Architecture is meant to fulfill both practical and expressive requirements, and thus it serves both utilitarian and aesthetic purposes. When you look at a structure, you can distinguish these two ends but they cannot be separated, and the relative weight each of them carry can vary widely. Plus, every society has its own, unique relationship to the natural world and its architecture usually reflects that as well, allowing people from other places to learn about their environment, as well as history, ceremonies, artistic sensibility, and many aspects of daily life.
However, architecture is better seen, not described. So, let me introduce you to "the beautiful impossibilities that we want to live in", a subreddit dedicated to high-quality images of some of the most impressive (concept) buildings out there. This online community already has over 617K members, and the pictures they share are absolutely gorgeous. Continue scrolling and take a look!
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Semi-Destroyed In 1979 By The Earthquake In Albania. Rebuilt Two Years Ago
The Russian Ministry Of Agriculture, In Kazan
Awesome building, Always liked it. Whoever decided to put mirrored glass behind the tree made the right choice ;)
The Art Nouveau ‘Gran Hotel Ciudad De México’, 1899, By French Architect, Jacques Grüber
Urbany also pointed out the importance of smart home technology. "Anyone with a smartphone or voice-activated speakers, like Amazon Echo or Google Home, knows the convenience of home features that can be controlled via a simple swipe, utterance, or in-home video panel," the architect said.
"Not only are these features convenient, but many — including lighting and heating/cooling control — can reap real rewards on monthly utility bills. For architects, the challenge becomes creating spaces to house any mechanicals and the necessary wiring that goes along with them."
This Spiral Staircase Carved From A Single Tree In 1851 - Located In Lednice Castle, Czech Republic
Pavillion Of The Enlightened, Bangkok
Wisteria Blossoms Surrounding The Entrance Of A Victorian Townhouse In San Francisco
Beautiful! Reminds me of an instagram account I once saw that posted the "beautiful front doors" of London, a lot had wisteria. :)
Gorgeous BUT....not wishing to be a killjoy, BUT...wisteria is extremely invasive and has a mind of its own. If not tended to on a regular basis can and does all but destroy wooden features of a home e.g. the eaves and window frames. Again...I agree this is gorgeous but owners, BEWARE!!!! "She" needs a lot of TLC!!!
It appears they have been taking excellent care of both the wisteria and the house for a very long time. It's obvious they have provided ample TLC.
Load More Replies...Wisteria is beautiful, but it's a nightmare on structures. People don't understand the power it has to bring down entire buildings. For this reason, it's a terrible choice for landscaping.
I wrote the same thing (see above!!!)....it has been known to take whole houses down!! Beauty isn't always a gentle "soul" and can be more of a beast than its looks imply!!
Load More Replies...Please god- put a gay couple (or many) on my block.
Load More Replies...Asian wisteria is invasive in the US and I'm pretty sure the only US native wisteria is specific to the east coast. Wisteria is pretty, but please stop planting invasive species. Native plants are pretty, too.
Wisteria can also cause severe damage to wood structures! It twines into every crevice & can literally pull a building apart.
Load More Replies...OK, I know it doesn't look like it but this reminds me of the house from Charmed lol, and both make me want to move to San Francisco lol
I adore SF and live w/in 35 plus or minus minutes from there but unless you have a stash of beaucoup bucks somewhere.....need I say more?
Load More Replies...Wisteria! Reminds me of desperate housewives! That show was the best!
Wisteria has a lot of very good properties other than looking beautiful.
We saw this two years ago on a tour in San Francisco - amazingly beautiful
Okay....I only mentioned the invasive "personality" of wisteria NOT for this home as it looks well under control...BUT for anyone who, in this forum, oohs and aahs and wants to plant some, themselves, I just wanted to forewarn you of its potential tendencies of destruction of one's home. This one, to repeat, is beautifully taken care of along with every other aspect of it.
I thought it was a wedding cake. It’s absolutely beautiful! I just hate that the neighbors are so close.
