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The granite quarries located along the Nile, in the city of Aswan, supplied some of the finest quality stones for the construction of temples, sculptures and monuments in ancient Egypt. The famous Cleopatra's Needle, now located in London, as well as several structures in the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and at Giza were constructed from stones quarried in Aswan.

Once upon a time there was a young nobleman who, after the death of his beloved wife, became so distraught with grief and anguish that he decided to build a garden in her memory to give vent to his aching heart. That young nobleman was the Duke of Bomarzo, an Italian named Pier Francesco Orsini, better known as Vicino, and his wife was Giulia Farnese, who died in 1560. The strange and melancholy garden he constructed is called Sacro Bosco, or the "Sacred Grove", and it still stands in a wooded valley in Bomarzo, a small town about 90 km north of Rome.

In The Wash, a squarish estuary on the East coast of England, where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire, there is a peculiar island, perfectly circular, with a dimple in the middle resembling a giant doughnut. This doughnut, known as the ‘Outer Trial Bank’, is one of two islands constructed during the 1970s to study the feasibility of converting the entire estuary into a fresh water reservoir.

“We will never forget”, is the phrase that has been famously repeated over and over again since the devastating attack on New York City on September 11, fourteen years ago. Yet, this giant monument erected on the shores of Bayonne, New Jersey, just 16 km from New York City has been largely forgotten.

Since medieval times, the village of Rocamadour in the Occitanie region of southwestern France has attracted pilgrims from across Europe for its historical monuments and its sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is said that Saint Amator—thought to be the Biblical tax collector of Jericho, Zacheus—had lived and died here, shortly after he left Jerusalem. Legend has it that after St Amator's body was discovered, several miracles started to happen, and as the healing powers of Amator's remains became known, the site began attracting pilgrims and donations from French kings and queens allowing the site to grow into a village with several shrines and places of worship. Eventually, Rocamadour became an important stop on the pilgrimage path to Santiago de Campostela.

Scattered throughout the streets of London, often overlooked, are small green sheds that have been offering shelter and hot food to the city’s cab drivers since 1875.

The Hill of the Buddha is a giant Buddha statue located atop a small hill near a cemetery in the Japanese island Hokkaido. The statue was built some 15 years ago, but it was only in December 2015, that the landscape around it was sculpted to highlight the massive figure.

Scotland, comprised initially of the primary road, now known as the Royal Mile, and countless rear ways that opened it toward the north and south. Some of these prompt open patios and are hence called "courts". Others are open lane sufficiently wide for a horse and cart, and are called "wynds", a reference to the way they twist along. Be that as it may, a large portion of these back roads are called "closes", since they prompt private property and are henceforth gated and closed to the public.

Across Europe, there are hundreds of underground tunnels that lead to nowhere and about which no historic records have ever been found. They are mostly located in the German state of Bavaria and the adjoining country Austria, where they are known by the German name “Erdstall”, which means “place under the earth”. Locally, they are also called by various names such as "Schrazelloch" (meaning "goblin hole") or "Alraunenhöhle" (meaning "mandrake cave") which reflects the various theories and legends associated with the mysterious tunnels.

Droids on Roids is a team of programmers, so making their new office seem familiar made perfect sense to the designers at Mode:lina. Navigating the space is a lot like navigating the home screen on your phone! Icons placed on the black stripe that runs along the walls (that serves as a sort of status bar) as well as the doors serve as a visual code which allows employees and guests to identify the function of each space. Apart from looping in elements typical for mobile apps, the interior was also given yellow features, which together with lamps in a shape of a zig-zag located all across the office, correspond with the Droids On Roids lighting logo.

“Our cities are a assembly of steel, concrete and glass,” says Penda partner Chris Precht. “If you walk through the city and suddenly see a tower made of wood and plants, it will create an interesting contrast.” He couldn’t be more right. We’ve seen how alluring vertical forests are. A building devoted to being a celebration of everything natural would make a great urban as well as ecological landmark. That’s what Penda’s Toronto Tower aims at being.

For more than a hundred years, grain silos doting the plains across the Wimmera-Mallee region of Victoria, Australia, have defined the state's rural landscape. Now these grain towers will provide a new aesthetic as they are transformed into enormous works of art paying tribute to the regions' farmers.

In the Maramureș region of northern Romania are a group of almost one hundred Orthodox churches built between the 17th and the 19th centuries. These churches are considered outstanding examples of “vernacular religious wooden architecture resulting from the interchange of Orthodox religious traditions with Gothic influences”. The churches are of high timber constructions with characteristic tall, slim bell towers above the entrance and massive shingles-covered roof that dwarfs the main body of the church. The churches have a variety of designs showing a high level of artistic maturity and craftsmanship.

On top of a small hill overlooking the comune of Andria, in the Italian region Apulia, stands one of the strangest looking castle. This 13th century citadel is octagonal in shape, with each of the eight corners sporting an octagonal tower. Its geometric design was very unique at that time.

In a forest in southern Småland, in southern Sweden, there is a small earthen cabin you can rent on Airbnb. The cabin is partially buried in the ground with its sod roof almost flush with the ground level, which renders the cabin nearly invisible. This type of house is known as “backstuga” in Sweden, which is literally "hill cottage". They are not very common today, but back in the 17th and 18th centuries, some of the country’s poorest people lived in them.

Intemporalité is an experimental film made from a large number of photographs (technically its a Hyperlapse and timelapse combined).  The architecture of Paris is deliberately distorted by Didier Viodé but it retains its timelessness and beauty yet you will never have seen the French capital quite like this.  As another way to discover this amazing city it is quite something (even though I challenge anyone to become jaded with the real thing!).

San Francisco residents have a particularly strong liking for topiary trees, as apparent from these photographs taken by three different photographers. One is Marc Alcock , a British photographer, who after moving to San Francisco in 2010, became interested in photographing the visual differences between the two places. One of the things that struck him about San Francisco, Los Angeles and the surrounding suburbs were the houses and the unique relationship they have with plants and nature.

Below is a photograph of one of Lucerne’s most famous tourist attraction. You may recognize it as the “Lion of Lucerne”— a rock relief sculpture of a mortally wounded lion hewn into the rocky face of a large cliff in a former sandstone quarry near Lucerne, in central Switzerland. The monument was dedicated in memory of the Swiss Guards who lost their lives defending the Tuileries Palace in Paris during the 1792 French Revolution. The dying lion symbolizes the soldiers’ courage, strength, and willingness to die rather than to betray their oath of service.

Okuda San Miguel’s (previously) recently transformed 19th-century castle in Château, France is perhaps my favorite work by the artist to date. The intervention, titled Skull in the Mirror, covers the gigantic home’s facade in a mix of colorful polka dots, and is flanked on either side by two three-story skulls. Three dormer windows at the top of the castle are lined in bright red, blue, and orange, while the second story windows serve as openings for the prismatic skull’s four combined eyes.

In mediaeval times, the city of Bologna in Northern Italy must have looked not unlike what Manhattan appears today. Hundreds of high-rising towers stood against the sky overlooking a sea of red-tiled rooftops. These towers were status symbols built by the city’s rich families to demonstrate their power and importance.