13 Incredible Architectural Works That Seem To Defy The Laws Of Gravity

Architecture and engineering are constantly reinventing themselves, and more and more buildings defy the laws of physics. While some appear to be on the verge of falling apart or balancing like a tightrope trapeze artist, these projects stand out for their beauty and for representing great architectural (and engineering, of course) achievements.

O incredible.club created a list of constructions that dared to defy the laws of gravity, and invites you to admire these feats of modern architecture.

This museum is located right on the Alpine border between Austria and Italy, which is why it is known as the Passage of Timmelsjoch or Passage of the Losango (Paso del Rombo, in Italian). Designed by architect Werner Tscholl, the structure looks like a rock seemingly supported at one point, with the panoramic windows on the Italian side completely exposed.

The Timmelsjoch Experience Pass was designed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the construction of the Timmelsjoch Hochalpenstrasse road, which was conceived in 1897 but only completed in 1959. The museum was completed in 2010 and showcases the history of the area, the culture shared by its inhabitants and a small cave in reference to the ancient pioneers who ventured through these mountains in the Stone Age.

Believe it or not, it’s a teahouse located inside the Jinchokan Moriya Museum in Chino City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The establishment, supported in the air by suspension cables, was designed by local architect Terunobu Fujimori, who also made other tea houses close to this one, such as Takasugi-an (raised in the heights).

The construction is made with traditional Japanese materials, such as wood, clay and plaster, in a design that harmonizes with the environment. Fujimori’s work is characterized by fanciful drawings taken from fairy tales and this tea house is currently open to the public, subject to reservation and/or special events.

This building located in the port of the Austrian city of Fussach was designed by the company Baumschlager Eberle, commissioned by Maria Rohner. The structure consists of a rectangle supported at one end by a kind of leg, giving it that peculiar appearance that even seems about to fall due to lack of balance.

The design is inspired by the dynamics of the boats’ sails, as the building was conceived as a meeting point for the local nautical community. The rectangle has a small gazebo and is eight meters above sea level.

These curious houses, located in Rotterdam, were designed by architect Piet Blom in 1984 and have been an emblematic attraction of the Dutch city ever since. They are part of a central urbanization plan, an area close to the city’s old port.

The houses have a 45º inclination and were built on concrete pillars that give them this peculiar appearance, as Blom conceived them to be a kind of abstract forest. Within this complex there is a house-museum called Kijk-Kubus, which shows what one of these curious furnished residences would look like.

The Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói, or MAC, in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, is a special symbol. It was built in 1996 by the famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, famous for his avant-garde designs such as the Cathedral of Brasília.

MAC Niterói is located in Guanabara Bay, and is a circular structure called “Flor Branca”, 50 meters in diameter and 16 meters high, supported by a stalk five meters high, at the base of which is a small mirror. ‘Water. This futuristic building is considered one of the architectural marvels of museums today.

This apartment complex, built in 1997, was the first residential project designed by the MVRDV architectural group in Amsterdam. The building was conceived as a residence for the elderly, so a circulation design was used through the galleries to facilitate the mobility of its residents.

The apartments seem to be stacked in blocks supported by a wide and firm structure, which give the appearance of suspended houses. The project responded to a demand for housing, due to the increase in population density that the Dutch capital began to have in the 1990s, and remains a reference for local modern architecture.

In 1967, Israeli architect Moshe Safdie, who moved to Canada as a teenager, built this residential complex in Montreal. The project, his graduation work, was presented at the World Exhibition that year, held in the city. Due to its challenging design, Habitat 67 caught the attention of city authorities, who decided to invest in it, which was the beginning of Safdie’s successful career.

This residential complex features open spaces and 158 apartments, which look stacked like blocks from a Jenga skill game. Structurally, it is made up of 365 concrete blocks strategically placed so that they do not lose their balance and give an appearance of instability.

This vacation house made by Modscape in Victoria, Australia, stands out for its very spooky location: attached to a cliff. The project was a difficult commission from a couple who wanted a space surrounded by nature, leading Modscape to think about how to build a sustainable house with large windows and sea views, in harmony with its surroundings.

The house is attached to the cliff by steel beams that are attached to the rock, giving the impression of being glued together, without any support. As for the design, the inspiration for the shape is the crustaceans found on the hulls of boats, which is why the Cliff House has this peculiar shape.

It is one of the corridors of an office complex in Gliwice, Poland, designed by the Zalewski studio. The walkway is suspended in the air, on the third floor, forming a curved structure with a garden and balconies. The idea came about as a space for employees to walk and relax during their workday.

if you watched Crazy Rich, will recognize this building, by the party held at the end of the film. The hotel opened in 2010 is another work of Moshe Safdie, being one of the most iconic buildings in Singapore. It is opposite the Marine Reserve of the island city-state and is part of a large project to modernize the island.

The complex is made up of three 55-storey towers, all connected by the Skypark on the roof: a 1.1 hectare garden that gives the complex its unique look. The towers have a certain inclination, as Safdie was inspired by playing cards to make the design.

This office building was executed by the Chilean studio Izquierdo Lehman, in Santiago, Chile, and stands out for its daring design. Unlike the traditional design, the tower is narrow at its base, which gives the feeling of instability, as the structure widens as it rises.

More than an office building, it also has a commercial area, so the architects risked making an apparently thin base to make better use of the space. Furthermore, it was an architectural challenge, as they wanted to play with its structure, with perspective and the norms of gravity.

For the 1976 Olympic Games, held in Montreal, Canada, the Olympic Park was built, which includes this stadium designed by the French architect Roger Taillibert. Its peculiarity is the leaning tower at an angle of 45º, 165 meters high, known as the Montreal Tower, the highest leaning in the world.

Currently, it has an observatory, which offers a 360º panoramic view of the city. The Olympic swimming pool is below it and the Montreal Botanical Garden (which during the Olympics was the velodrome) is at its base.

For the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, the construction of the Olympic Park was in charge of the company Olympstroy and it started in 2009. The Sochi Olympic Pyre was located on an esplanade with a fountain of 75.3 meters in diameter, created by the Californian company WET Design, recognized for its work with fonts, such as the one in Dubai, for example.

The Sochi Olympic Pyre is a white tower with a certain inclination, similar to the torch used on the way to the host city, in a relay scheme of several athletes until the start of the games, in February 2014. During the opening ceremonies and closing, water, fireworks, smoke and light shows were presented.

This peculiar building will be in Rotterdam, as it is still a project to be built by the architecture office AEMSEN. The concept is one of sustainability, as the aim is to form a lung of clean air for the city, in addition to being a kind of garden in the skies, as described by AEMSEN.

The building will have 98 apartments in 19 layers stacked to resemble a cactus. Each apartment will have a large veranda with different gardens, thus fulfilling the sustainable function of the project.

More and more architects and designers are betting on proposals that apparently defy the basic norms of gravity, but the results are incredible urban pieces. Let us know which one you thought was the most impressive and we’d love to hear what other similar projects you know of!