Absolutely stunning. Looks so clean and fresh, and the Wisteria makes it look so inviting as well.
How did they build that other building so close (the one on the left)? Must have been skinny carpenters.
I would like to take this house entirely into a new area with similar terraced homes surrounding it. It seems so tucked away like this.The wisteria obviously loves the aspect so abundant.
Yeah, it's pretty, but NOT architectural - planting a wisteria, or any tree/shrub/bush is gardening, or if you want to get all fancy with it, call it landscaping. And planting a wisteria right up against your house is flat-out stupid - without constant cutting back, that vine is gonna pull the porch apart.
The housing market in san fran is the most disparate in the US.
This is an amazing house! I would love to live here (as long as there's wifi lol)
I think this house is in Alamo Square. If I’m wrong, I’m sure someone will let me know.
Doncha think it's pretty, though? I certainly wouldn't balk at it should it be presented to me!!!
Load More Replies...I wish Wisteria wasn't so hard to grow in my area. This is gorgeous!
See my two postings scattered above ^^^^^....you may have saved yourself lots of architecturally ruined structure(s) as the plant is terribly invansive.
Load More Replies...Lemme ask you....what color choices would you have used??? I may be talking out of turn with no backing to my lack of knowledge, but doubtful there were many colors to choose from back when this house was built and a lot of Victorian home enthusiasts like to keep honest with the theme of that day (yesteryear!). There's a book called PAINTED LADIES that shows variations (some sublime...others ridiculous) on the theme of colored Victorians.
Load More Replies...Another important aspect of contemporary architecture is sustainability. After all, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), buildings generate nearly 40% of annual global GHG emissions.
"It's no surprise the trend is towards creating more energy-efficient buildings, but also to develop homes that use, and leak less energy," Urbany explained.
"The pinnacle of this type of design is a net-zero home that literally has no net energy consumption. This is achieved by not only reducing energy consumption but by adding energy creation on the site, typically in the form of solar panels."
Zhongshuge Bookstore In Chengdu, China
A Spiral Staircase Designed By Leonardo Da Vinci In The Year 1516
The Kansas City Public Library
Even if net-zero is too lofty a goal, architects are urged to implement as many sustainable features as possible. These include well-sealed building envelopes, efficient insulation, multi-panel windows, and energy-efficient appliances and systems.
TMD STUDIO, a London-and-Prague-based group of young professionals operating within the fields of architecture, visualizations, interior design, and research, agrees that sustainable architecture holds the key to an environmentally positive future.
"Only by living more economically with our resources can we hope to protect our environment and climate," TMD STUDIO wrote.
Natural History Museum, London
Vietnam's Golden Bridge
Budapest Hungary
Early 1900's Craftsman Home In Seattle
"By keeping the energy we consume within our buildings for as long as possible, we need less supply in the first place," TMD STUDIO said. "Using less energy to keep us comfortable means that we can become environmentally responsible and more resource-efficient, which are both vital to reducing the effects of climate change."
According to the organization, there are three overriding concerns when designing buildings with better considerations towards ecological impact: the first is the materials used for construction, the second concern is the energy efficiency of the building and the last factor to consider is the location of the building itself.
"The building might be energy efficient and use low impact construction technologies but this would not mean anything if the ecosystem suffers as a result of the building. A greater holistic approach to all of these design factors is becoming more prevalent in mainstream architecture."
This Apartment Building In Tel Aviv, Israel
There's one extra solution if you accidentally lock yourself out: Parkour!
House In Art Nouveau Style, Brussels, Belgium
The Ceiling Of The Shah Mosque In Isfahan, Iran
This Stone Cottage In England
Urbany said that housing multiple generations of one's family under one roof was commonplace before the middle of the last century, but after WWII, single-family homes became more popular, spurred by the post-war boom and desire to achieve the American Dream.
