This is a little different from my other “The Best…” lists.
For the sites listed in the first section of this post, I’m planning on having my English Language Learner students look through these accessible sites, identify which images they found particularly intriguing, and explain why — in writing and verbally. It’s an opportunity to practice language-development skills, and I suspect they’ll find the content pretty engaging. I certainly did as I was developing this list!
And for the sites in the second part, they’ll have an opportunity to design their own house…
You might also be interested in The Best Sites For Learning About Famous Buildings.
Here are my picks for The Best Images Of Weird, Cool & Neat-Looking Buildings (& Ways To Design Your Own):
IMAGES:
America’s Favorite Architecture shows the top 150 buildings voted on by “the American public.”
Here are images of “The World’s Most Creative Buildings.”
The Sacramento Bee has a photo gallery of the Winchester Mystery House.
How about the 20 Most Bizarre Houses around the world?
Check-out the World’s Slimmest Houses and Buildings.
50 Strange Buildings Of The World is another amazing list.
And next is 50 Strange Buildings of the World Part Two.
15 Beautiful Buildings Carved from ‘Living Rock’
You can see The Official New 7 Wonders Of The World and other finalists. Most of them would qualify as “buildings.”
How about 8 Of The Best Treehouses In The World.
How about taking a look at some neat Sand Castles?
10 Most Creative Apartment Blocks contains images of some pretty strange apartment buildings.
World’s Wildest Homes
World’s Wildest Houses
It sounds bizarre, but Buildings That Look Like Food shows a series of photos of…buildings that look like food.
The Recycled Houses is the title for a neat New York Times slideshow on houses built out of recycled materials.
“Appetizing Architecture” is a series of images showing buildings shaped like food. It is a similar list to one I’ve previously shared, Buildings That Look Like Food, but, though there is some overlap, each has a number of different examples.
19 Weirdest Houses Around the World
It’s hard to believe people actually live in these bizarre homes is a collection of photos.
The World’s Coolest Buildings is the name of a slideshow from “Travel & Leisure.”
10 Houses to See Before You Die shows images, and provides text information, on ten intriguing or weird or beautiful….houses.
Unusual Buildings is a slideshow of seventeen … unusual buildings around the world.
“10 Unbelievable Upside Down Houses” are images of….houses built upside down.
“20 Weirdest Apartments Of The World” is a series of photos of some pretty strange apartment buildings.
40+ Fabulous Fairy Tales Inspired House Designs is a pretty neat photo collection of….fairy tale inspired houses.
Top 10 Precarious Buildings is a fun TIME Magazine slideshow.
“10 of the smallest homes in the world” is the title of a slideshow from The Mother Nature Network.
12 upside down houses shows images of…houses that are upside down.
“10 Most Bizarrely Shaped Buildings on Earth” show images of some pretty strange looking buildings.
21 Most Strange and Creative Work done by Architects Part-1 is a post showing exactly what the headline says it is.
20 Weirdest Apartments of the World is a series of photos of…strange-looking apartment buildings.
Imagination Without Borders – Modern architecture is a series of photos of some pretty amazing buildings from around the world.
10 Buildings Shaped Like What They Sell is a series of photos described accurately by the headline.
Chinese Architect Builds Egg House on Sidewalk to Escape Insane Rents is a Fast Company article with photos. It’s interesting — to say the least.
A billionaire from India has just moved into the world’s first billion dollar home. I’m adding some images of it to this list. I think it fits into the “weird” category:
Check-out a slideshow from The Los Angeles Times
A video from The Sydney Morning Herald.
15 Bizarre Buildings
7 Coolest ‘Weird Buildings’ (Thanks to Interesting Pile for the link)
Buildings that break the box is a pretty neat slideshow from Salon.
Walls have eyes: houses that look like people — I kid you not — the title for a slideshow from The Independent newspaper.
The Cube Project Squeezes Bachelor Pad Into Charmingly Tiny Box is a video and short article from TIME Magazine.
The world’s strangest buildings is a BBC slideshow.
Massive Tree House is a TIME Magazine slideshow.
The world’s 18 strangest homes is another slideshow.
This year is the fiftieth anniversary of Frank Lloyd Wright’s death. I’m adding slideshows highlighting his work to this list:
Frank Lloyd Wright, Inside and Out is from The Wall Street Journal.
Frankly Speaking is from The Washington Post.
Looking For Mr. Wright is an interactive slideshow from the Wall Street Journal that takes you a tour of buildings designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
Fallingwater is the famous house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. You can now see an amazing animation of the home.
DESIGN YOUR OWN:
There are several sites where students can design their own homes.
One, which has been on my website for awhile, is from the school that Frank Lloyd Wright founded and is called Architect Studio 3D. It’s a nifty application, but it’s only appropriate for very Advanced English Language Learners.
A newer site is called 30 Elm. There, you can look through many pictures of homes and rooms, pick the ones you like, and then write about them. Others can then easily access online what you’ve picked and what you’ve written, and even comment on it.
My Abodo allows you to design the inside and outside of a home and then determine how energy efficient it is. It’s a colorful and relatively simple activity that’s accessible to Intermediate English Language Learners. After they’re done, they can post their creation in a blog or online journal.
Other suggestions are, as always, welcome.
If you found this post useful, you might want to look at previous “The Best…” lists and also consider subscribing to this blog for free.
