Meanings
- uncountablearchitectureA style of novelty building where the structure's shape is the direct representation of its function.
... eye-catching buildings sprang up along the roadside, competing for the attention ... And it turns out – they have their own bona fide architectural genre and it’s called Duck architecture!
2020 November 9, Messy Nessy, “An Ode to what they call “Duck Architecture””, in Cabinet of Curiosities1 more example
Longaberger’s basket building still stands ... The towering edifice of Surrealist proportions is a testament to duck architecture at its most direct—and a reminder to would-be and expert architects everywhere to dream big.
2019 January 10, Alexxa Gotthardt, “The Quirky, Endearing Tradition of “Duck” Architecture”, in artsy.net
Origin
From duck + architecture. The term was coined by architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown in 1968; inspired by the original "Big Duck" building in Long Island, New York, built in 1931 to sell ducks and duck eggs.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
duck architecture. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/duck%20architecture
“duck architecture.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/duck%20architecture. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “duck architecture,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/duck%20architecture.
Source: duck architecture on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.