From that to a few hundred thousand inhabitants is quite unusual here.
Google Street View:
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3921571,5.2180409,3a,90y,176...
(look up and down De Realiteit to see many freaky houses)
Polderblik:
Campus (1987) -- Vertical Red Shipping Containers:
https://www.architectuurgidsalmere.nl/almere/campus
Cargo (1987) -- Yellow Porta Potties:
https://www.architectuurgidsalmere.nl/almere/cargo
De Naam van het Huis (1987) -- Half House with Watchtower:
https://www.architectuurgidsalmere.nl/almere/de-naam-van-het...
Circle (1987) -- Circular Hobbit House:
https://www.architectuurgidsalmere.nl/almere/cirkel
Many other weird ones:
https://www.architectuurgidsalmere.nl/almere/meerzicht
https://www.architectuurgidsalmere.nl/almere/macabine
You can see them all and more on the map of this Almere Architecture Guide:
https://www.architectuurgidsalmere.nl/
And there's another road called Aresstraat that contains rows of totally unique houses, reportedly so up-and-coming architects can try out their weird ideas. Here's a funky looking tilted level "House in House" designed by Marc Koehler in 2011, which was just up for sale for around 700,000 EUR.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Aresstraat+21,+1363+VJ+Alm...
(Look up and down Aresstraat at all the different architectural styles! Down the street a bit it flashes back in time to street views from 2009, before most of the neighborhood was even built, showing the wide open sand peppered by a few houses and construction sites.)
https://www.architectuurgidsalmere.nl/almere/house-house?fbc...
>PROJECT ARCHITECT(S): Marc Koehler; CLIENT: Privately; BUILDER: Ubink and Co BV; REALIZATION: 2011
>According to the architect, “House in house” is based on a reinterpretation of a traditional Dutch canal house with an attic. An arrangement of three 'boxes', which accommodate the necessary functions of sleeping, office and entrance, structures the interior space.
>The slanted attic window ensures a striking presence of the house in the streetscape. Here is the sleeping area with skylights to see stars and moon. The floor is placed horizontally, which is visible from the outside. The office is retracted on the first floor, with its own entrance via a spiral staircase. Living takes place in the residual space between the boxes. That space is a route with stairs that spiral upwards. What are usually the landings is here transformed into a series of spacious places, for hobbies, music, watching TV or eating. This design keeps living flexible and dynamic. The house is also equipped for new interpretations that people want to give to the concept of living.
Tour:
I think the architecture has more to do that every individual plot allowed owners their own design & development.
Almere still does quite a bit of that, for instance, it was the first municipality where they allowed 'tiny houses', though, truth be told what they are selling those for you might as well buy a normal house.
https://www.funda.nl/koop/almere/huis-88999896-alseidenstraa...
Almere obviously doesn't have a whole lot of history compared to other Dutch towns, it is quite literally built on 'new land', areas that were turned from water into land in living memory (1950's and 1960's). Almere 'haven' is the oldest part, subsequently Almere has grown in jumps to become the fastest growing and now the 7th largest municipality of the Netherlands.
So this why Almere is the place in NL where there is room for such experimentation. In other Dutch cities it is usually super crowded already and the only places where you can still expand is at the edges, and municipalities tend to be very conservative to help the new areas blend in with the older ones.
I have some family living in Almere, they work on the other side of the bridge so over the years (they have lived there now for 35 years) that took up a lot of commute time, but where they live is child friendly and it is a much nicer house than they would have ever had anywhere else in NL on a much larger lot. But there isn't - even today - a whole lot of life in Almere compared to other Dutch cities and likely this will remain until it is so old that it no longer stands out as the 'newest city'. Second generation citizens of Almere already are much more at home there than those that moved out from Amsterdam (and especially from Bijlmermeer), and with every passing generation that will improve.
But it will be a long time before people will go to Almere to see the city center.
What would really help Almere is a second bridge into Amsterdam but there are many reasons why that likely will not happen in the next 20 years or so. (see: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/IJmeerverbinding (Dutch)).