"Today, people are living much longer which has created a so-called 'sandwich generation' that's both caring for young children and older parents. Therefore, the demand for housing with features that cater to multi-gen living is growing. According to the AIA survey, the most popular features include first-floor master suites, elevators, and laundry facilities on multiple levels, all of which can be found in Dixon Leasing's extensive portfolio."
Winter Has Come In Iceland. Hallgrímskirkja In Reykjavík. Photo By Gunnar Freyr
Cool! I've never been to Iceland but somehow this is exactly what I would've expected to see there.
"Azure Blue Pool" At Hearst Castel, San Simeon, California. It Was Built By Architect Julia Morgan Between 1919 And 1947
Fun fact-- It will cost you over $1,000 to swim here! But it is beautiful!
Restaurant On The River Ill Flowing Through The Historic Petite France Quarter Of Strasbourg, France
Thorncrown Chapel, Arkansas, By E. Fay Jones
Lastly, we should also keep in mind flexibility. For the most part, families and households are more diverse than ever, meaning one person's need for a formal dining room is another person's demand for a quiet office for their home-based business.
"Homes and layouts that can flexibly accommodate any number of residents, and better yet, evolve with those residents over time, are especially appealing," Urbany explained. "For architects, that can mean creating spaces that are easily divided or expanded with pocket or barn doors. Designers can aid flexibility by incorporating consistent themes and materials throughout."
We might not be colonizing Mars soon, but recent architectural trends are giving plenty of reasons to get excited about the future of construction.
Duomo Di Milano, Italy
That had to have taken a looong time to build. So intricate. Absolutely superb!
Shades Of Blue Highlight This San Francisco Victorian Home
Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral In France - Built Entirely Of Black Lava Stone
Grundtvig’s Church In Copenhagen, Denmark. Was Completed In 1940 And Its Design Is A Combination Between A Cathedral And The Style Of Old Danish Country Houses
Park Royal Hotel Singapore
Hohenzollern Castle, Germany
Windows Inside Dos Bosco Chapel- Brasilia, Brazil
The Tomb Of Ramesses Vi, The Valley Of Kings, Egypt
Very Narrow Corner House, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Fallingwater Under Snow, Designed By Frank Lloyd Wright In 1935
If you ever find yourself in Phoenix, Arizona, I highly recommend taking a Frank Lloyd Wright tour or catch a performance at Gammage Auditorium at Arizona State University. The man was a genius.
19th Century Italianate Orangery Of The Castle Ashby House, Northamptonshire, East Midlands, England
At prep school we took classes in an orangery. Basically a converted greenhouse
The Stunning Shah-I-Zinda Necropolis In Samarkand, Uzbekistan
The Entrance To A Nightclub In Seoul, South Korea Designed By Mdrdv
Neo-Gothic House In Budapest Circa 1894
Mr Thomas’s Chop House. Manchester. Mills And Murgatroyd. 1901
Bucktown, Chicago / USA
Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria, Germany
Setenil De Las Bodegas In Cadiz, Spain
Trinity College, Dublin. Geology Building Designed By Thomas Deane And Benjamin Woodward
I love the blue brick, that almost looks silver in different lights . Very nice
The National Shrine Basilica Of Our Lady Of Las Lajas In Nariño, Colombia
I am amazed at how truly pristine most of these are to this day. Gorgeous!
Hotel In The City Of Quebec, Canada
19th Century Double-Gallery House In New Orleans, Louisiana
Would love to hear some of the stories that have been told on that porch!
Les Espaces D'abraxas, Noisy-Le-Grand, France
This is certainly intersting and different but I don't find it pretty nor would I like to live there.
Art Nouveau Doorway
Museum Of Coastal Geomorphology In Vancouver
This Apartment Building In Singapore
Amazing. What if buildings could replace as much plantlife as they remove. Oxygen making skyscrapers!
Wedekindhaus, A Half-Timbered Renaissance Style House With Carved Oak Facade Originally Built In 1598 By The Merchant Hans Storre, Then Later Completely Destroyed During A Wwii Air Raid Before Being Rebuilt In The 1980s. Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany
I'd love to see a painting or sketch of the original to compare with how it was rebuilt.
