Twenty bizarre homes - DAWN.COM

E-Paper | March 07, 2025

Twenty bizarre homes

Reuters Published May 28, 2013

The Heliodome, a bioclimatic solar house is seen in Cosswiller in the Alsacian countryside near Strasbourg, Eastern France, August 4, 2011. The house is designed as a giant three-dimensional sundial, set on a fixed angle in relationship to the sun's movements to provide shade during the summer months, keeping the inside temperature cool, and during Fall, Winter and Spring sunlight enters the large windows as the sun's position is lower in the sky, thus warming the living space.

A man takes a picture of the one of the world's narrowest buildings, built as an artistic installation wedged between two existing buildings, in Warsaw October 23, 2012. A building just 92 cm (36 inches) wide as its narrowest point was opened in Warsaw on October 20 as an artistic installation that will be a home from home for Israeli writer Edgar Keret. Keret, who told news channel TVN24 he would live there when he visits Warsaw twice a year, said he conceived the project as a kind of memorial to his parents' fami

Girls play on a trampoline near a home blasted from a rock wall at the Rockland Ranch community outside Moab, Utah, November 2, 2012. The "Rock" as it is referred to by the approximately 100 people living there in about 15 families, was founded about 35 years ago on a sandstone formation near Canyonlands National Park. Polygamy was a part of the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was brought to Utah by faithful Mormons in the late 1840s.

A house built on a rock on the river Drina is seen near the western Serbian town of Bajina Basta, about 160km (99 miles) from the capital Belgrade May 22, 2013. The house was built in 1968 by a group of young men who decided that the rock on the river was an ideal place for a tiny shelter, according to the house's co-owner, who was among those involved in its construction.

A man walks past Huaiyuan Lou, one of the best protected Fujian Tulou built in the year 1909, in Nanjing county, Fujian province, November 19, 2012. The earthen Tulou buildings, which set up enclosed walls to defend against outside dangers, have served the Hakka people since 11th century, when their ancestors settled down at the south west of Fujian province to escape from rule of Jin ethnic.

Miguel Restrepo (L), 62, and wife Maria Garcia are seen from their sewer home in Medellin December 4, 2012. The former drug addict has been living in an abandoned sewer with his wife and dog Blackie for 22 years. Their home, which is fitted with a kitchen, a fan, tv, a chair and a bed, is a 6 square meter wide and 1.4 meters high tunnel that leaks when it rains, and requires a manhole cover.

Bohumil Lhota, a 73-year-old builder, turns the house he built in Velke Hamry, near the town of Jablonec nad Nisou, 100km (62 miles) north-east from Prague, August 7, 2012. Lhota conceptualized the idea to create the unique house and started to build it in 1981, building it close to nature to benefit from the cooler ground temperature. Lhota's house, which is built in 2002, is able to move up and down and rotate on its sides, which allows him to adjust to his preferred window view.

Residents climb into their houses atop gravestones inside a cemetery in Manila October 21, 2008. Many poor urban dwellers make their homes in public cemeteries, converting abandoned tombs and mausoleums into houses. The local government plan to move out the hundreds of people who live in the cemeteries around the city before the upcoming All Souls' Day, a day of remembrance for the dead when Catholics visit the graves of their relatives.

Bohumil Lhota, a 73-year-old builder, stands in front of the house which he built in Velke Hamry, near the town of Jablonec nad Nisou, 100km (62 miles) north-east from Prague, August 7, 2012. Lhota conceptualized the idea to create the unique house and started to build it in 1981, building it close to nature to benefit from the cooler ground temperature. Lhota's house, which is built in 2002, is able to move up and down and rotate on its sides, which allows him to adjust to his preferred window view.

A Bulgarian woman looks inside her wine vat home in Socuellamos, central Spain, October 2, 2007. About 40 people living in this makeshift camp. At night they sleep in 20 or so overturned wine vats -- car-sized concrete barrels dumped on the outskirts of Socuellamos, a farming community in the hot and dusty region of Castilla-La Mancha. Picture taken October 2, 2007.

The Heliodome, a bioclimatic solar house is seen in Cosswiller in the Alsacian countryside near Strasbourg, Eastern France, August 4, 2011. The house is designed as a giant three-dimensional sundial, set on a fixed angle in relationship to the sun's movements to provide shade during the summer months, keeping the inside temperature cool, and during Fall, Winter and Spring sunlight enters the large windows as the sun's position is lower in the sky, thus warming the living space.

