18 Buildings So Well-Disguised You May Not Even Notice Them

 

Some architecture is meant to dazzle with its imposing nature, yet the new trend is to blend in with the natural surroundings as much as possible. Designers of the following 18 structures have taken that idea to the extreme. Some of these places you would practically have to trip over to find! 

 

Cave Palace Ranch, Utah

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A natural red rock cave has been turned into a spectacular home in Utah.

 

The Pierre, San Juan Islands, Washington

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You may not even see this house if you approach it from behind. The rock pokes into the house in places, further disguising it.

 

Camouflage House 3, Japan

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This cleverly disguised home proves that glass houses are not just for plants.

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The Dune House, Florida

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You wouldn't know it from the outside, but there's a whole house spread out beneath these dunes.

 

Lookout, Scotland

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Looking like a mirrored mirage, this lookout in Trossachs National Park, Scotland has room for three people to sit. 

 

Glass Farm – Netherlands

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The Glass Farm is a shop and office complex disguised as an old farmhouse. Its walls and roof are made of glass.

 

The Desert House, California

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This Joshua Tree estate looks like an armadillo from above. It features a layered roofing structure that protects it from the desert elements. And disguises it pretty well! 

 

Aloni House, Greece

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This villa remains completely hidden unless you know where to look.

 

Lucid Stead, Joshua Tree National Park

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This unique building is designed to look like a mirage, or hallucination.

 

 

Green Box, Italy

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Designers of this garage conversion let nature take hold when it came to decorating the exterior.

 

Rachel Raymond House, Massachusetts

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Eleanor Raymond, a pioneering architect, built this house for her sister in 1931. It was destroyed in 2006 but not forgotten. Pedro Joel Costa, a Portuguese architect, built these magnificent glass paneled masterpiece in its place.

 

Utility Substation, Netherlands

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Utility rooms are often ugly. Roeland Otten, a designer in Rotterdam, came up with this unique way of beautifying and disguising electricity substations and air monitoring control hubs.

 

The Pinnacle, Nashville

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The Pinnacle in Nashville is a 29 story office and retail complex that blends in with the clouds.

 

Mirrorcube, Sweden

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This Treehouse Hotel, in the middle of an untouched forest, is accessible only by a 12 meter long bridge.

 

Cadyville Sauna, Upstate New York

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This sauna was built by architect Dan Hisel. It's built against a cliff, which serves as one of the interior walls. It's also covered in mirrors.

 

Juniper House, Sweden

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This building doesn't depend on mirrors to disguise it. Instead the designers used a photograph of juniper trees that surround the house for its exterior.

 

Invisible Barn, NYC

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Blink, and you'll miss it, because this wooden structure is completely wrapped in reflective film mirroring the nearby trees.

 

Woodpile Studio, Netherlands

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This studio is cleverly designed to blend in with its surrounds, yet open the windows and the recording studio is flooded with natural light.