The Metropol Parasol is one of the world's largest wooden structures. Located in Seville, Spain, it stands in stark contrast to the city's historical and urban environment. Its architect, J. Mayer H., received the Red Dot Design Award in 2012 for its sophisticated design.<strong>Architect</strong>: J. Mayer H.
Metropol Parasol (Spain) —
The Metropol Parasol is one of the world's largest wooden structures. Located in Seville, Spain, it stands in stark contrast to the city's historical and urban environment. Its architect, J. Mayer H., received the Red Dot Design Award in 2012 for its sophisticated design.Architect: J. Mayer H.
Richard Arculus
The Kunsthaus Graz, also known as the Friendly Alien, was built to mark the city of Graz in Austria being named European Capital of Culture for 2003. The exhibition building has a technoid media facade of just fewer than 900 conventional fluorescent lamps on which images and animations can be shown.<strong>Architect</strong>: Spacelab Cook-Fournier GmbH
Kunsthaus Graz (Austria) —
The Kunsthaus Graz, also known as the Friendly Alien, was built to mark the city of Graz in Austria being named European Capital of Culture for 2003. The exhibition building has a technoid media facade of just fewer than 900 conventional fluorescent lamps on which images and animations can be shown.Architect: Spacelab Cook-Fournier GmbH
Maleen Diestel
The Seattle building's remarkable architectural form and sophisticated use of colors and textures can be traced to a melted Stratocaster guitar that served as inspiration to the architect Frank O. Gehry. The Experience Music Project was endowed by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft.<strong>Architects</strong>: Frank O. Gehry; LMN Architects
Experience Music Project (United States) —
The Seattle building's remarkable architectural form and sophisticated use of colors and textures can be traced to a melted Stratocaster guitar that served as inspiration to the architect Frank O. Gehry. The Experience Music Project was endowed by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft.Architects: Frank O. Gehry; LMN Architects
Darwin Bell
The facade of the skyscraper is composed of 10,500 stainless steel panels, some flat, some undulating.In order to better integrate the eye-catching building into its urban context, the bottom five stories of the tower are clad in brick.<strong>Architect</strong>: Frank O. Gehry
New York by Gehry at Eight Spruce Street (U.S.) —
The facade of the skyscraper is composed of 10,500 stainless steel panels, some flat, some undulating.In order to better integrate the eye-catching building into its urban context, the bottom five stories of the tower are clad in brick.Architect: Frank O. Gehry
Tectonic Photo
A shopping center, the Selfridges Building is completely clad in 60-centimeter-wide, shimmering pieces of aluminum. The idea of a "cave-like" shopping universe was the starting point for the building's futuristic design. The architects, Future Systems, won a total of six prizes for the design, including the 2004 RIBA Award for Architecture.<strong>Architect</strong>: Future Systems
Selfridges Building (England) —
A shopping center, the Selfridges Building is completely clad in 60-centimeter-wide, shimmering pieces of aluminum. The idea of a "cave-like" shopping universe was the starting point for the building's futuristic design. The architects, Future Systems, won a total of six prizes for the design, including the 2004 RIBA Award for Architecture.Architect: Future Systems
Neil Nickolds
Under its curved glass mantle, The Sage Gateshead houses three concert halls of varying size, all equipped with high-end technology. Since its completion in 2004, the organically shaped event complex has been an attraction in itself around the English city of Newcastle.<strong>Architect</strong>: Foster + Partners
The Sage Gateshead (England) —
Under its curved glass mantle, The Sage Gateshead houses three concert halls of varying size, all equipped with high-end technology. Since its completion in 2004, the organically shaped event complex has been an attraction in itself around the English city of Newcastle.Architect: Foster + Partners
Ian Britton
Floor areas vary with this building's flowing shape, going from 950 meters squared on the ground floor to 250 meters squared on the top floor. Reminiscent of an egg, the De Admirant Entrance Building is part of a newly developed retail quarter of Eindhoven.<strong>Architect</strong>: M. Fuksas architetto
De Admirant Entrance Building (Netherlands) —
Floor areas vary with this building's flowing shape, going from 950 meters squared on the ground floor to 250 meters squared on the top floor. Reminiscent of an egg, the De Admirant Entrance Building is part of a newly developed retail quarter of Eindhoven.Architect: M. Fuksas architetto
Tim Bindels
Golden Terraces is a complex of buildings and is part of Warsaw's most expensive real estate project to date. The shopping center has a glass roof that consists of 4,700 separate glass elements and extends in the form of a wave over the complex.<strong>Architect</strong>: The Jerde Partnership
Golden Terraces (Z?ote Tarasy) (Poland) —
Golden Terraces is a complex of buildings and is part of Warsaw's most expensive real estate project to date. The shopping center has a glass roof that consists of 4,700 separate glass elements and extends in the form of a wave over the complex.Architect: The Jerde Partnership
Bartek Okonek
City Hall in London is the seat of the Greater London Authority and the Mayor of London. City Hall's oval shape has its root in the wish to build as sustainably as possible. The building's surface area is reduced, enabling a high level of energy efficiency.<strong>Architect</strong>: Foster + Partners
City Hall (England) —
City Hall in London is the seat of the Greater London Authority and the Mayor of London. City Hall's oval shape has its root in the wish to build as sustainably as possible. The building's surface area is reduced, enabling a high level of energy efficiency.Architect: Foster + Partners
Kyle Gradinger
The simple facade of Frank O. Gehry's DZ Bank Building is a consequence of the strict provisions for the historical reconstruction of Pariser Platz, a square in Berlin. Apart from the fish-like shape of the glass roof, what makes this building special is the stainless steel-clad, mussel-shaped auditorium that "hovers" in the atrium.<strong>Architect</strong>: Frank O. Gehry
DZ Bank Building, Pariser Platz (Germany) —
The simple facade of Frank O. Gehry's DZ Bank Building is a consequence of the strict provisions for the historical reconstruction of Pariser Platz, a square in Berlin. Apart from the fish-like shape of the glass roof, what makes this building special is the stainless steel-clad, mussel-shaped auditorium that "hovers" in the atrium.Architect: Frank O. Gehry
Cesar Serrano
10 of the world's 'blobbiest' buildings

