635 Items Tagged

Design

Mexico City, Mexico

National Center for the Arts (CENART)

This architectural wonder of Mexico City houses several art schools and national research centers.

Penrose paving

Oxford, England

Penrose Paving at the Mathematical Institute

The beautiful non-repeating pattern honors the Oxford professor who discovered it.

The Masonic Temple in Aurora, pictured here in 2014, sat vacant for about a decade before it went up in flames in early October.

The Grandeur of Old Masonic Temples Also Makes Them Vulnerable to Fires

They're hard to reuse, and can be quick to burn.

Jessica Leigh Hester October 22, 2019

Brooklyn, New York

Turk's Inn

A Wisconsin kitsch palace from the 1930s lives its second life in 21st-century Brooklyn.

Jennie Wilde designed the “I Came, I Saw, I Conquered" float for the the 1911 "Familiar Quotations"-themed Mardi Gras parade.

The Forgotten Female Artist Whose Mardi Gras Fantasias Warped Reality

If only Jennie Wilde could have transformed society too.

Laura Doan October 11, 2019

Duravit Design Center

Hornberg, Germany

Duravit Design Center

A unique showroom for bathroom fixtures featuring a giant toilet observation deck.

Giant Lampshades on Cartier Avenue.

Québec City, Québec

Cartier Avenue's Giant Lampshades

The floating gallery illuminates the heart of Québec City's arts district.

Rolling Bridge

London, England

Rolling Bridge

This unique bridge curls up like a caterpillar to let boats pass and then unfurls again to span a small canal.

Hope Valley, England

The Round Building

This petite cutlery factory sits on the foundations of a defunct gasworks.

Edificio Mirador

Edificio Mirador

This postmodern apartment block was designed to be a vertical neighborhood.

Fair Lawn, New Jersey

Radburn, New Jersey

The first neighborhood to implement the Garden City model in its suburban planning.

Hello up there.

23 Ceilings Worth Craning Your Neck For

Atlas Obscura readers share their favorite overhead wonders.

Eric Grundhauser July 24, 2019

If you see stairs like these, strongly consider climbing them.

18 Unforgettable Stairways That Are a Step Above

Atlas Obscura readers shared the most remarkable collections of risers and treads that they've ever encountered.

Eric Grundhauser July 23, 2019

Permanently Closed

Munich, Germany

Pinakothek der Moderne Futuro House

One of the most easily accessible examples of the rare 1960s UFO houses.

The "spaceship" on top of 2001 Odyssey in Tampa.

Odyssey 2001 'Spaceship'

The strip club's VIP lounge is actually a rare repurposed Futuro House.

Venus Statue

San Francisco, California

Venus Statue

This contorting sculpture is the tallest in San Francisco.

Inside the museum.

Cuernavaca, Mexico

Museo Robert Brady

An incredible little museum of interior design full of artifacts collected from around the world.

The vaulted ceiling.

Torrelavega, Spain

Vaulted Ceiling of Iglesia de la Virgen Grande

This magnificent brick dome was made with an unusual design method.