Pietragalla, Italy

Pietragalla is the town of the fantastic “Palmenti”, in the local dialect defined as “rutte”, cellars-caves dug into the rock still used today for the conservation of wine. The palmenti are a complex of underground structures, which originate in the first half of the nineteenth century.

UNIKATO Residential Building by KWK Promes

Apartment building in Poland.

Unikato is supposed to stand in the center of Katowice – once a dynamically developing industrial city. The testimony of that era is the impressive modernist buildings. Today, the city is experiencing a demographic crisis and suffers from sub-urbanization. There is a lack of new residential buildings, and the city is subordinated to car traffic generated by people coming here every day to work from the sprawling suburbs. Unikato is an impulse to reverse this negative trend and breathe new life into the area.

Idea. Modernist buildings of Katowice, once bright, for many years exposed to the smog, gradually got dirty and became almost black. Their white windows always contrast with the black of the facade. This observation has become an inspiration for the project.

Concrete Discs, Netherlands

Frans de Wit, the artist charged with designing this recreational combination of a rock-climbing facility and look-out point, went on to produce a fine example of landscape art. The climbing wall consists of irregularly stacked concrete blocks, and casts made of actual mountaineering rocks in the Ardennes. The look-out point is reached up an artificial hill forming part of a training circuit. Narrow steps wedged between two gigantic concrete discs 26 meters in diameter provide an alternative way up. This vertical thrust offsets the horizontal trails of rubble across the hill.

“Flying house”

“Flying house” by Annunzio Lagomarsini. His wife wanted to see the sea and always have sunlight in the living room.

To do that, Italian retired builder Annunzio Lagomarsini decided to apply all his knowledge into a flying house which took him seven years to build and which he then inhabited with his wife.

The house was built entirely out of scrap materials, could be lifted 22 meters (65 feet) in the air and rotate following the sun. “I kept building until I saw the sea” said Annunzio Lagomarsini “then I stopped. if 22 meters in height weren’t enough, I would have gone even higher.” (1977)

L’Arbre Blanc Residential Tower, Montpellier, France

Modelled on the shape of a tree, the curved 17-story building contains 113 apartments with cantilevering balconies, alongside publicly accessible facilities on the ground floor and rooftop. The many technical innovations of L’Arbre Blanc include the terraces, whose cantilevers, which are up to 7.5 metre-long, constitute a world first. These exceptional outside spaces are fully-fledged living rooms that are connected to the dwellings in such a way as to allow residents to live inside and outside, a luxury for a city bathed in the sunshine 80% of the year!

Alpine shelter on Monte Cristallo, Auronzo di Cadore, Italy

This incredible alpine shelter on Monte Cristallo, Auronzo di Cadore, Italy, was built during World War I at a height of 2760 meters. It’s believed that the refuge was constructed by Italian soldiers during World War I, in what was known as ‘The White War’, due to the freezing conditions soldiers were faced with.

Twisted Chimney in Wales

It might look like a chimney that has somehow collapsed in a wilted heap, but Wales’ latest piece of public artwork is already winning the public over.

A twisted chimney created by a New York sculptor has been unveiled as a public artwork in a south Wales valley.  Hand-carved out of steel, the £180,000 sculpture is 16 metres in length and twists eight metres into the air.

Hyatt Regency San Francisco

San Francisco, CA, United States. 1974. Architect: John Portman

This 802-room hotel, located in the award-winning Embarcadero Center, is situated adjacent to the Justin Herman plaza. Its wedge-shaped design steps back to open the plaza to the bay, creating a magnificent public gathering place. A 17-story atrium provides another dramatic space for people to congregate. Separate conference and exhibition areas offer more than 67,000 sf (6,225 sqm) of meeting space.

Vyaghra Gumpha, India

Vyaghra Gumpha is one of the popular caves in Udayagiri. The cave, which is in ruins, has an entrance carved like a tiger’s mouth, with the single cell forming the tiger’s throat. It is one of the most photographed sites in Udayagiri. The word vyaghra means “tiger”. The inscription found here tells that this cave belongs to the city judge Sabhuti.

Sumela Monastery

Sumela Monastery, a Greek Orthodox monastery originally established around AD 386 nestled in a steep cliff at an altitude of 1200 meters, Trabzon Province, Turkey.