This year certainly produced more than its fair share of unique architecture and we've decided it's high time to look back and highlight the best examples we've seen in 2022. From a plan to build a huge floating city that's shaped like a turtle to a skyscraper in the desert that would reach 170 km (105 miles) in length, read on for our top 10 architectural oddities of 2022.
Our look at 2022's most unusual architecture runs the gamut from projects that don't have any chance of being realized to those that are actually completed and in use.
The projects in our collection below are presented in no particular order, and hail from all over the world. Europe, China, and North America all feature, and, as you'd expect, there's more than one Dubai-based project too. Some are crazy, some are ridiculous, but some are also rated highly by architecture critics worldwide, including an unusual skyscraper housing development and a museum that's a genuine engineering feat – so it's not all wacky blue-sky thinking, by any means.
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![The Pangeos is named after the Pangea (or Pangaea) supercontinent that existed hundreds of millions of years ago]()
November 18, 2022Pierpaolo Lazzarini is certainly no stranger to unusual designs, but the Pangeos is his most ambitious to date. Taking the form of a gigantic turtle, it would create a movable "city" that he estimates would be the world's largest floating structure. -
![The Hub of Huts is designed to take the form of mountain village huts, some of which have been turned upside down]()
September 20, 2022NOA has created an eye-catching swimming pool and sauna extension to an existing hotel in South Tyrol, Italy. The project takes the form of a mountainside village made up of several huts, including some that have been turned upside down. -
![The Moon project would have a budget of US$5 billion and rise to a height of 224 m (735 ft)]()
September 14, 2022Even if it eventually becomes available, a vacation to the Moon is going to be financially out of reach for many. However, a $5 billion architecture proposal aims to offer visitors a tiny taste of lunar life right here on Earth. -
![The Downtown Circle would reach a height of 550 m (roughly 1,800 ft), making it as tall as some of the world's tallest skyscrapers]()
August 24, 2022ZNera Space envisions encircling the world's tallest building with a massive circular structure named the Downtown Circle. The mixed-use building would create a new neighborhood in the sky for Dubai at an impressive height of 550 m. -
![The Biosphere is located in a forest in Sweden's Treehotel project in Swedish Lapland, near the Arctic Circle]()
June 24, 2022Back in March, we reported on a remarkable new spherical treehouse-style hotel designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group that was to be covered in birdhouses. The one-of-a-kind getaway is now complete and has opened to visitors in Sweden. -
![The Line would measure a total length of 170 km (105 miles), and be home to 9 million residents if realized]()
July 26, 2022Saudi Arabia has revealed plans for an architecture project so ambitious that it almost beggars belief. The Line project is envisioned as a 170-km-long skyscraper home to approximately 9 million people – or around the same as the population of NYC. -
![The Salmon Eye is topped by a rooftop terrace area]()
September 13, 2022In an example of a building's design reflecting its purpose comes a fish eye-shaped floating event space dedicated to salmon farming. The Salmon Eye is finished in 9,500 stainless steel scales that are meant to resemble the fish's silvery skin. -
![The Valley, by MVRDV, has been named the winner of 2022's Emporis Skyscraper Award]()
August 30, 2022Emporis has revealed the winner of this year's Skyscraper Award. The prestigious award offers an excellent opportunity to see the world's finest new skyscrapers and this year's winner is MVRDV's mountainous Valley, located in the city of Amsterdam. -
![The Cuntan International Cruise Centre features a futuristic overall design that's likened to alien creatures by MAD]()
January 14, 2022Commissioned to transform an existing cargo terminal in China into a ferry terminal, MAD Architects draws inspiration from existing gantry cranes to design a futuristic and alien-like complex that will be raised above the ground. -
![Described by the Prime Minister of Dubai as the "world's most beautiful building," the Museum of the Future is certainly one of the most striking projects we've seen in a while]()
March 22, 2022Dubai isn't lacking in amazing buildings, but the Museum of the Future is sure to turn heads. The building takes the overall form of a big silvery eye and sports an intricate facade that's covered in Arabic calligraphy.
