- [Narrator] I've been scouring the globe, searching for the
weirdest houses on Earth, and let me tell you, people live in some
strange, strange places. From the man who chose
to live in a dumpster for a very smart reason, to the invisible house
you can book on Airbnb, and much, much more. Let's take a tour around some
of the most unusual houses you never knew existed. (light suspenseful music) - Whoa. (bell dings) - [Narrator] Dumpster dwelling. The city of London is
known for its rich history and traditional architecture, but one of its residents
seems to have thrown traditional living, well, in the trash. At the beginning of 2023, 28-year-old British artist
Harrison Marshall made headlines by moving into a literal dumpster. Harrison made this bold
statement in collaboration with London-based art
organization SKIP Gallery, which has installed almost 20 other dumpster-based art pieces around the world since 2016. This striking 2018 art piece
titled "Upgrade," for example, was another SKIP Gallery collaboration with artist Richard Woods on a road in the Shoreditch
district of East London. It was intended to reflect
the rapid buying up and renovation of the city's
older, typically poorer areas by the wealthier modern-day occupants. But unlike those previous
dumpster sculptures, Harrison Marshall's habitable version doubles as a unique way for him to beat London's rising living costs. Packed into just 25 square
feet of living space are amenities you'd
find in a regular house, just slightly miniaturized. These include a mini-fridge,
an induction cooktop, and even a raised
mezzanine-style double bed for maximum floor space. Including building supplies
and interior furnishings, Harrison spent just under
$5,000 building the structure inside a real dumpster, as well as $600 to transport
it to its new location. The land itself was donated
to the young architect by an arts charity who also
cover the dumpster home's minuscule electrical bill. While the average monthly rent
in Harrison's neighborhood is over $2,000, this
genius beater of the system is paying just $62 a month
to a waste collection company to rent his home's dumpster foundation. Unfortunately, the bathroom
is just a port-a-potty positioned outside the tiny wooden home, and Marshall has to shower
at his office or local gym. But on the bright side, I
actually think the dumpster house appears surprisingly cozy. Plus, they say that an
Englishman's home is his castle, so the owner of this unusual
castle shall hereby be dubbed the king of minimalism
and resourcefulness. (exclaims) Jolly good show old bean! Stilt shacks. While there are many
home seekers out there that do like to be beside the seaside, this next beachside abode
might make you think twice. While the Outer Banks of North Carolina definitely look like the perfect spot to live a peaceful life by the sea, some of the abodes here
are surprisingly weird. Creepy ghost towns of abandoned
stilt houses like these have loomed over the Outer
Banks's sandy shores for decades. As a result, the doomed
dwellings are regularly claimed by the Atlantic Ocean. But how did they get there? It turns out, many of these stilt houses were built back in the 20th century, when the shoreline was
well over 400 feet away. But climate change has
since caused the Outer Banks to erode at unexpectedly high rates of up to 14 feet per year. Many homeowners have
begged state officials to protect their properties through beach nourishment programs, but their hands are already full maintaining the nearby
North Carolina Highway 12, where bulldozers are
constantly replenishing the protective sand dune barriers as quickly as they're being eroded. This has led some homeowners
to spend six figures shifting their entire
properties away from the coast. This five-bedroom vacation, rental-ironically named
Wave Breaker, for instance, was on the verge of collapsing
on Mirlo Beach in Rodanthe when the owner had it lifted
500 feet inland in 2014, stilts and all! But even that is likely to
be a short-term solution, as the sea continues its inland invasion. So, for now, it seems like
all these unusual stilt houses will ultimately succumb
to what you might call a series of unfortunate events. While the stability of
stilt-houses is questionable, the troop of unstoppable
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Community Survey, the average person will move house more than 11 times in their lifetime. But I think we can all agree
that just one house move is enough to put you
off for life, until now. Most of us are familiar with the typical process of moving out: You pack your belongings into
boxes, load up the moving van, and watch your old home
disappear in the rearview mirror. But what if your home could
somehow pack itself into a box and relocate right along with you? Let me introduce you
to architecture company TenFold Engineering. Founded in 2013, the company
designs housing units that fold like origami into
compact, portable cuboids. After being transported to your
desired location via truck, a button press activates
an in-built lever system, which expands the cuboid's volume by three times in under 10 minutes. My personal favorite has to
