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Architecture

EcoLogicStudio's 430-square-foot gazebo, called the Urban Algae Folly, is on display at the Expo 2015 world's fair in Milan.

Will Buildings of the Future Be Cloaked In Algae?

Built by a London architecture firm, a new gazebo has a living “skin” that produces oxygen and absorbs considerable amounts of carbon dioxide

The World’s Largest Picture Frame?

The government of Dubai is taking this abstract structure to the next level

More than 3,000 lights adorned Ferris' wheel.

The Brief History of the Ferris Wheel

Originally the American answer to the Eiffel Tower, the summertime amusement became a hallmark of summer fun

The sewer museum in Paris.

Urban Explorations

Urine for a Treat With a Tour of These Five Sewer Systems

Tunnels, drains and other wastewater structures to explore, from ancient Rome to present-day New York

Trending Today

In Three Years the Freedom Tower Will no Longer be America’s Tallest Building

New York’s Nordstrom Tower will be 1,795 feet tall

Umami Concepts, a fully stocked kitchen in Hong Kong, can be rented for an evening.

For Your Next Party, Rent a Kitchen the Size of Your Apartment

With living space shrinking, urbanites are paying for kitchen space to host special occasions

Future of Energy

6 Projects That Make a Sustainable Future Seem Possible

From an algae-powered building to a playground of recycled steel drums, these spots give designers, urban planners and others hope

The rugged northwest coast of the island of Tristan. Winds and waves are so rough that many of past inhabitants were shipwrecked sailors who drifted ashore.

Redesigning the World’s Most Remote Human Settlement

Why architects are hosting a competition to help inhabitants keep living there—and how you can visit

A 3D visualization of the Three-Eyed Raven concept.

The Set Designer From Game of Thrones Hints at What’s to Come in Season Five

Production Designer Deborah Riley discusses the influences behind the intricate and imposing sets of the hit HBO show

The yurt, a portable, circular hut, has been a part of Central Asian nomadic culture for centuries. During the Soviet era, metal was abundant and cheap, so metallic yurts frequent Kyrgyzstan ancestral cemeteries. An Islamic crescent tops this yurt, and a Kyrgyz hunting eagle spreads its wings in the background.

Kyrgyzstan’s Otherworldly Cities of the Dead

Photographer Margaret Morton traveled to the remote corners of the Central Asian nation to document its city-like ancestral cemeteries

In an eerie green hue, this upside-down Medusa head threatens to turn onlookers to stone. The color seems to come partly from a slick covering of algae.

Europe

Two Eerie Medusa Heads Watch Over Turkey’s Waterways

Why the Greek monster stares out from an ancient cistern in Istanbul

The newfound ruins could outshine their neighbor, the underground city of Derinkuyu (pictured).

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unfold World’s Largest Underground City in Turkey

Archaeologists find evidence to believe a site just discovered in 2012 could be a complex subsurface labyrinth

This structure serves as everything from a climbing wall to a bench to a meditation space.

This Week in Crowdfunding

A Bus Stop Climbing Wall and Other Wild Ideas That Just Got Funded

Unbreakable shoelaces? They come in stylish colors and patterns

Palazzo Italia

Smog-Eating Buildings Battle Air Pollution

Sunlight triggers chemical reactions in the façades of buildings in Mexico City and Milan to improve air quality

Houston's futuristic Astrodome is home of the first skybox and an animated scoreboard,150 yards wide.

Remembering the Astrodome, the Eighth Wonder of the World

Fifty years after its grand opening, the spectre of the Houston stadium still looms large

This particularly charming street in Colmar, France looks straight out of a fairy tale.

The 11 Most Endearing Small Streets Worth Visiting

These tiny corridors around the world invite you in with their charm and surprising level of bustle

A TV tower on Burnt Island in Fife, Scotland, reaches just 410 feet -- but others of its kind top 2,000

Cool Finds

The Fourth Tallest Man-made Structure Isn’t a Building at All

TV towers and power station chimneys are some less well-known record-breakers in the history of super-tall structures

This Dutch Wind Wheel Is Part Green Tech Showcase, Part Architectural Attraction

A giant structure proposed in Rotterdam puts cutting-edge energy tech inside a rotating observation wheel, with room for a hotel and apartments

Someone Built a Bold New Font Out of Buildings

Created out of aerial photography, you’ll never guess where the “O” comes from

Exterior of Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings Nominated for Unesco World Heritage Status

It’s the first time the United States has nominated works of modern architecture

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