The Great Ziggurat of Ur: The Ancient Monument of Mesopotamia

The Great Ziggurat of Ur (Ziggurat Etemenniguru) is the best-preserved temple complex in ancient Mesopotamia (Iraq). It was constructed early in the 21st century BC (about 2047 BC) in the city of Ur by the local kings Ur Nammu and Shulgi. The Ekishnugal Sanctuary was built to honour the lunar god Nanna. In the following years, it was restored several times and was substantially expanded by the New Babylonian king Nabonidus.

The Great Ziggurat of Ur, or Ziggurat Etemenniguru, is one of the best-known surviving monuments of ancient Mesopotamia.

House on the Rock Wisconsin

House on the Rock in Wisconsin is one of the strangest architectural attractions in the United States. Perched on a natural chimney of rock near Spring Green, Wisconsin, this extraordinary complex began as a private retreat and gradually grew into a substantial collection of unusual rooms, galleries, mechanical displays, gardens and curiosities. 

The House on the Rock rises above the wooded landscape near Spring Green, Wisconsin.

Park Güell Barcelona: Gaudí’s Colorful Masterpiece

Park Güell, high above Barcelona, is more like a dream made of stone, tile, and plants than a regular city park. One of Antoni Gaudí's most famous works, the park is filled with colourful mosaics, unusual columns, and imaginative buildings along its winding paths.

The famous mosaic dragon welcomes visitors near the main entrance.

The Circus, Bath: Georgian Architecture in England

Bath has plenty of impressive old buildings, but The Circus is unusual even by the city’s standards. Walk into its circular space, and you’ll find yourself surrounded by a sweeping line of Georgian houses, with stone façades, classical columns, and carved details at almost every turn.

The Circus in Bath is a celebrated Georgian development of curved townhouses designed by John Wood the Elder and completed by his son.

Prairie Observatory: The Abandoned Telescope Site in Illinois

Hidden among the quiet farmland near Oakland, Illinois, Prairie Observatory once played a small but fascinating role in American astronomy. Built by the University of Illinois in the late 1960s, the observatory housed a powerful 40-inch telescope that gave astronomers a chance to study stars, planets, galaxies, and other objects beneath the darker skies of rural Illinois. For a place that operated for only about thirteen years, it left behind a surprisingly rich scientific record.

Abandoned Illinois

The Corn Palace: Mitchell, South Dakota’s Unique Landmark

The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, is the kind of building that makes people stop and look twice. Its exterior is decorated with enormous pictures made from corn and other agricultural materials, turning an ordinary city building into an unusual work of public art. The murals change with the years, so the building visitors see today may look quite different from the one photographed a few summers earlier.

The Corn Palace in Mitchell is renowned for its changing murals made from corn and other agricultural materials.

Casa de las Conchas Salamanca: Spain's House of Shells

In the old streets of Salamanca, Spain, a historic mansion stands out for a decoration few buildings can match: rows of carved scallop shells covering its stone facade. Known as Casa de las Conchas, or the House of Shells, this remarkable building is more than a photogenic landmark. Its walls preserve clues to the ambitions, family alliances, and artistic tastes of late-15th-century Spain.

The distinctive scallop-shell facade of Casa de las Conchas in Salamanca, Spain.

The House Between The Rocks, Castel Meur

Castel Meur is also known as La Maison du Gouffre, which means "The house between the rocks". This building is hardly a castle, but it is sometimes called the Castle of Meur. It is a small house, sandwiched by two large fragments of rocks on the rocky coast of France.

The house between the rocks

Floating Houses in IJburg, Amsterdam

Floating Houses in IJburg, Amsterdam — IJburg is a neighbourhood in the capital of the Netherlands that is fascinating from an architectural perspective. It was raised on a surface reclaimed from the water only a few years ago. Today, this neighbourhood comprises three artificial islands, Steigereiland, Haveneiland, and Rieteilanden, located on Lake IJmeer, east of the Dutch city. Bridges interconnect the islands, and IJburg is a quarter of an hour by tram from Central Station.

Vietnamese Turned A Five-Storey House Into A Vertical garden

Vietnamese turned a five-storey house into a vertical garden, located in the Dong Da district of Hanoi. This is one of the most exclusive landmarks in the Vietnamese capital: a 5-storey building completely covered by a bright green curtain. The so-called "living building" of Hanoi is the work of Prof. Dr. Hoang Nhu Tang, a former professor at the University of Civil Engineering in Hanoi and a resident of this unique building. It all started 30 years ago, in 1990, when it was one of the tallest buildings in the region, which basically meant that there was almost no shelter from the scorching sun during the summer. 

Located in deep Phuong Mai dormitory, Dong Da district, Hanoi, Vietnam. Source

A modern interpretation of a traditional Dutch manor | Ossip van Duivenbode

Villa Vught is a small private residence designed by Mecanoo and built in 2019 in the countryside, near the town of Vught, North Brabant Province, the Netherlands. The ensemble of three houses, covering an area of ​​683 square metres, resembles a small village. The buildings are located around the courtyard, similar to how houses were erected in traditional Dutch farms, where the central space was open to the landscape on one side and protected by buildings. All three structures have different shapes and perform different functions. Two of them follow the shape of gable sheds with gable roofs typical of this region. They are directly connected to the surrounding garden.