be their treehouse model, which raises the living
space off the ground by expanding upwards and outwards. Right now, the origami houses function as mobile vacation homes and need to be fixed with solar power and water treatment
systems for longer stays in any given location. Priced at around $130,000 each, these origami homes could
be the perfect solution for frequent travelers, or just those of us looking
for a real-life Transformer we can live inside! Artist's Tower. While the bare minimum
you'd expect from a house is four walls and a roof,
our next unusual home is more about bearing all to the elements. The Artist's Tower on the Sea is a four-story residential space positioned 33 feet off
the coast of Colon Island, in the Bocas del Toro
Archipelago of Panama. Available to rent on Airbnb, the structure can only be
accessed by rowing boat or swimming. Even crazier is that
there are almost no walls enclosing either of the two bedrooms or bathrooms on the property. Exposed to the elements,
guests are encouraged to enjoy unobstructed sea breezes in
the area's temperate climate, which averages temperatures
of 75 Fahrenheit year-round, while admiring the numerous paintings and sculptures displayed
all over the tower. All the artwork, as well
as the tower itself, was designed and installed by Italian artist Filiberto Bonaventura, who owns the property and even lives in it
himself between bookings. While there's no doubt
my glistening beach body would put on an amazing show for all the neighboring islanders, this tower's open-plan exterior might just be a little
too open for my taste. School bus abode. Nestled within the small, forested town of Springbrook in Wisconsin, sits a not-so-mobile house on wheels that would bewilder even the most well-versed motorhome aficionados. This standard 72-seater school bus, balanced atop an old
28-foot-tall fuel tank, serves as the world's most
outlandish deer hunting stand. The bizarre structure was built by local hunting
enthusiast Jesse Kauffman, who'd purchased the inactive
bus from his neighbor for $400. As the owner of an excavation company, Kauffman was able to construct
a temporary dirt ramp to the top of the fuel tank and use a bulldozer to push
the vehicle into place. Deer stands tend to be much
smaller empty wooden structures, which couldn't typically be
considered houses per se, but Kauffman's especially roomy version actually boasts a fold-out
couch, two more recliners, and a poker table,
among other furnishings. It even sports a working
television and a heater by running electricity from
his father's house nearby. Forget the hunting, though, I'm envisioning this unusual bus bungalow as my own private apocalyptic
zombie shootout home, upgraded into a
triple-decker coach complex, surrounded by windows for
spotting approaching zombies. Jesse, if you've got a
couple of spare buses, I'll bring the beer. Let's get this thing made. Twisted apartment. Hidden in a patch of woodlands outside the Indianapolis Art
Center in Central Indiana, sits a curious little house
that truly bends the rules of architectural engineering. Simply dubbed the Twisted House, this whimsical take on housing
design was created in 2005 by American artist John McNaughton. The crooked doorway allows
visitors to enter the building like an actual house, but
the sculpture is too small to accommodate genuine residents. For a habitable version of
this distorted domicile, check out this apartment complex located in the city of
Ramat Gan in Israel. Named the Spiral House, this apartment block was
designed in the 1980s by renowned Israeli architect Zvi Hecker. The bizarre building looks
like it was constructed from the wreckage of a storm thanks to its chaotic use
of plaster, pink glass, stone fragments, and corrugated metal. Strangely, the exterior was
deliberately left unfinished, apparently to add to the building's, uh, poetic charm, I guess? (chuckles) Hmm. If not for its tidy and
well-furnished interiors, I'd personally consider
it quite the twist of fate to wind up living in this
highly unusual residence. Arctic hideaway. Even the most well-adjusted city-dwellers, if such a thing exists, will tell you that the
constant bustle of urban life can leave you yearning to
reconnect with Mother Nature. But our next unusual home holds together both modern-day architecture and the natural world all at once. The Arctic Hideaway is a
curious collection of cabins stationed on the northwestern
edge of Sorvaeret island in the frigid Fleinvaer
Archipelago of northern Norway. The secluded facility houses
five sleeping quarters, each costing $176 per night. But the site's crowning
jewel is the tower house: A raised communal space, from which guests can
enjoy magnificent views of the Northern Lights. The retreat is so remote
that even the food has to be shipped in from
the Norwegian mainland, as there are no stores on the island. But apparently, there's
also no noise, no stress, and no dangerous animals, which makes it a darn sight
different to my local area. Upside-Down House. While Canadian suburbs contain millions of exceptionally ordinary houses, there's one located in
the Clifton Hill district of Niagara Falls, Ontario, that will literally turn
