The hotel has 20 floors, a rooftop pool, sky gardens, and multiple restaurants.

The original structure was built in the 1940s as a garden mansion.

This four-story, brutalist house in Tehran, Iran, is composed of a cluster of concrete squares configured in an interesting shape.

Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, houses a unique office space for wood-processing company DSN Group. The building uses upcycled waste products, and most of the materials were sourced in Indonesia, according to the building's WAF bio.

The Folding Park, completed in 2019, is a repurposed police station that is now an office building in Beijing.

The building has incorporated a park into its F-shaped structure, encircling the building with plants, swings, hammocks, and slides.

This museum in Lagos, Nigeria, looks like it's built into the side of a hill.

"If you go to a Western museum, the African section is often in the basement, it's dark. But this museum pops with color and sound to highlight the vibrancy and the dynamism of the Yoruba culture," the site's architect Seun Oduwole told The Guardian upon its completion in 2024.

More than 400 miles outside Istanbul, in Konya, Turkey, sits an energy facility in the desert. Its central control building has a facade made up of two panels that minimize radiation and prevent high heat exposure.

Speaking to Global Design News, architecture firm Bilgin Architects described it as "an interface representing new energy technologies in a flat topography extending to the horizon."

A 466-foot-tall residential tower in Aarhus, Denmark, stands as the tallest building in the country. Right next to Aarhus Bay, the building features a public rooftop restaurant with views of the city.

The project was built in two phases, according to its WAF bio — the first focusing on the smaller surrounding buildings and the "waterfront promenade," and the second constructing the tower.

According to Architecture Au, the Liverpool Civic Place in New South Wales, Australia, will house council chambers, community facilities, commercial offices, a hotel, a public library, and an art gallery. The development is set to cost 600 million Australian dollars, or about $400 million.

Stage one, completed in 2023, included the first commercial tower, new council chambers, a library, and an art gallery. Stage two includes a second commercial tower with the hotel.

The Pan Pacific Orchard is another hotel in Singapore with a unique shape, reminiscent of a snake. It houses 350 rooms in four separate blocks, each with its own sky terrace.

The building essentially looks like a vertical garden.

This cancer treatment center is located in Melbourne, Australia. The building — which cost 152 million Australian dollars, or about $100 million — opened in April 2024.

The external design is based on the idea of a "healthy epidermis," the outermost layer of skin, according to the World Buildings Directory.

The Texoversum Innovation Center, located in Reutlingen, Germany, almost looks like a pencil sketch made into a building.

Completed in 2023, it's used as a research center for the textile industry.

A helical structure in San Andrés Cholula, Mexico, is one of the more uncommonly shaped apartment buildings in the world.

The building, with 93 luxury apartments inside, has 34 floors and is nearly 500 feet tall.

The Xiangyang National Sports Center Project is a stadium and fitness center in Xiangyang City, which is in China's Hubei province.

The stadium has 30,000 seats and the entire facility spans about 34 acres, according to its WAF bio.