Story highlights

"Blobitecture" comprises buildings with few or no right angles and fluid, flowing forms

Experience Music Project in Seattle, locally known as "The Blob," is a prime example

Blob building Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Création, designed by Frank O. Gehry, to open in Paris in 2014

CNN  — 

“Gigantic, alien-looking buildings” that bring to mind melted guitars, mushroom-like parasols and UFOs.

That’s how some of the world’s finest examples of “blob buildings” have been described, by the company that wants to celebrate them.

Building data company Emporis of Hamburg, Germany, usually gives kudos to more traditional architectural triumphs, such as these new skyscrapers completed last year.

But this time “we felt that it’s time to highlight this interesting and visually appealing topic,” says Sarah Krenz, in the Emporis public relations office.

What makes a building a blob?

“Unconventional, right-angle-free geometric shapes,” according to the report. It’s also known as “liquid architecture.”

Emporis cites the Experience Music Project in Seattle, locally known as “The Blob,” as a prime example.

Others include the Golden Terraces in Warsaw, “whose wavy roof, created from 4,700 separate glass elements, rests like a frozen liquid over the atrium of this multi-story shopping center.”

As well as standing out from other buildings in their vicinity, blob buildings often conjure imaginative responses from the public, not always complimentary.

While the Selfridges Building, a shopping center in Birmingham, England, is known as the Beehive due to its honeycomb-like fa?ade, the London City Hall was once described as a “glass testicle.”

This list anticipates the opening next year of another “blob” – the exhibition building Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Création in Paris, designed by Frank O. Gehry.

What do you think? Are blob buildings creative and inspiring or ugly and over the top? Comment below.