your world upside down. The Upside-Down House
is a tourist attraction constructed in 2012 by Marke
Cyran and Adam Nielbvowicz. The two-story structure's
exterior is strange enough, but it's the 1,200-square-foot interior that truly flips reality on its head. All the furniture and appliances
are stuck to the ceiling, making for some truly
disorienting photo opportunities. Just be careful not to
get too dizzy in there, or you might even end up
passing out on the floor. I mean, the ceiling. No wait, the floor. Uh, you get the point. Boulder-top palace. While castles being built
on majestic hillsides is a tale as old as time, what about a royal palace plonked atop a precarious-looking boulder? More commonly known as the Stone Palace, the Dar al-Hajar is a grand residence constructed on a
nail-bitingly narrow boulder in the Wadi Dhar valley in Yemen. The grand five-story palace was
designed as a summer retreat of notable Islamic monarch Imam
Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din, constructed atop a preexisting structure that was built in the 1700s, and remained in Imam
Yahya's family until 1962 when the royals were
overthrown in a military coup. Seeming to grow right out of the very rock it's perched upon, the national landmark is considered one of the greatest surviving examples of traditional Yemeni architecture and is even displayed on the
500 rial Yemeni banknote. A complex labyrinth of
corridors and staircases weave between fountained
courtyards and appointment rooms, each lavishly decorated
with intricate carvings and colorful stained-glass windows. These days, this unusual rock
palace is a public museum that offers visitors a look
inside the magnificent fortress. But, as impressive as it would be to explore the castle's insides, it's its exterior that really
makes it monumental to behold. Living askew. While there are many beautiful homes in the seaside towns of England,
there's one unique house that seems to be struggling to save face. Located in the Cliftonville
district of Margate, England, this house possesses a front wall that has somehow slumped onto the ground, exposing the top floor's
derelict interior. It seems impossible that
the front door, windows, and bricks could've remained intact despite curving by 90 degrees, so what's really going on here? Well, until 2013, the house
was actually a normal, albeit rundown, property which
had been vacant for 11 years. That was when British
sculptor Alex Chinneck gained permission from the local council to remodel the building
as an art installation. Gathering $128,000 worth of materials and professional services,
Chinneck set to work designing and constructing the surreal spectacle, assembling the bricks
around curved frames. After a year of giving the visitors more to think about than fish and chips, the unusual sculpture
was taken down in 2014 and restored as a livable version of the regular property once again. For me, the weirdest
thing about the sculpture was its peculiar name: "From the Knees of my Nose
to the Belly of my Toes" Just trying to decipher why Chinneck gave it such a peculiar name made me slump in my chair
more than the house ever did. But what do you think is
behind this puzzling name? Be sure to leave your theories
in the comments below, and I'll be sure to
reply to the best ones. However, "From the Knees of my Nose
to the Belly of my Toes," try saying that 10 times faster, isn't ye old England's
only hidden home truth? At first glance, 5 Thurloe Square in London's wealthy district of Kensington appears to be a regular, albeit old, London
studio apartment complex. But when you turn the corner,
you'll realize that things are not quite as they first appear. Huh, I always wondered why
the British call them "flats." Just kidding. In fact, 5 Thurloe Square's
outrageously skinny frame is somewhat of an optical illusion. Even though the building's right side is just six feet thick, it
actually grows to 34 feet wide on the opposite end,
forming a wedge shape. But why is its far end so narrow? The property was once a much larger estate that was demolished in 1867 to make way for a London
Underground subway line. A small, triangular patch of land was all that was left by the tracks until local builder William Douglas discovered the site in 1885. In the late 19th century, Kensington was a
world-renowned hub for artists, and the triangular plot
soon turned into housing for seven artists' studios in the weirdly shaped red
brick residence we see today. These days, the building contains seven lavish studio apartments, each valued at up to $1.5 million. While moving in does come
attach with the risk of rattles from the sound of trains zipping past their south wall every few minutes, living right inside part of London's rich architectural history would arguably be worth the price. House in the Clouds. On first glance, this might look like a pretty
regular red-board abode, but if you take a step back, you'll see that this humble house has been quite literally
put on a pedestal, positioned 70 feet in the air! While it may look like it was built by an extreme doomsday prepper, the real reason behind
