Awesome Architecture

Drone pilot and photographer Joshua Turner visited Shanghai, China, where he managed to fly his Iflight quadcopter alongside the nation’s tallest skyscraper. Currently, the third-tallest building in the world, the sleek 2,073-foot-tall Shanghai Tower looks incredible through the lens of Joshua’s GoPro11 Mini camera. He also flew around a few other tall structures.

We know that the Las Vegas Sphere is covered with millions of LEDs outside and has an immersive screen that surrounds its audience. Illustrator Jared Owen takes us much deeper inside the 18,600-seat entertainment venue to look at its architecture, construction, and technology.

One look at Jadokar’s Instagram page, and it’s obvious he’s a talented artist. While most of his work is illustrated, in this video, he proves he knows a thing or two about sculpture. Watch as he transforms a hunk of sandstone into an ancient cityscape packed with arched windows, doorways, and tiny staircases.

This modern home is anything but a traditional cabin. Levi Kelly takes us on a tour of this unique rental property in Hocking Hills, Ohio, known as The Block Tower. Its stacked 4-story construction packs in five bedrooms, three bathrooms, cozy living spaces, a hot tub, and multiple decks that overlook the surrounding woods. Book a stay on Airbnb.

Exploring Alternatives takes us on a tour of one of the coolest tiny houses we’ve ever seen. Created by Repère Boréal, the Uhu is a 200-sq.ft. steel home that floats 40 feet in the air. After ascending a spiral staircase, occupants cross a bridge in the trees to enter the 1-bedroom home. Inside, it has a kitchen, bathroom, and a desk.

This innovative small house created by Boxabl unpacks and assembles in as little as an hour. In addition to the tiny home shown in this video, the company is developing temporary cabins for festivals, townhouses, and even a modular two-story house with a roof deck. The 361 square foot Boxable Casita can be reserved for pre-order now.

Despite advancements in 3D visualization tech, architects sometimes still need to show physical models of buildings. MonsterKook is an expert at making this type of miniature, and his YouTube channel is filled with these tiny houses, including this impressive creation featuring structural walls he made by filling foamboard forms with cement.

If you’re the head of a big corporation, you can’t be bothered to share an elevator with other people. At the Baťa Skyscraper in Zlín, Czechia, the company’s owner had a special elevator built that carries his office to any floor. Tom Scott got a tour of this architecturally significant building and took a ride in the office that Jan Antonín Baťa never got to use.

The Smithsonian Channel takes us near Shanghai, China, where what was once a rock quarry has been transformed into an extravagant luxury resort. Architect Martin Jochman of JADE+QA designed the structure that appears to be just two stories when approaching from the top, but is actually a 16-story tower that blends into the rocks.

We may take the roof over our heads for granted these days, but in the 18th century, families venturing into the interior of North America had to build their own shelters to survive the elements as they headed westward. Frontier lifestyle expert Jon Townsend shows us how they might have constructed a shelter without any nails.

After working from home for more than a decade, we love the idea of a standalone space to get away from distractions. Lou Maxon worked with architect Olson Kundig to create a home office on wheels that be rolled from the house into the woods of the Pacific Northwest. Nelsontreehouse, treehousepete, and dash.arc got up close with the steel structure.

The Sydney Opera House is one of the most recognizable buildings on the planet, but most of us have only ever seen its outside. 3D illustrator Jared Owen shows off a precise digital model of Jørn Utzon’s architectural masterpiece, then takes us underneath its sail-shaped exterior to look at its structural engineering, concert hall, and other performance spaces.

MyronDesign creates concrete decor inspired by architecture. Among their pieces are these desk organizer cubes, which look like tiny houses. Each has cutouts for storing pens, pencils, office supplies, or, as one buyer suggested, Astroturf. Sold in a set of four. Save 5% with the code THEAWESOMER.

Computational designer Hassan Ragab shows how AI-generated imagery can be used to create unique and original art. He made architecture come to life by feeding MONDAY12’s footage of model Lauren Johnson into Stable Diffusion, prompting it to generate buildings in her shape, then post-processed the transitions.

Standing 20 stories tall, The Wood Hotel is the world’s tallest hotel mainly made from wood. Located at the birthplace of cross-country skiing, Skellefteå in Swedish Lapland, the 205-room property was built from locally harvested spruce and pine which smells awesome and absorbs more CO2 than it uses.

Standing 59″ tall, the LEGO Icons model of the Eiffel Tower is the tallest official LEGO kit yet. The 10,001-piece building kit will keep you occupied for days as you assemble the iconic Parisian structure. Like the original, it comes together in four main sections and rises above a esplanade with tiny trees, benches, and shrubs.

From the Empire State Building to the Flatiron to the Freedom Tower, the New York City skyline is iconic and imposing. Celebrate your love for the Big Apple’s architecture with Ian Flood and Chris Prosser’s skyline chess set, which includes 32 buildings, made from heavyweight acrylic, along with a folding game board.

This fascinating video from the Institute of Nomadic Architecture takes us to a Kenyan village, where the women come together to build a shelter for the community. These domed structures are made by twisting and knotting found materials like tree trunks, palm fronds, dry grasses, vines, and other organic fibers.

If you’re a fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and have $8.8 million burning a hole in your pocket, today’s your lucky day. Flea is selling his unique mansion in the hills outside of LA. The 5.7-acre compound has three structures, each in different but harmonious styles. Architectural Digest takes us inside this dramatic home.

With enough time and creativity, you can create incredible structures in Minecraft. German builder Timtenth shows off his largest project to date with time-lapse footage of the process. It took him 1000 hours to assemble this awe-inspiring digital Babylon. Stick around to the end for a fly-through of the finished environment.

Architecture and design nerds will recognize the shape of this lamp as the Futuro House by Matti Suuronen. This 1:32-scale version of the UFO-shaped home serves as an art piece and an ambient light. It comes in several lovely colors as well as a slick chrome-coated version, and a special yellow and blue Ukraine edition.

We’re pretty sure The Beatles envisioned a much larger ship when they proclaimed “We all live in a yellow submarine.” But as Living Big in a Tiny House shows us, you don’t even need to live beneath the waves to dwell in such a golden vessel. If you happen to be visiting New Zealand, you can even stay there.

This pencil set from the firm of legendary architect Michael Graves contains 24 colored pencils in his sophisticated palette. Graves’ minimal aesthetic is everywhere, from the essay on color usage in the design process to the die-cut sleeve’s grid of squares — a nod to Graves’ characteristic window pattern.