Intermodal Container Building in Johannesburg

Intermodal Container Building in Johannesburg → The project of a non-standard residential complex, Drivelines Studios, was developed by the Italian-American architectural studio LOT-EK and implemented in 2017 in the business centre of Maboneng in Johannesburg, South Africa. The seven-storey house, covering 6968 square metres, is built from 140 old sea containers and consists of two separate volumes, each made up of identical containers stacked on top of each other. 

Waldspirale, The U-shaped Green Roof Residential Building in Germany

Waldspirale, the residential building complex in Darmstadt, Germany, was built in the 1990s. The name translates into English as forest spiral, reflecting both the general plan of the building and the fact that it has a green roof. It was designed by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, planned and implemented by architect Heinz M. Springmann, and constructed by the Bauverein Darmstadt company. The building was completed in 2000. This green roof complex has 105 apartments and residential and commercial parking for the cafe and bar, the last two being located at the top of the spiral. The inner courtyard contains a playground for the children of the residents and a small artificial lake.

Sathorn Unique Tower: Bangkok’s Famous Ghost Tower

Bangkok is a city that is constantly changing. New towers appear almost overnight, traffic streams through the streets below, and the skyline keeps changing. However, among all those polished high-rises, one enormous concrete shell has remained strangely out of place for decades.

Ghost Tower Bangkok

Tulou, Ancient Earthen Complexes of China

Tulou is a kind of earthen house, built by the Hakka and Minnan peoples in the mountainous and rural areas of southeastern China, mainly in the province of Fujian. They were mostly built between the 12th and the 20th centuries. Tulou is a powerful, multi-storey home, usually circular in shape, with a very thick, 'almost 6 feet' of mud walls, reinforced with wood, bamboo and stones, with access to the central courtyard through one door only. The result is a well-lit, well-ventilated, windproof and earthquake-proof building that is warm in winter and cool in summer. Tulous usually have only one main gate, guarded by 4–5-inch-thick or 100–130 mm wooden doors reinforced with an outer shell of iron plate. The top level of these earth buildings has gun holes for defensive purposes. In the middle of the stone courtyard is a small building performing ceremonial functions like weddings, funerals, and prayer. The courtyard is surrounded by wooden corridors leading to housing consisting of two or three rooms. The two lowest floors of Tulou are bulky, do not have windows, and are most commonly used as warehouses and granaries, while homes are located above the second floor.

Prora: The Massive Nazi-Era Resort on Rügen Island

On the eastern coast of Rügen Island in Germany, a strange line of concrete buildings stretches for several kilometres along the Baltic Sea. From a distance, Prora can look like an enormous abandoned hotel complex. However, its story is much more complicated when you look closely.

Prora

NEMO, The Museum of science and technology, Netherlands

The NEMO, Science Museum, the New Metropolis (NEMO) museum of science and technology, Netherlands. The name Science Center Nemo was introduced in 2000. The museum has its origins in 1923, The building was designed by renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano in 1997. The buildings that stand in the port of Amsterdam, NEMO emerges from the IJ river as a green building with a spectacular design. In 1923 when the "Museum of Labor" was opened by the artist Herman Heijenbrock on the Rozengracht in Amsterdam. In 1954 the name was changed to "Institute of Labor and Technology", and in 1997 it changed again to newMetropolis. The largest science center in the Netherlands with five floors of hands-on science exhibitions. It attracts more than 500,000 visitors yearly, it is the fifth most visited museum in the Netherlands.

The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library is the largest building in the world dedicated to the containment and preservation of rare books, manuscripts, and documents. It was designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill and is located in New Haven, Connecticut. Situated on Yale University's Hewitt Quadrangle, the building was designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and completed in 1963. 

Al Hajjarah | Ancient Village on a Cliff, Yemen

Al Hajjarah, sometimes spelt Al Hajarah or Al Hajjara, is a village in Yemen. The word "Hajar" means "stone". It was built in the mountains of Kharaz in the XII century by the Sulaihids and became an important fortification during the Ottoman occupation of Yemen. It is located in the Manakhah District of the Sana'a Governorate. The basis of the ancient settlement amounted to huge multi-storey houses, formed of massive stone blocks extracted in nearby quarries. High brown buildings with flat roofs resemble modern skyscrapers.

Faro a Colón | Columbus Lighthouse, Dominican Republic

Faro a Colón, or Columbus Lighthouse, is the most unique attraction in Santo Domingo Este, Dominican Republic, in tribute to Christopher Columbus. The Columbus Lighthouse is a cross-shaped monument made of reinforced concrete. Its dimensions are 688 feet (210 m) by 195 feet (59 m). There are 157 beams of light that emanate from the structure towards the sky, as well as a rotating beam that can be seen for miles. The reinforced concrete building is located on a hill and, with its height, offers a fascinating spectacle for Santo Domingo.