Inspiration

If you can’t wait to get away to the sunny climes of Rio, Dubai or Macao this winter, you can experi ence them via stunning aerial views thanks to drone videographers (and the internet).

These projects not only represent environmentally conscious approaches to pavilion-building — they m ake these alternative construction processes the very idea that they are designed to illustrate.

Decide for yourself which are sky-high follies — and which would have made for towering triumphs …

Aquariums are designed around new perspectives. Allowing observers to look at their world through a fresh lens, these projects use view, light and enclosure to orchestrate discovery. Displaying water-dwelling animals and plants, aquariums come in widely different sizes. Both private and commercial in nature, they may range from simple tanks to large public aquaria. Housing…

In the German city of Bad Staffelstein, a manmade “cave” of sorts beckons leisure-seekers to a therm al bath fed by Bavaria’s hottest and most powerful saltwater spring. Obermaintherme is a 15,000-square-meter (161,500-square-foot) bath hall whose pool previously boasted a natural-stone cave feature with artificial palms for decades. But in recent years, the saltwater pool and…

Created during the Roman Empire, herringbone is a geometric pattern that is often found in brickwork and tiling. Angular and almost hypnotic, herringbone grabs hold of the gaze and has the striking ability to direct the eye towards various points within a building, space or room. The simple yet transfixing pattern, creates a unique whole…

Researchers in Singapore have developed a flexible form of concrete that could revolutionize archite cture.

Here’s a recap of what some of the leading paint brands, and, of course, color expert Pantone, have chosen as the Color of the Year.

What if you could lift up your roof as easily as you can open a door? Olson Kundig Architects princi pal Tom Kundig took the idea of indoor-outdoor living to its logical (and mechanical) extreme with Shadowboxx, a private home in the San Juan Islands, off the coast of Washington. With shifting shutters, walls and doors,…