They’re architectural marvels, impressing local residents and visitors with their unique designs. These buildings employ innovative concepts to create a visually-appealing addition to their city skylines. For the many workers fortunate enough to work in these buildings each day, these buildings provide efficiency and originality, allowing them to brag to friends and family that they work in one of the world’s most unique buildings. Here are ten of the most extreme office buildings in the world.
Google Headquarters—Mountain View, California
Google’s sprawling headquarters is known for its slides and cafeterias, but the unique design of each building makes for an interesting overhead view. The company chose to have low-profile buildings rather than high-rises, leading it to occupy a wider span of acreage. Employees use bicycles to get from one building to another quickly.
Bullitt Center—Seattle, Washington
Known as the greenest building in the world, the Bullitt Center strives to reduce its environmental impact through reducing the use of energy. Attached to the roof are 575 solar panels which produce more energy in the summertime than the building uses. During the winter months, the building must rely on the grid, so the building pushes electricity into the grid during the summer months to pay for its wintertime uses.
Statoil Regional and International Offices— Fornebu, Bærum, Norway
The headquarters of the world’s 57th largest company by revenue incorporates unique architecture and sustainable design. Groups of floors are stacked on top of each other in a rotating design that has been compared to the childhood game of pick-up sticks.
Capital Gate—Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
This awe-inspiring skyscraper has been nicknamed “the leaning tower of Abu Dhabi” for its 18-degree incline. The building was specially designed to withstand extreme winds and the engineering technique used to create the lean is an architectural marvel.
Beddington Zero Energy Development—London, England
Known as BedZED, this mixed-use development features more than 15,000 square feet of office space and 82 homes. It is perhaps most notable for its carbon-neutral design.
Waternet/Attika Architekten—Amsterdam, Netherlands
This floating office building includes showers and locker rooms for its workers in an underwater basement. The building’s heating and cooling system draws its energy from the water that surrounds the building.
Cybertecture Egg—Mumbai, India
Striving to represent the future of architecture, this egg-shaped office building represents the office building of the future. The building’s designers refer to its use of sustainable architecture as “cybertecture.”
UN City Denmark—Copenhagen, Denmark
UN City was a result of a decision by Denmark officials to move all of Copenhagen’s UN workers into one building. The building is not only platinum LEED certified, but it was awarded the Green Building Award for New Buildings by the European Commission.
Selcuk Ecza Headquarters—Istanbul, Turkey
This spacious building won the 2013 World Architecture Festival for Future Projects. The construction features seven buildings connected through gardens, roof gardens, upper or lower patios, and paths.
New Century Global Center—Chengdu, China
Standing 330 feet tall, the New Century Global Center is the world’s largest building by floor space. In addition to offices, shops, and a university complex, the center includes an IMAX cinema, a skating rink, and a pirate ship.
These buildings prove that office architecture can be unique and fun. By incorporating sustainability and functionality into their design, these architects are able to offer environmentally-friendly, visually-appealing construction to their respective cities.
About PDI
PDI is an Indianapolis-based wholesale brokerage firm with a network that includes thousands of insurance agents, brokers, architects, engineers and contractors in all 50 states. Since PDI’s beginning in 1980, we’ve handled a single line of coverage: errors & omissions (E&O) for design professionals.
