Towers gonna tower, at least for a while. Just like rust, however, gravity never sleeps and these ten tipsy towers will sooner or later have a rude awakening.

We see your Leaning Tower of Pisa and raise you San Michele degli Scalzi, the Leaning Church of Pisa. No doubt the builders of San Michele degli Scalzi weren’t out to compete with the infamously tilted icon but given enough time (the church dates from the 11th century) and considering the Pisa region’s notoriously waterlogged soil, deviation from the straight and narrow was pretty much inevitable. Kudos to Flickr members Charlie Handsome and Fabio Di Lupo for the above images of the church snapped in 2013 and 2007, respectively.

Oberkirche of Bad Frankenhausen, Germany

The church of Our Dear Lady at the Mountain (known as the Oberkirche or “Upper Church”) in Bad Frankenhausen, Germany, was built in 1382. By the 17th century the spire had already begun to lean, a consequence of sinkholes in the area caused by centuries of salt mining.

The spire continues to lean by about 2.4 inches annually, a tilt greater than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. With that said, it’s still not the leaning-est church in Germany – the Suurhusen Church holds that dubious honor. Credit Flickr members Groundgopping Merseburg (fchmksfkc) and michimaya for capturing this outstanding (if not entirely upstanding) leaning tower.

Campanile of Santo Stefano, Venice, Italy

The campanile (“tower”) of the Church of Santo Stefano in Venice was built in 1544 and like so many historic Venetian construction projects, soon ran into difficulties related to the city’s watery substrate – a problem that’s grown more, er, problematic as time goes by.

Flickr member KE1TH (etowahboy) visited Venice and snapped the leaning tower from various angles in the summer of 2008. Good on him for not posing with an upraised hand.

Leaning Tower of Torun, Poland

The Polish city of Torun is partially surrounded by brick walls and watchtowers dating back to the 14th century. This leaning tower was intended to be a strong point of the fortress wall but began leaning shortly after it was built due to loamy ground underfoot.

Many parts of the city walls were demolished in the 19th century yet this oddly tilted tower was left unscathed – good news for modern-day Torun’s tourist industry. Flickr members Monika Kostera and Flitshans snapped the tower from opposite sides of the wall in 2012.

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Dire Straights 10 More Tilted Leaning Towers

Heavy structures seem to hover in mid-air, supported only by spindly poles or narrow beams of concrete. Towers lean toward the ground at alarming angles. Narrow houses jut out over cliffs. Whether cantilevered, tilted or strangely stacked, these 14 buildings sometimes seem physically impossible.

Perched Partition by Niizeki Studio

In response to a narrow 2.5-meter-wide space crammed between two neighboring buildings, Japanese architects Niizeki Studio created a metal volume perched on a slice of concrete. The result is a hovering home that feels separate from the structures around it, and maintains an open space at the ground level. The cantilevered portion of the home is connected to a more grounded volume in the rear of the property.

Hypo Alpe-Adria Bank Creates its Own Shade

Unlike a certain other infamous building in Italy, the Hypo Alpe-Adria Bank leans at a dramatic angle on purpose. The passive solar design tilts the entire building 14 degrees to the south so the upper portion provides shade to the lower portion.

Cubic Houses by Piet Blom

It’s more than a little disorienting to gaze up at Rotterdam’s Cubic Houses from ground level – not only does it seem as if these geometric volumes are going to come tumbling down off their perches, they’re also tilted at such unusual angles that it’s difficult to picture what the interiors look like. Architect Piet Blom took inspiration from Le Corbusier in designing a complex that elevates inhabitable volumes on narrow trunks to give residents great views while maintaining open space on ground level.

Balancing Barn by MVRDV

The gleaming metal Balancing Barn by MVRDV looks more like a sculpture than an actual house, but this seemingly teetering vacation rental in the English countryside is quite comfortable inside. The architects describe it as “boldly designed to provoke a gut response to architecture and nature over a short stay.”

CCTV Headquarters by OMA

At 75 meters (246 feet), the cantilevered portion of the jaw-dropping CCTV Headquarters building is as wide as many skyscrapers are tall, and it’s supported only by two leaning towers. It’s hard for anyone without a pretty good grasp o advanced engineering techniques to understand how the whole thing doesn’t just topple over.

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Balancing Buildings 14 Gravity Defying Structures

Many of the most densely-populated cities in the world reside along bodies of water, from canals and sounds to seas and oceans. Beyond merely extending solid ground, this three-island project creates new mobile infrastructure right out on the waves.

In the case of Seoul, the Han River (spanned only by periodic fast-paced bridges) splits the city down the middle. To bridge the gap, this bold new project by New York firm H Architecture establishes institutional uses stunning in architectural style and engineering audacity. Each island  floats on pontoons, carefully anchored against gravity, wind and water loads, capable of withstanding monsoons.

ArchDaily summarizes the scope of the project: “Programmatically, the islands contain several cultural, educational, and recreational functions. They will be the venue for many featured events in the city. The design concept stems from the stages of a blooming flower: a seed, bud, and blossom. Each of the islands take on the form of one of these stages, manifesting as delicate yet bold structures of glass, wood, and steel.”

The smallest island (Terra) revolves around water sports, with club rooms, rooftop terraces and water slides. The next island (Viva) takes entertainment up a level, with performance and exhibit spaces. The largest (Vista) features a huge indoor space for festivals, concerts and plays. Together, they also add visual interest, both day and night, to this heretofore untapped source of potential skyline.