this house in the clouds is a little more watertight. In 1923, residents of the seaside village of Thorpeness in Suffolk, England, decided that their local water tower was becoming a real eyesore. So, they disguised it
using sturdy weatherboards in the shape of a Tudor-style tower house, with the red cottage-like top containing the 50,000-gallon water tank. 40 years later, a water supply scheme was introduced to the area,
and so the redundant tank was removed from the tower in 1977. Dubbed the House in the Clouds, today the building remains as
a six-floor vacation rental, boasting five bedrooms and four bathrooms. The old water tank summit
has even been converted into a top-floor rec room that
provides breathtaking views of the Suffolk countryside. So, while the sky might be the limit when it comes to water tower design, the story of the House in
the Clouds goes to show that there's no limit when
it comes to creativity. Dr. Seuss tower. As kids, we all spend time imagining what our ultimate dream
house would look like, but one young-at-heart architect made the house of his
childhood storybooks a reality. American attorney and architect
enthusiast Phillip Weidner is the designer and owner
of Goose Creek Tower, an outlandish, 17-story log cabin, nestled in the dense Alaskan wilderness. Also known as the Dr. Seuss tower, thanks to its similarity to
the fantastical illustrations seen in Dr. Seuss's books, the project to build this storybook tower is quite the tale itself. It started out as a 40-by-40-foot
log cabin with a basement, but Phillip had the idea
to use some leftover timber to build an extra floor. While that lightbulb moment
came over 20 years ago, since then, Phillip's passion
for the project only grew and he continued stacking the cabins until they reached the
absurd height of 185 feet. In fact, the Seuss tower only stops there because it's restricted
by federal air space, which begins at 200 feet. Since the upper floor
currently lacks furniture and central heating,
Weidner mainly uses the top to admire the views and write poetry. While it's unclear
whether he'll ever make it his permanent residence, all I really want to know is
whether, while up in his tower, Phillip has ever treated himself to a spot of green eggs and ham. Hole house. Montrose Boulevard in Houston, Texas, was a street like any other, until one day in 2005,
residents noticed something just slightly unusual about
one of their neighbor's homes. There, on the corner of
Montrose and Willard Street sat an extremely unusual residence with a gaping hole in the
center of the front wall! While you'd be forgiven for thinking this is the residence of a mad scientist who'd accidentally opened a rift in the space-time continuum,
or the guys from "Jackass," or maybe even the Kool-Aid Man, in reality, the jarring
structure is just a prank, bro. Originally, the site of two
bungalows set for demolition, sculptors Dan Havel and
Dean Ruck turned their hand to making a spectacle before
the homes were destroyed. Using scraps of timber from the
walls of the old residences, they created this narrowing tunnel that led straight through the structure. After a few months of
drumming up curiosity, the suburban wonder was finally replaced with a new contemporary art school called Art League Houston. While the destruction of the hole house certainly left a hole in the hearts of Montrose Boulevard residents, I'll bet they'll always look back fondly on that time it looked like their neighbor had been taken out by a giant
bowling ball. (chuckles) Ah, memories. Wasteland estate. One of the most inhospitable
environments known to man, the desert is one of the last places you'd expect to find your
dream home, until now. In 2019, this $3.2 million
eight-bedroom mansion was built on a gated 12-acre plot of land in the tiny desert town of Tahoka, Texas. But despite being surrounded by miles of practically barren wasteland, the 10,000-square-foot residence is packed with unexpectedly
lavish living spaces. The grand foyer alone features
a 22-foot-high ceiling, while a game room, home theater, and many other opulent spaces fill out the rest of
this deluxe desert house. Even the dry, dusty land
around the main residence has been spruced up into
a pleasant outdoor oasis, including a tranquil 1 1/2-acre pond with a waterfall feature and a five-stall barn for raising horses. Despite the Texan property's
plentiful sunshine, lack of noisy neighbors,
and flat, open space, as of late 2023, it hasn't had much luck on the Tahoka property market. It even dropped in value by $1 million after three months without a buyer. I don't know though; you
could really turn this place into a real-life Oasis Springs
if you really had the cash, though you might need
to learn Simlish too. Invisible House. If a multi-million-dollar
gated estate in the desert wasn't unusual enough to tempt you, how about a 230-foot fallen skyscraper that's basically invisible? The Invisible House is an
enormous modern mansion in the shape of a horizontal
22-story skyscraper, set on 90 acres of scorched desert beside Joshua Tree National
Park in California. Built in 2019, the three-bedroom property almost vanishes into its surroundings thanks to its entirely
reflective exterior. The invisible house
