Are These Viral Images of Bizarre Houses Even Real?
Most of the images are either designed by artists or are real buildings that are not the work of Michael Jantzen.
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CLAIM
A viral message with images of bizarre houses claims that they have been built by architect Michael Jantzen.
The message has been shared extensively on WhatsApp and Facebook.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The claim in the message is false. Most of the images are either created by visual artists or architects who work on hypothetical concepts. Some of them are actual buildings, but not the work of Michael Jantzen.
WHAT WE FOUND
The original works of Michael Jantzen can be found on his site. The buildings in the viral message are not on his site, except for the following images (these are on the website, but are not real houses):
A reverse image search leads us to Michael Jantzen’s website that has links to all of his works. These images are part of a series of photo collages, “Deconstructing the Houses.”
The description states, “Sections of the photos are simply rotated out of their normal positions relative to the whole image in order to create the illusion of fragmentation, and then reconstructed into a new hybrid image.”
The rest of the images are either designed by artists or are real buildings that are not the work of Jantzen.
Image 1
A reverse image search in Yandex led us to Pinterest pages with the same image that claimed Jonathan Besler, a graphic artist, had made these pictures.
A search on Besler’s official Facebook page, Jonathan Besler Photo, led us to the original image. The image was created in Autodesk 3ds Max 2011, a software used for design visualisation. On InterfaceLIFT, a site that sells wallpaper, Besler writes, “I wanted to create a fantastic house on a cliff in the sea. This is the result.”
Image 2
A reverse image search led us to Behance account, In-Nature of Hugh Marentes, whose watermark can also be found on the image. Behance is a site that hosts creative works of artists and Marentes is an environment artist and concept designer.
A Google search of Marentes led us to his Instagram account, where the original image can be found.
Image 3
A reverse image search on Yandex reveals the name of the original creator of the image, Wael Mustafa, for Schema 7 Architects.
The post on Schema 7 Architect’s Facebook page calls it “A Future Home on Tyre Shore” and says, “schema seven set out a new concept design of a splendid house on a very steep cliff. The future house might be constructed on the rocky area named Al-Bayada on Tyre Sea shore.”
Image 4
A reverse image search on Yandex reveals the name of the original creator, Dionisio Gonzales.
A Google search of Gonzales led us to this website. We were able to find the design under the images section “Dauphin” which contains images of hypothetical houses for the future. The image in the viral message has been cropped out of the original image.
Image 5
A reverse image search led us to the Flickr account of Amalia Sieber, who took this picture in Kenai Fjords, Alaska. There’s no evidence to suggest that Michael Jantzen designed the house.
Image 6
A reverse image search led us to the name of the company Modscape who focus on concept and design. The image titled Cliff House can be found on their site.
The site describes it as “a theoretical response to clients who have approached Modscape to explore design options for building modular homes in Australia on extreme parcels of coastal land.”
Image 7
A reverse image search with the keywords, “Norway fjord house,” led us to the original image in Adobe stock photos by photographer, Ivan Kmit. A cropped image has been used in the message.
Image 8
A revere image search with the keywords “Turkish mountain homes” led us to the original image on featurepics, a site that sells images.
These houses were built in the historical region of Cappadocia. The rock formations were created by volcanic eruptions, erosion, and wind, centuries ago.
Image 9
A reverse image search reveals the name of a resort, Keemala in Phuket, Thailand. A Google search of Keemala led us to various hotel booking sites as well as Keemala’s official site. The original picture of their “Bird’s Nest Pool Villa” is available on their site.
The resort was designed by Thailand-based architecture firm, Architect Space.
Image 10
A reverse image search led us to Pinterest accounts that tagged the image to Hobbiton Movie Set in Matamata, New Zealand. Similar images can be found on the website for the movie set tours.
Image 11
A reverse image search led us to the image, titled Moonglow, clicked by photographer, Gavin Hardcastle who owns the website, Fototripper, the logo of which can also be seen on the image.
The image is of the Emerald Lake Lodge, in Yoho National Park, Canada. The website states that Pat & Connie O’Connor purchased Emerald Lake Lodge in 1979.
Image 12
This image is also of the Emerald Lake Lodge in Canada. A reverse image search led us to several accounts on Pinterest and a Facebook page, Architecture & Design, which attribute the image to photographer, Jonathan Coe.
Image 13
A reverse image search with keywords, “Iceland Lighthouse” led us to an article in Iceland Monitor, an Icelandic news site. The article states that the image was clicked by photographer Árni Sæberg of the Þrídrangaviti lighthouse in 2009. Þrídrangaviti, is located in the Westman Islands and around six miles from the shore. It was built before the beginning of World War II. It also known as Thridrangar Lighthouse and its images can be found on its Facebook page as well.
Image 14
A reverse image search led us to an Instagram page, “archilovers” that attributes to the image to Beyond the Edge, Sagres, 2016 | Project by Atelier Monolit
Atelier Monolit works on visualization and design. The image can be found in their Work section. “Beyond the Edge” is their proposal for an international architecture competition.
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