This house belongs to Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers. If it feels obscene to mention a house created with pure wealth - Dell's personal fortune was last reported at $20 billion - then it is also worth considering that this house represents one person's ambitious and utterly unique vision for how a home can operate. The footprint is colossal: thirty three thousand square feet, though this is by no means the biggest private home around - apparently it ranks 15th in the world. But the really jawdropping feature is surely the tent, which somehow defines the corporate, office-like outlook of the whole design - it looks like a permanent conference centre. If it were just you and your partner having a drink, it might feel a bit lonely under there.

This is the house of Captain Nemo. No, not really, because Nemo is an invention, like Captain Haddock, but if he did have a house, there's a good chance this would resemble it. This project was dubbed 'The Nautilus House', because of its incorporation into an underwater sea-shell design, and its construction is in ferrocement, which permits the extraordinary organic shapes of its walls and interiors to retain strength as part of the design. Imagine going to sleep - dreaming of life 20,000 leagues under the sea...

This is the house of Leonard Bernstein. That's him on his little moped, just coming home from a gig with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Looks a bit like a CGI effect - but it's real. There's a pool at the bottom of the violin and the piano plays Für Elise when you ring the doorbell. Why can't we all live in our dreams? Well, maybe we should.

Quack-quack! (that's the sound of the door bell). There's not much head room here and it's probably quite dark in there - but the kids will LOVE it!

How cool is that??! Well, would be even cooler if it was a in the shape of a white Gretsch White Falcon electric guitar, but you can't have it all. I wonder if there are actual strings on the roof where you can put up your washing!!