A man takes a picture of the one of the world's narrowest buildings, built as an artistic installation wedged between two existing buildings, in Warsaw October 23, 2012. A building just 92 cm (36 inches) wide as its narrowest point was opened in Warsaw on October 20 as an artistic installation that will be a home from home for Israeli writer Edgar Keret. Keret, who told news channel TVN24 he would live there when he visits Warsaw twice a year, said he conceived the project as a kind of memorial to his parents' fami

Girls play on a trampoline near a home blasted from a rock wall at the Rockland Ranch community outside Moab, Utah, November 2, 2012. The "Rock" as it is referred to by the approximately 100 people living there in about 15 families, was founded about 35 years ago on a sandstone formation near Canyonlands National Park. Polygamy was a part of the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was brought to Utah by faithful Mormons in the late 1840s.

A house built on a rock on the river Drina is seen near the western Serbian town of Bajina Basta, about 160km (99 miles) from the capital Belgrade May 22, 2013. The house was built in 1968 by a group of young men who decided that the rock on the river was an ideal place for a tiny shelter, according to the house's co-owner, who was among those involved in its construction.

A man walks past Huaiyuan Lou, one of the best protected Fujian Tulou built in the year 1909, in Nanjing county, Fujian province, November 19, 2012. The earthen Tulou buildings, which set up enclosed walls to defend against outside dangers, have served the Hakka people since 11th century, when their ancestors settled down at the south west of Fujian province to escape from rule of Jin ethnic.

Miguel Restrepo (L), 62, and wife Maria Garcia are seen from their sewer home in Medellin December 4, 2012. The former drug addict has been living in an abandoned sewer with his wife and dog Blackie for 22 years. Their home, which is fitted with a kitchen, a fan, tv, a chair and a bed, is a 6 square meter wide and 1.4 meters high tunnel that leaks when it rains, and requires a manhole cover.

Bohumil Lhota, a 73-year-old builder, turns the house he built in Velke Hamry, near the town of Jablonec nad Nisou, 100km (62 miles) north-east from Prague, August 7, 2012. Lhota conceptualized the idea to create the unique house and started to build it in 1981, building it close to nature to benefit from the cooler ground temperature. Lhota's house, which is built in 2002, is able to move up and down and rotate on its sides, which allows him to adjust to his preferred window view.

Residents climb into their houses atop gravestones inside a cemetery in Manila October 21, 2008. Many poor urban dwellers make their homes in public cemeteries, converting abandoned tombs and mausoleums into houses. The local government plan to move out the hundreds of people who live in the cemeteries around the city before the upcoming All Souls' Day, a day of remembrance for the dead when Catholics visit the graves of their relatives.

Bohumil Lhota, a 73-year-old builder, stands in front of the house which he built in Velke Hamry, near the town of Jablonec nad Nisou, 100km (62 miles) north-east from Prague, August 7, 2012. Lhota conceptualized the idea to create the unique house and started to build it in 1981, building it close to nature to benefit from the cooler ground temperature. Lhota's house, which is built in 2002, is able to move up and down and rotate on its sides, which allows him to adjust to his preferred window view.

A Bulgarian woman looks inside her wine vat home in Socuellamos, central Spain, October 2, 2007. About 40 people living in this makeshift camp. At night they sleep in 20 or so overturned wine vats -- car-sized concrete barrels dumped on the outskirts of Socuellamos, a farming community in the hot and dusty region of Castilla-La Mancha. Picture taken October 2, 2007.

Join our Whatsapp channel

Snapshots of the most unusual homes around the world including those built upside-down, in trees and out of ice. — Photos by Reuters

Latest Stories

One dead, 180 missing after boats sink off Yemen, Djibouti

One dead, 180 missing after boats sink off Yemen, Djibouti

Trump says he wrote to Iran urging nuclear talks

Trump says he wrote to Iran urging nuclear talks

Portfolios assigned to new cabinet inductees

Portfolios assigned to new cabinet inductees

HRCP concerned over FIR lodged against students protesting canals project

HRCP concerned over FIR lodged against students protesting canals project

India football great Chhetri comes out of retirement aged 40

India football great Chhetri comes out of retirement aged 40

Punjab home department releases list of proscribed organisations

Punjab home department releases list of proscribed organisations

Going Loco for Local: Lo-Kal Bites’ chocolate mousse is a deliciously guilt-free indulgence

