The shortest building in the world

The buildings I want to introduce below are not as well-known as the Empire State Building, World Trade Center Building and Burj Khalifa, but they all have important historical and cultural significance and are even more precious after being washed away by time.

1. The smallest skyscraper in the world

If you go to Wichita Falls in Texas, you will be lucky enough to see the Newby McMahon Building, which is the smallest skyscraper in the world. The height of the building is 12m, with four floors in total. Each floor has only 1 1 square meter of indoor space, and stairs occupy 25% of it, so this structure is completely unsuitable for living or using. Speaking of which, you can't help asking, who would be crazy enough to invest in such a building? Why are they called skyscrapers?

The story goes like this: Back in 19 19, an oil field was discovered in a city near Wichita Falls, so thousands of local residents seized the opportunity to sell their mining rights and became millionaires. A steady stream of wealth poured into the city, but there was no decent office space to serve their business. Most of the orders of oil companies were signed in tents around the corner until J.D. McMahon proposed a solution. McMahon promised to build a multi-storey building near the St. James Hotel, and therefore sold a stake of $200,000 to the oil company.

However, those investors are obviously a little excited, but they don't know that the units used in McMahon's blueprint are inches instead of feet. So after the building was completed, investors found themselves cheated. The building is much smaller than they expected, and they failed to get justice. After all, McMahon was built in full accordance with the agreed drawings. The oil company has no choice but to use this building. 1929 When the Great Depression struck, the building was finally abandoned.

2. The narrowest building in the world-Senji Building

Senji Mansion, built in 19 13, is located in China. The width of the building is only 1.5 meters, which is rated as the narrowest building in the world by Guinness World Records. Although the scale of this building is embarrassing, it does not prevent it from becoming the home of several successful enterprises.

Chang Toy, the owner of Senji Building, originally planned to build a department store there, but his plan ran counter to the road widening plan of Vancouver city government, and the government only approved 6.5 feet (about 2 meters) wide land for Chang. Therefore, he had to bite the bullet and build the narrowest building in the world. In order to increase the usable area, the second floor is designed as a "bay window" and the basement is widened. The public bathhouse in the basement is the only hot water bathhouse in China.

3. Ideal Palace

Crazy Castle is located in Houtreeves, France. At first glance, this castle looks like the work of an architect or sculptor. But in fact, it was built by an ordinary postman named Ferdinand Cheval. Cervar was born in 1836. He has been living a life of poverty, and worked as a pastry chef before he became a postman. Like other postmen, his daily life is to deliver letters from door to door, but an incident at 1879 changed his life. On the way to deliver the letter, Sheval tripped over a stone and picked it up. Unexpectedly, he was fascinated by this grotesque stone and came up with the idea of building an imaginative palace with stone.

Chevelle began to practice this seemingly impossible dream. In the next 34 years, he collected stones, carried stones, piled stones and carved stones on his own. Finally, this 25-meter-long and 7.9-9.8-meter-high castle was built. At that time, Cervar was 75 years old. Today, Crazy Castle attracts more than 654.38 million visitors every year.

So there are still dreams. What if it comes true?

4. Nitweed Ridge, Tweet Ridge.

Twigt Ridge Lodge, located in cambria, California, was designed by Arthur Harold Beale. Bill was born in 1892. He spent his childhood with his mother. Later, his mother died in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. As an adult, Bill had many different jobs, such as cook, waiter, miner, etc ... 1928, he moved to cambria and began to collect garbage. It is said that he always spends too much time collecting materials from garbage dumps, which gradually becomes a habit and eventually makes him unemployed.

After that, Bill spent 100 dollars to buy the next small piece of land and began his 50-year-long construction project. His principle is not to buy any materials except cement. The interior and exterior decoration of the hut came from the waste he collected, tire rims were used as pillars, and toilet seats became photo frames. 198 1 year, NiTwigt Ridge Lodge won the title of "California Historical Landmark". 1992, Bill died, and the hut has been abandoned for many years. 1999, two couples bought and repaired the hut.

