From the Elephant Building to the ‘Death Star’, architects and developers are going to ever stranger lengths in their efforts to stand out from the crowd. Where will this ridiculousness end?

Castalia, The Hague
Castalia, The Hague - In the Netherlands, this pair of towers is desperate to blend in with its nation’s architectural heritage – not easy when you’re 104 metres tall. Constructed in 1998 using the core of an older building, the renovation added a 35m Dutch gabled roof on each tower – purely for decoration. Home to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, Castalia is more fondly known as ‘the tits’ of Den Haag, thanks to those perky rooftops © Michael Graves Architecture and Design
AlDar Headquarters, Abu Dhabi
AlDar Headquarters, Abu Dhabi - The United Arab Emirates boasts the world’s tallest skyscraper, the 830m Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and now is also home to the world’s first circular skyscraper. No longer restricted to using steel-frame technology to create tall, straight towers, the UAE-based MZ Architects have built a revolutionary ‘stacked dinner plate’ prototype – at a cost of around £1bn © Alamy