Going Loco for Local: Lo-Kal Bites’ chocolate mousse is a deliciously guilt-free indulgence

Deli Boys is a show about two Pakistani brothers, but Tan France says it’s not just for brown people

Deli Boys is a show about two Pakistani brothers, but Tan France says it’s not just for brown people

Olivia Rodrigo and The 1975 to headline the UK’s Glastonbury Festival

Olivia Rodrigo and The 1975 to headline the UK’s Glastonbury Festival

Most Popular

01

New Trump travel ban could bar Afghans, Pakistanis soon: report

New Trump travel ban could bar Afghans, Pakistanis soon: report

02

Govt appoints chief adviser to finance minister for Pakistan Crypto Council

Govt appoints chief adviser to finance minister for Pakistan Crypto Council

03

Malala makes first visit to hometown Barkana since being attacked

Malala makes first visit to hometown Barkana since being attacked

04

No Champions Trophy final deals one last blow to hosts Pakistan

No Champions Trophy final deals one last blow to hosts Pakistan

05

Cartoon: 6 March, 2025

Cartoon: 6 March, 2025

06

Ex-Pakistan coach Jason Gillespie accuses successor Aqib Javed of ‘undermining’ him and Gary Kirsten

Ex-Pakistan coach Jason Gillespie accuses successor Aqib Javed of ‘undermining’ him and Gary Kirsten

07

Pakistan rises to second in Global Terrorism Index

Pakistan rises to second in Global Terrorism Index

08

FO rejects Indian FM’s ‘baseless claims’ on AJK, asks to vacate occupied Kashmir

FO rejects Indian FM’s ‘baseless claims’ on AJK, asks to vacate occupied Kashmir

09

Bannu attack toll rises to 18, five troops martyred

Bannu attack toll rises to 18, five troops martyred

Must Read

Editorial: Our leaders must stop seeking US approval, learn our problems are ours to solve

Editorial: Our leaders must stop seeking US approval, learn our problems are ours to solve

The Trump administration’s position on Pakistan will become clearer with time.

Urgent need to address human trafficking as desperate migrants taking deadly risks

Urgent need to address human trafficking as desperate migrants taking deadly risks

Going Loco for Local: Lo-Kal Bites’ chocolate mousse is a deliciously guilt-free indulgence

Going Loco for Local: Lo-Kal Bites’ chocolate mousse is a deliciously guilt-free indulgence

Editorial: Dreams of economic revival, national harmony to shatter if severity of terrorist threat isn’t realised

Editorial: Dreams of economic revival, national harmony to shatter if severity of terrorist threat isn’t realised

While Trump’s presidency offers strategic opportunities to India, ties to face some irritants

While Trump’s presidency offers strategic opportunities to India, ties to face some irritants

Opinion

Sinking dreams

Sinking dreams

The proposed measures to combat migrant smuggling are sound, but will they be implemented?

Climate and cryosphere

07 Mar, 2025

Climate and cryosphere

Polio challenge

07 Mar, 2025

Polio challenge

Zubeida Mustafa

India & Trump 2.0

Updated 07 Mar, 2025

India & Trump 2.0

Fiddling with the federation

Updated 06 Mar, 2025

Fiddling with the federation

Editorial

Terrorism ranking

Updated 07 Mar, 2025

Terrorism ranking

Poor relations with Afghan Taliban complicating Pakistan’s counterterrorism efforts.

Fear and favour

Updated 07 Mar, 2025

Fear and favour

The Trump administration’s position on Pakistan will become clearer with time.

Higher power costs

07 Mar, 2025

Higher power costs

IN recent years, soaring energy prices have drastically impacted Pakistan’s economic growth potential in general,...

Road ahead

Updated 06 Mar, 2025

Road ahead

While govt has achieved success in macroeconomic stability, it has failed to improve social conditions, address political instability.

Restoring hope

06 Mar, 2025

Restoring hope

THE disillusionment of Balochistan National Party chief Akhtar Mengal should give all democratically inclined...

Cruel customs

06 Mar, 2025

Cruel customs

THE recent rescues of two Asian black bears — Rocky from Jauharabad and Sunny from Jhang — remind us how the...

‹

Mob lynches suspected robber after trader’s murder in Karachi’s Quaidabad

Mob lynches suspected robber after trader’s murder in Karachi’s Quaidabad

›

New Trump travel ban could bar Afghans, Pakistanis soon: report

New Trump travel ban could bar Afghans, Pakistanis soon: report