Friday Funny: The World’s Best Weird, Wonderful Buildings

The World Architecture Festival has released its shortlist of nominations for the 2015 Building of the Year award, and the 338 contenders are anything but short on innovation. Architects and their clients were invited to enter buildings, projects, and landscapes that have been completed between January 2014 and June 2015 or are planned for the future. The results are stunning.

Here are our 10 favorite weird and wonderful buildings from all categories, in no particular order:

cloud-city-building-of-the-year-2015

Commercial
Mixed-Use

Cloud City
Singapore
by Union Architects of Kazakhstan
Erciyes-building-of-the-year-2015
Culture
Erciyes Congress and Cultural Center Kayseri, Turkey
by MuuM
spiral_bike-building-of-the-year-2015
Infrastructure
The Spiral Pedestrian and Cycle Link
Kuala Lumpur
by Eleena Jamil Architect
sandibe_botswana-building-of-the-year-2015
Hotel and Leisure
Sandibe Safari
Lodge Botswana
Moremi, Okavango
by Michaelis Boyd Associates
YouthHotel-building-of-the-year-2015
Hotel and Leisure
Youth Hotel in
iD Town
Shenzhen, China
by O-office Architects
ribbon-chapel-building-of-the-year-2015
Religious
Ribbon Chapel
Hiroshima, Japan
by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP Co. Ltd.
penleigh-and-essendon-building-of-the-year-2015
School
Penleigh and Essendon Grammar Middle Girls School
Melbourne, Australia
by McBride Charles Ryan
viking-by-crown-building-of-the-year-2015
Mixed-Use
Viking by Crown
Sydney, Australia
by MHN Design Union Pty Ltd.
zhonghe-community-building-of-the-year-2015
Civic and Community
Zhonghe Community Sports Center
New Taipei City, Taiwan
by Q-Lab
the-interlace-building-of-the-year-2015
Housing
THE INTERLACE
Singapore
by Buro Ole Scheeren

All photos courtesy of the World Architecture Festival.

Winners will be announced at the World Architecture Festival, which will take place November 4-6 at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Visit the festival website to learn more about the entries or the event.