Diversions II: Buildings you take a second look at.

 

Erwin Wurm's "House Attack," art installation in Vienna.
 

The Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not museum in Niagara Falls, Ont.

Piet Blom's 1970s cubic houses in Rotterdam.

Longaberger Basket Co. head office, Newark, Ohio (a.k.a. The Basket Building). Dave Langaberger, over local objections, insisted on a perfect replica of his firm's flagship product.

Wonderworks, Orlando.

Torre Galatea Figueres, Spain.

Wildspirale (Forest Spiral) apartment block, Darmstadt, Germany, completed in 2000.

Crooked House, Sopot, Poland, completed in 2003, and inspired by Polish children's-book illustrator Jan Marcin Szancer. 

 

Kansas City Public Library. This is the carpark of the library's downtown main branch. The library itself is annexed, in a restored historic bank building saved from planned demolition. By accident or design, some of the featured books are among those most frequently banned by U.S. school districts.  

Lotus Temple, Dehli. Come the inevitable cost overruns, the contractors dug into their pockets to cover them.