The best unconventional places and buildings in Singapore

Take a walk down Beach Road, and you'll think your eyes are playing tricks on you. Depending on your angle of vision, these twin skyscrapers built in the early 1990s also doubles as an optical illusion. Both towers are built in trapezoidal shapes, which gives the illusion of being "paper-thin" when viewed from certain angles.

Marina One looks like it came right out of a sci-fi film. In fact, it was a filming location for Westworld Season 3. The mixed-use building is a stunning piece of architecture surrounded by foliage and lush greenery (you'll even find man-made waterfalls here). At the core of the building is a spectacular five-meter high space sculpture which brings to life the unique shape of the "Marina One" buildings. 

With its bright, attention-grabbing hues, the House of Tan Teng Niah stands out as the superstar building of Tekka Lane. Built in 1900, this kaleidoscopic sweet digs – complete with eight rooms – is the last surviving Chinese villa in Little India. It belonged to the towkay Tan Teng Niah before restoration and conservation in the 1980s for commercial use. Now, it's an eye-catching backdrop fit for the 'gram.    

A first of its kind in Singapore, this museum resembles a massive Rollei camera and holds the distinction of being the world's biggest camera-shaped building. Boasting a repository of over 1000 vintage cameras, the museum has everything from novel old-school spy cameras – think James Bond – to pistol cameras on display. Besides equipment, the museum also showcases retro photographs, interesting nuggets on photography, and an authentic replica of the first-ever picture taken on a camera.

Resembling a typewriter from the bird's eye view, the 16-storey terraced Brutalist building was once hailed an architectural and cultural marvel, especially in the 1970s when the architectural style made waves around the world. Over the years, and a lot of paint coats later, its future is still uncertain. Still, take the chance to check out this monolith, and then get a plate of pad thai from one of its many Thai eateries after.

We wouldn't expect anything less from Lasalle College of the Arts. A work of art in itself, the institution is designed in a way that greets visitors with a black monolithic exterior of stone and aluminium that looks contorted. This illusion then disappears as visitors enter the building to find more seven-storey-high buildings that are connected by an atrium and sky bridges, which capture an overall natural landscape.

Widely and fondly known as 'the Gotham building' by locals, Parkview Square is an Art Deco monolith in a sea of buildings. Designed by Singapore’s DP Architects and James Adams Design of USA, the majestic exterior screams luxury with bronze, granite and glass. Take a walk in the courtyard before entering the building and you'll find yourself acquainted with bronze effigies of Salvador Dalí, Mozart, Isaac Newton, Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, Shakespeare, Plato, Dante, Winston Churchill and Albert Einstein. The ostentatiousness doesn't end there. Inside, the grandeur of Atlas Bar will be the first thing you notice. The bar is dedicated to gin, and stocks hundreds of rare or limited edition varieties within a three-storey-tall tower that dominates the space.

Love it or hate it, The Interlace is a mind-boggling, if not fascinating sight in the Alexandra neighbourhood. Resembling Jenga blocks, the condominium features 31 six-storey blocks irregularly stacked on each other. The spaces between each block are then used for the condo amenities like lush roof gardens, swimming pools, tennis courts and courtyards.   

What looks like a massive terrarium is in fact a natural history museum that houses a dinosaur fossil, a sperm whale skeleton, the only specimen of the largest species of turtle ever recorded, and an Asian Brown Flycatcher specimen collected by the famed British naturalist Alfred Wallace himself. The gallery is perfect for anyone interested in wildlife – but not the legwork it involves. Sixteen zones display specimens that run the gamut of plants, fungi, mammals, dinosaurs and more. Surrounding the museum are four gardens such as the Phylogenetic garden, which charts the evolution of plants and habitats. The other gardens – themed after mangroves, swamps and dryland forests – feature plants that are unique to these habitats.

Even on an intense hike, you can also appreciate great architecture. The wave-shaped 36-metre pedestrian bridge connecting Mount Faber Park to Telok Blangah Hill Park is the best place for you to take a breather from the walking and climbing and take in the views from the bridge. 

Designed by Daniel Libeskind who also created the masterplan of the World Trade Center Memorial, Reflections @ Keppel Bay is a futuristic glass masterpiece complete with elegant curves and forms that sits pretty by the bay. The rooftop gardens of the luxury waterfront residential complex also offer the best panoramic views of Mount Faber and Sentosa.

Responsible for childhood nightmares since its opening in 1937, this weird and wonderful park is home to gaudy and garish statues depicting scenes, stories and morals from Taoism, Buddhism and Chinese beliefs. The main attraction is the infamous Ten Courts of Hell where small-scale tableaux show human sinners being punished in multiple methods, down to the gory and graphic detail. It’s a safe bet that you will never see anything like it anywhere else.