Oddball offices

Nationale-Nederlanden, Prague

The warped and seemingly melting Nationale-Nederlanden building is located in Downtown Prague on the corner of the Rasinovo Nabrezi Embankment and Resslova Street. The building is more widely known as the 'Dancing House' as its shape is said to replicate a woman and man dancing together. Some believe it's the legendary dance duo, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.

Before the construction of the current buildign the narrow lot housed a Neo-Renaissance style residence at the end of the 19th century. In 1945, the house was destroyed by bombings and its remains were finally removed in 1960. In its dust, the Dutch bank ING teamed up with world-renowned architect Frank Gehry and Czech architect Vlado Milunic and started construction on the site. With an unlimited budget, they were told to create something unique and iconic.

The construction of the final form began in 1994 and was finished in 1996. The end product is what architects describe as deconstructivist architecture and is a particularly unusual sight wedged between Prague's historic architecture. The building is made up of 99 concrete panels, each a different shape and size, which create the building's unique form. While the main building is currently occupied by offices, the top floor houses Celeste Restaurant, where diners can enjoy views over the river and of Prague castle.

City Hall, London

The unusual bulbous City Hall is located on the South Bank of the River Thames near Tower Bridge.

Designed by Lord Norman Foster, the £54 million (Dh314.75 million) building houses the headquarters of the Greater London Authority. Famously referred to by London mayor Boris Johnson as 'The Onion', its unusual shape has brought it into the limelight.

Standing at 45m and just 10 storeys high, City Hall is one of the most energy-efficient and sustainable structures in the capital. The curved exterior improves the energy efficiency of the building by reducing its overall surface area.

The inclination of the south face of the structure provides natural shading. Other energy saving features include the use of artesian well-water pumped from 65m below ground surface to provide all building air conditioning. There are also energy efficient cladding panels and recycled building materials throughout the structure. The shape also ensures natural ventilation and the heat generated by computers and lights is recycled.

The deep-plan floors allow for the collection of heat at the building's core, which can then be redirected to its periphery, eliminating the need for chillers in the building during the summer months. Just inside the main entrance is a helical stairway that leads up to the top floors of the building.

The unusual design, which can also be seen in one of Lord Foster's other buildings, the Reichstag (parliament) in Germany, has been done to promote transparency. At the centre of the staircase is an enlarged photograph of Greater London. The top floor is occupied with a viewing deck that is occasionally open to the public. The building is part of the larger riverside development More London. The area encompasses offices and shops and a sunken amphitheatre which is used throughout summer for free open air performances.

BMW office, Munich

This futuristic cube-shaped building in Munich has served as the headquarters for BMW for the past 30 years. The building, designed by Austrian architect, Karl Schwanzer, was built between 1968 and 1972 and was finished just in time for the summer Olympics held in Munich that year. An extensive remodelling of the building commenced in 2004 and was completed in 2006. The tower features four vertical cylinders which were originally constructed on the ground before being erected. The unusual exterior, which stands at 331ft tall, is said to mimic the shape of a race car's tyre. Out of the 22 floors of the building, 18 offer office space.

Manchester Civil Justice Centre

Standing at 17 storeys and 262ft, the Manchester Civil Justice Centre is located in the Spitalfields district of Manchester. The relatively new building was constructed in 2007 and houses the Manchester courts.

At a cost of £160 million (Dh932.89 million), the structure was designed by Australian architect Denton Corker Marshall.

The building has gone on to win a number of awards for its sustainability credentials, engineering design and striking architecture. These include the 2008 Royal Institute of British Architects National Awards, the 2008 Project of the Year Building Awards (organised by the leading magazine, Building) and the 2007 Major Project of the Year Green Construction Awards.

The building is famous for its lengthened 'fingers', or the intermittent floors that stick out further than the lower levels. It is one of the biggest court complexes in the UK along with the Royal Courts of Justice in London. The centre features 47 court rooms, an 11-storey atrium and a spectacular 63m x 60m cavity glass wall along the western edge. A natural ventilation system in the building is designed to maximise free cooling potential. An intelligent management system triggers a back-up forced ventilation system if the wind speed is too low for the wind-powered system to function. Other features include an 'environmental veil' on the east façade that controls solar gain but also maximises natural daylight and groundwater cooling, this alone reduces cooling load energy consumption by around 15% to 20%.