11 Architectural Wonders That Seem To Defy Gravity

Hold your breath as you are about to see architectural wonders that seem to defy gravity. The architects can surprise us with many wonders, but these buildings are incredible, breathtaking, and it looks like they don’t care much about physics!

You could also read about some of the most famous architects in the world and take a look at their most popular buildings for comparison. Do you remember the Dancing House, designed by Frank Gehry? It looks like the building just walked out of a fairy tale and refuses to undergo the laws of gravity. There are more extreme examples of architectural wonders, as you are about to discover in our list.

We have to mention that we excluded The Leaning Tower of Pisa, which is well known, but the tilt was not planned, it simply leaned because one side of the ground was too soft and the structure slowly began to slope at one side.

We wandered how the architects manage to build these structures which seem to float in the air or stand on the cliff. To discover that, we read about a lot of buildings that were made and instantly attracted everyone’s attention. We read it out from the various sources, such as Architectural Digest, WebUrbanist, CNN and many more; then, we’ve  decided to combine them and create our own list of architectural wonders that seem to defy gravity. Let’s check them out!

11. Crooked House, Sopot, Poland

Krzywy Domek means „crooked little house“ in Polish. This fairytale building was built in 2004; designed by Szotyńscy & Zaleski, as a special honor to the illustrator of children’s books, Jan Marcin Szancer. Yes, your eyes don’t deceive you, it looks like it’s going to fall or fly, so you’re welcome to enter the fairytale.

10. The CCTV Headquarters, Bejing, China

This 768 feet high building is a headquarters for CCTV. It is a 44-story skyscraper, with six vertical and horizontal sections. This building defies not only gravity but the numerous earthquakes since it is in the seismic zone!

9. Sharp Centre for Design, Toronto, Canada

This rectangular structure is located above the oldest part of the Ontario College of Arts and Design. It is supported by a serious of pillars and looks like it floats in the air.

8. Too High Teahouse, Japan

Terunobu Fujimori designed Tagasuki-an. This interesting tea house is high above the ground, on the top of two chestnut trees. He said that the tea house represents the ultimate personal architecture, and therefore, he built it all by himself. It certainly defies gravity, would you dare to drink a cup of tea up that high?

7. Rohner Port Building, Fussach, Austria

Like a bird that stands on one leg, this structure stands on a concrete leg, in the case of floods.

6. Flying Mud Boat, Japan

One more piece of Japanese architect Terenobu Fujimori made to our list of 11 architectural wonders that seem to defy gravity. This is the „traveling tea house“ that is installed in the air, on two tension cables. It can be moved and put anywhere.

5. Balancing Barn, Suffolk, England

Balancing Barn is a 98 feet long structure, descending over the property. Half of the barn is in free space, and that’s the reason this structure made to top five of our 11 architectural wonders that seem to defy gravity list. The trees are hiding the building and allow privacy inside the barn. If you want to spend holidays in some unusual holiday homes, this is the perfect place for you.

4. Timmelsjoch Experience Pass Museum, Timmelscjoch pass

The Timmelsjoch Experience Pass Museum, which was designed by Werner Tscholl Architects, is situated on the highest point of the Timmelscjoch pass (the high mountain pass along the Austrian-Italian border).

3. The Niterói Contemporary Art Museum, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This is one of Rio de Janeiro’s main landmarks, which was designed by Oscar Niemeyer. Very unusual structure, with the wide slope that leads to a Hall of Expositions. The museum has three floors and a cupola with a diameter of 165 feet.

2. Wozoco Apartments, Amsterdam, Netherlands

A large housing corporation MVRDV’s first project was this building; the client wanted the apartments for elderly people, 100 of them. This building is not open for visits, and therefore, there are not so many available photos, so we will show you some other work from the same urban design practice:

1. Cube Houses, Rotterdam and Helmond, Netherlands

Piet Blom designed these buildings that seem to defy gravity in every way, because he tilted the cube for 45 degrees and put them on the building (pylon). He wanted to represent the village inside the city; new houses on top of other houses represent a modern forest. This beautiful masterwork of a Dutch architect tops our list of 11 architectural wonders that seem to defy gravity.