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The twisting 59-storey tower rising up next to Vancouver’s Granville Street Bridge — designed to look like it’s about to fall over — is what some call an “iconic” building.

Created by edgy Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, the nearly finished luxury condominium and office tower stands out among downtown’s congested skyline of highrises, drawing debate and enticing buyers from around the world.

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“Vancouver House” seems to be coming out of a tradition of historic, iconic architecture, which has given us the Taj Mahal in India, St Paul’s Cathedral in London and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

You could also see more recent spectacular edifices as iconic, such as Singapore’s criss-cross “Chain Structure” apartments, Seville’s crustacean-like arts and science centre and Poland’s weirdly wavey “Drunk Hotel.” Not to mention Toronto’s once-avant-garde city hall.

What does it mean to be iconic? As Ray Spaxman, former chief planner for the City of Vancouver, tries to explain: “You either try to be iconic because you want to stand out, or you are iconic because you stand out.”