5. The smallest house in Britain

The smallest house in Britain is located in Conway Wharf in North Wales, with a width of 1.8m and a height of 3.1m. It has been inhabited since16th century. The last owner of the house is a fisherman named robert jones, whose height is 1.9 meters. At present, the house has become a local tourist attraction, and the adult admission fee is 0.75.

But why is there such a small house?

In the Middle Ages, it was common to build houses in rows against the wall. And the gaps between houses are used to build low-cost new houses. Although the area was small, at that time, the British thought such a house was very practical because there was enough space for a bed, a coal bunker and a fireplace.

6. gatehouse building

There is bound to be a conflict between government land and commercial land. In most cases, one of them will win. But when the towers are under construction, compromise is the only possible solution.

Before the construction of this 16-storey building, the government has designated this area as a regional expressway land. But landowners also refused to give up using the land. In the end, the two reached a compromise: high-rise buildings can be built, but there must be a highway passing through. Fortunately, the expressway did not have any impact on the internal business of the building. But the owner must install soundproof walls, and the elevator must skip the four floors occupied by the expressway.

7.nakajin capsule tower

After World War II, Japan entered a period of rapid development, and at the same time, there were problems of growing population and insufficient living space. At this time, a "metabolism" movement was launched in the construction industry, arguing that buildings are open in time and space and should grow, reproduce, be eliminated and replaced like organisms.

The most representative "metabolism" school building is the China Bank Capsule Tower in Tokyo. The capsule tower was built in 1972 and designed by architect Akira Kurokawa. Each capsule in the building is equipped with the basic facilities of home, which can be regarded as a single apartment.

Although the concept behind this is very advanced, the capsule tower is not very practical. After all, interchangeability and flexibility are only theoretical. In fact, replacing or adding capsules is relatively expensive. In addition, the narrow space will also bring a sense of oppression to people living in it. Moreover, the large windows make the interior of the capsule completely exposed, and there is no sense of private space.

8. Glinick Bridge

The Berlin Wall is a famous landmark during the Cold War. However, 27 kilometers away, the Greenick Bridge with similar historical significance is little known. The railway bridge spans the Havel River, connecting Berlin in the west and Potsdam in the east.

During the Cold War, Germany was divided into East Germany and West Germany, and the Greenick Bridge played a role in connecting the two sides, so it became an excellent place to exchange spies, also known as the "spy bridge".

The most famous transaction took place in 1962. At that time, the Soviet Union traded Colonel rudolf abel, a Soviet spy, for Francis Gary Bowles, a pilot of the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance plane shot down by the Soviet Union.

9. The spiral forest (Waldspirale)

Fordensley? Friedensreich Hundertwasser was the most famous artist in Austria at the end of the 20th century. He doesn't like all symmetrical things, which is also reflected in his works. Chaos in shape and color is his style.

In 1970s, Handvasa became interested in architecture and began to design it. The spiral forest in darmstadt is a complex residential building. As the name implies, spiral forest is a 12-story spiral slope building, and 105 apartments. The roofs and slopes are covered with trees and grass. No two apartments or windows are the same shape, design or color.

10. The Root Bridge of Kilapanche

Kilapanche, India, is considered to be one of the wettest places on earth. The area is covered with fast-flowing rivers and streams, and the annual precipitation exceeds 1 1430mm (450 years). So locals need to move a lot. In such an extreme climate, it is almost impossible to build traditional bridges. But the War-Khasis tribe in Kira Bonzi has found a solution to the problem.

The tribe noticed that Ficus carica (generally grown in India and neighboring countries) can grow some secondary roots on the trunk. Roots can easily cover big stones and spread along the river bank. War-Khasis immediately realized that these roots could help them cross the river. So there was the later root bridge. One of the most unique is Umshiang's double-layer tree root bridge.