‘Vertical Forest’ in Chinese Residential Complex Becomes Mosquito-Infested Jungle
The Qiyi City Forest Garden residential complex in Chengdu, China, was supposed to be a green paradise for its residents, but two years on, the vertical forest concept has turned into a nightmare. Continue reading »
Freddy Mamani’s New Andean Architecture Adds Colour to Bolivian City
Bolivian architect Freddy Mamani is aiming to imbue culture, colour and personality into the “monochrome” city of El Alto, through buildings based on ancient local architecture and craft.
The architect has strived to slowly transform El Alto with his colourful architecture, as seen in these photographs. Continue reading »
Home Office from The Future Past: Maurice-Claude Vidili’s Sphère D’isolation, Model No. S2
This iconic and multifunctional piece emblematic of futuristic 1970s design presents with a solid white shell within which two benches and a shelving unit are incorporated. When seen in person, the lighting system presents with a slightly cooler, whiter light than pictured in the catalogue photography. Continue reading »
A Businessman Built a Real ‘Hogwarts’ School in The Russian City of Yekaterinburg
Russian businessman Andrey Simanovsky presented the facade design of School No. 106 in Yekaterinburg, which he has been repairing for six years. Simanovsky is a graduate of this school, and his father, as E1.ru writes, participated in the construction of the building, which was completed in 1958. Continue reading »
This Underwater Observatory in Lake Zug in Switzerland Looks Like a Real Life ‘Truman Show’ Door
On the shore of Switzerland’s Lake Zug lies a door.. that takes you down a flight of stairs.. to an underwater observatory where you (apparently) can’t see much. Continue reading »
Amazing Then-and-Now Photos Show How London Has Changed From Between the 1920s and 2010s
Charlwood Street
The 1920s in Britain, also known as the ‘Roaring Twenties’, was a decade of contrasts. The First World War had ended in victory, peace had returned and with it, prosperity. Continue reading »
Latin American Architecture Firm Gómez Platero Has Unveiled a Design for A Circular Monument in Uruguay to Remember Coronavirus Victims
The proposed World Memorial to the Pandemic is a large sculpture designed to be installed on water off the coast of Uruguay.
Designed by Gómez Platero, it is intended to offer visitors a sensorial experience and safe place to reflect and remember victims of Covid-19. If built, it will be the first large-scale memorial to do so, according to the studio. Continue reading »
17th Century Italian Wine Windows, Which Were Used During the Plague, Are Open Again Due to The Coronavirus Pandemic
Small wine windows, or buchette del vino as they’re known in Italian, were used in Florence during the Italian Plague so palaces could sell off surplus wine without touching the lower classes. Hundreds of years later, innovative Florentines have reopened wine windows to dispense everything from coffee to cocktails in a COVID-friendly way. Continue reading »
The New Apple Store In Thailand Looks Like A Vortex Of Wood
Tech giant Apple has unveiled ‘Apple Central World’, their newest location in Bangkok, Thailand. Continue reading »
“Eighth Wonder Of The World”: The Sacred Orthodox Rock Church Of Saint George In Lalibela, Ethiopia
The Church of Saint George was carved downwards from a type of volcanic tuff. This is the sole architectural material that was used in the structure. It has been dated to the late 12th or early 13th century AD, and thought to have been constructed during the reign of King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela, of the late Zagwe dynasty. Continue reading »
Stunning Photographs Of The Old Cincinnati Library Before Being Demolished, 1874-1955
One of the large cast-iron book alcoves that lined the Main Hall.
Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County
Built in 1874 on the site reserved for an opera house, the Old Cincinnati Library was a thing of wonder. With five levels of cast iron shelving, a fabulous foyer, checker board marble floors and an atrium lit by a skylight ceiling, the place was breathtaking. Unfortunately that magnificent maze of books is now lost forever. Continue reading »
This House Is Currently Listed for $828K In Queens, NY Right Now
You might be thinking, “that looks quite nice!”. I thought that too, but then I ventured into the photo gallery to get a look at the interior and oh noooooooooo. Continue reading »
Russian Couple Build Pyramid Of Giza Replica In Their Rural Backyard
A couple from Istinka, a small village located 12 kilometres outside St Petersburg, Russia, have built a concrete replica of the Great Pyramid of Giza right in their own backyard. Continue reading »
A Unique Accent Wall Was Made By Filling A Metal Cage With Walnuts
Yerce Architecture together with ZAAS has created a unique accent wall that’s located in the home office of a loft apartment. Continue reading »
Stunning Photos Of The Notre Dame Cathedral Covered By Sandbags During The World War I
Notre-Dame de Paris (meaning “Our Lady of Paris”), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral was consecrated to the Virgin Mary and considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. Continue reading »
French Photographer Jason Guilbeau Outsmarted Lockdown To Find The Former USSR’s Strangest Street Relics
French photographer Jason Guilbeau has used Google Street View to virtually navigate Russia and the former USSR, searching for examples of a forgotten Soviet empire. Continue reading »
The Twin Towers During The 1970s And Early ’80s Through Fascinating Photos
The original World Trade Center was a large complex of seven buildings in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. It opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. Continue reading »
Just Before It Was Destroyed By Fire, These Amazing Photos Captured The Cliff House In The Early 1900s
The famous Cliff House of San Francisco was built in 1863 by Senator John Buckley and C. C. Butler. Later it was turned into a restaurant with a breathtaking view. Continue reading »
Las Pozas: The Surrealistic Wonderland Hidden in the Middle Of The Jungle
After losing 20,000 orchids in an unseasonal frost, “extravagant” Englishman Edward James turned to his real love, surrealism, and rebuilt his garden in rock and concrete. Continue reading »
Hundreds Of Rainbow Glass Panels Emit A Rotating Kaleidoscope In A Playful Chinese Kindergarten
Building, a kaleidoscope, a whimsical project reminiscent of Wes Anderson’s films. Kindergarten by SAKO Architects is located in Tianshui, China and features 483 pieces of colored glass. It wasn’t applied just to windows but also doors and handrails inside the building. Minimalist in its form, these are the colors that offer a truly dreamy experience with a little help of natural sunlight. Continue reading »
This Underground Shelter From The 1970s Was Just Listed For $18 Million
The Cold War period was an intense one. Many were living in fear of an approaching war and the statistics tell that by 1960, almost 70 percent of American adults thought that nuclear war was impending. By the mid-1960s, an estimated 200,000 shelters were built—but it’s only a rough estimate. It’s hard to know the exact numbers because “people didn’t talk.” Continue reading »
Amazing Photographs Documented Victorian Houses Moving In San Francisco In The 1970s
There was once a time when San Francisco’s Victorian architecture was not as highly respected and esteemed as it is today. In the mid-1970s the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency stopped the wholesale destruction of venerable Victorian buildings. Instead, they picked them up and moved them around the neighborhood. Continue reading »
Incredible Photographs From The Construction Of The Forth Railway Bridge, A 19th Century Engineering Marvel
Spanning 541 meters over the Firth of Forth, Edinburgh’s Forth Railway Bridge became the longest cantilever bridge in the world when the future King Edward VII drove its final “golden” rivet on March 4, 1890. Its length was surpassed a few decades later by the Quebec Bridge in Canada, completed in 1919, but the Forth Bridge still holds second place, and remains an incredible feat of engineering. Continue reading »
This Fire Station In Italy Looks Like A Supervillain’s Secret Base
Jürgen Eheim, Ullrich Egger, and Günter Richard Wett
Recently, this fire station in the northern part of Italy went viral. Despite having been built a decade ago, it started gaining more and more attention after one person on Reddit compared it to a villain hideout. We must admit, though, it does look sort of villainy. But it wasn’t built inside a cave just for the sake of Bond movie aesthetics. As the farmable land in the Alps is scarce and the restrictions on non-traditional architecture are rigid, the architects have come up with an ingenious solution. Continue reading »
Domestikator: This Stunning Sculpture Looks Like Two Buildings Having Sex
Dutch artist Joep van Lieshout’s Domestikator, a model of a modernist building that happens to be shaped like a man penetrating a dog, makes me worry that I offered the wrong advice. Raunchy art in the adult and sophisticated context of a gallery – if necessary with warnings about its content – is one thing. Obscenity in public space where people of all ages will see it without making any choice to do so is another. Continue reading »