boasts 5,500 square feet of luxurious living space, as well as its very own private
4,000-foot mountain peak and a 100-foot-long heated pool, because that's what a pool in
the desert needs, more heat. The extravagant estate
is listed for $18 million as of August 2023 but is also available as a
vacation rental on Airbnb for a scorching $2,500 a night. What makes this strangely placed mansion even more intriguing is
that numerous famous actors and musicians have been
known to gather there, including Demi Lovato, The
Weeknd, and Ariana Grande. Of all the luxurious vacation
rentals to choose from, why pick one in such a harsh
and inaccessible environment? Conspiracy theorists might suggest the near-invisible property functions as some kind of secret
Illuminati meeting place! But in reality, it's
probably just secluded enough to help them avoid paparazzi. Or maybe these pop stars go out there to quench their hidden lizard desires and warm their cold blood in the sun. Now, that would explain everything. Lighthouse livin'. While we've already explored
some of the most unique houses the world has to offer,
many who have inhabited them could still lead relatively normal lives, unlike those in our next abnormal abode. Prior to the power of automation and GPS, the safety of those at
sea largely depended on the coveted lighthouse keeper. Thanks to their usually remote locations, lighthouse keepers would often either live in the lighthouse itself or in other residences
close to their lighthouse, sometimes with their families, passing the role onto their
children in their old age. In this same vein, the 130-foot-tall
Westerheversand Lighthouse sits between not one but two
cottages on a raised portion of the low-lying marshy
Eiderstedt peninsula in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The lighthouse has been
open to visitors since 2001, while one of the keeper's
houses has been converted to a local registry office. While it's unclear if anyone still lives in either of the cottages, if they do, I certainly don't envy their
lonely flood-prone lodging. Even with two cottages to move between, I can't help feeling like things would feel a little claustrophobic when flood season rolls around. Crane hotel. Towering over the abandoned NDSM shipyard of northern Amsterdam stands a 70-year-old steel harbor crane that houses a surprising secret. Before the surrounding
shipyard went bankrupt and closed in 1984, the
old industrial crane was used to build and unload
ships on the adjacent river. But, in 2011, after rusting
away for over three decades, innovative real estate
developer Edwin Rudi decided to renovate the monumental machine into something you'd never expect to see in a rundown shipyard. For around $3.3 million, Edwin
turned this decrepit crane into the Faralda Crane Hotel, and you won't believe
what it looks like inside. A far cry from its days
lugging ship cargo around, the former control cabins were converted into three luxurious duplex suites, each complete with a
uniquely themed interior. Guests can even ride the elevator up to the crane's 165-foot-high top deck, to get to a whirlpool hot tub with spectacular views of the wider city. A stay will set you back
a hefty $1,100 per night, but some might consider
that a small price to pay for the memories of living inside such an unusual shelter for a while. I wish I could build a house inside an abandoned shipyard crane, looks like it'd be the perfect place to hide from my crazy ex-wife. Concept cribs. While androids dream of electric sheep, modern architects dream of the most outlandish
structures imaginable, and oh, boy, are they unusual. The simply named House Inside a Rock home is a prime example. This concept art was designed in 2019 by Indian architectural
photographer Amey Kandalgaonkar. The contemporary concrete slabs jammed right into a
massive monolithic boulder take inspiration from the
Hegra World Heritage Site of Hejaz, Saudi Arabia. Featuring a wide, open-air living space, and a swimming pool on
the multi-level terrace, this rocky residence would
easily be one of the world's most unique and impressive
abodes if it ever comes to be. Adopting a completely different style is the glass treehouse concept, designed in 2013 by Kazakh
architect Aibek Almassov. The concept features a glass cylinder wrapped around a full-grown fir tree. A white spiraling staircase connects four ring-shaped floors, each providing 360-degree views
of the surrounding forest. Since some glass and solar
manufacturing companies have supposedly expressed
interest in the concept, Almassov expected a real
model to be built by 2017. But sadly, the plan
appears to have crashed. Perhaps the investors
were unhappy with the idea of giving up most of a property's
floorspace square footage to a potentially insect-infested tree. Yeah, I've certainly had worse roommates. Don't forget to join me in my
clan in "Raid: Shadow Legends" using the link in the description
or by scanning my QR code. Which of these highly unusual houses do you fancy shacking up in the most? What would your dream home look like? Let me know in the comments, and as always, thanks for watching. (gentle thoughtful music)