Well Court, Designed As Model Housing For Local Workers And Finished In 1886 In Dean Village, Edinburgh, Scotland
Whomever looks after this place is very good at their job! Very well maintained!
Warsaw University Of Technology Main Building (1899)
Note: this post originally had 112 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
The title says beautiful architecture and rightly so but it's easy to forget the skill level and practical knowledge from the stone masons,carpenters etc that turn these visions into a reality,are they any less worthy of praise?
Thanks for this post!! They were all stunning. They make me dream about visiting or living in UK, or Hungary, or Singapore.. I can't choose. Please continue to do these type of contents.
yes! also, please tell me that #10 looks like the mage castle from Skyrim
Load More Replies...Wow!! I would love to see a lot of these in person I bet they’re breathtaking. So much beauty.
Mini, save up and put them on your bucket list. I've seen several of them.
Load More Replies...The architecture is stunning but those are also some fine photography skills
It was nice to see, for the most part, that this was not a rehash of the same buildings: Notre Dame, the Pantheon, Big Ben, the Taj Mahal, etc. Those are lovely buildings, but there is so much more in the world.
I feel like this list is missing Peleș Castle in Romania, it's insanely beautiful imo and gives major fairytale vibes <3 2962543381...1e5017.jpg
Staircase inside the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto) AGO-605d27...1223c9.jpg
AreBee Whilst many of these buildings have extraordinary detail workings, it is intriguing to me that some of the simpler and cleaner designs are every bit as beautiful. You have nothing from Gaudi who is my all time designer of breathtaking buildings but I don't have any cause to complain of those that have been included.
Oddly, one of the most unsustainable and wasteful Architectural detail and feature is the swing door. I originally wrote that for my Architectural Thesis on Designing the Sustainable City nearly 50 years ago before anyone know there was such a thing. My how things change but explains why pocket doors, barn doors and sliding doors of all types are so popular today. Maybe fixed walls and so many other things should also slide?
I would add an Art nouveau masterpiece - L'Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona
Believe it or not, this is inside the Baps Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville, NJ. All hand carved...and there's lots more. The building is massive. DSC00745-6...57866f.jpg
This is absolutely amazing architecture. Some of these structures boggle the mind. I think my favorite is the white Victorian three story house in San Francisco with the beautiful Wisteria around the entranceway. ❤️
Not to diminish the artistry of the more modern buildings, but I am always in awe of those constructed before the age of machinery. How skilled those craftsmen had to be, how long it would take to build, how many men dedicated their lives to erect such elaborate buildings - it is beyond comprehension. And, that they have lasted so long!
Oh my goodness! I'm just gonna sit and squat this thread for a couple of hours. Truly breathtaking. Yeh I forgot to breathe!
You missed Ely Cathedral. It has a medieval lantern tower which is amazing.
Thanks for the great content sir .i will also share with my friends & once again Thanks a Lot. The World's Trusted Online Pharmacy Stores for Australia,USA, UK, Canada and EU .Buy Generic Medicine We offer wide range of Generic Product with quality. aspadol-100mg-tapentadol avana-50mg cenforce-130mg cernos-gel cialis-generic-10mg-tadalafil cialis-generic-2-5mg-tadalafil cialis-generic-40mg-tadalafil cialis-gene
The title says beautiful architecture and rightly so but it's easy to forget the skill level and practical knowledge from the stone masons,carpenters etc that turn these visions into a reality,are they any less worthy of praise?
Thanks for this post!! They were all stunning. They make me dream about visiting or living in UK, or Hungary, or Singapore.. I can't choose. Please continue to do these type of contents.
yes! also, please tell me that #10 looks like the mage castle from Skyrim
Load More Replies...Wow!! I would love to see a lot of these in person I bet they’re breathtaking. So much beauty.
Mini, save up and put them on your bucket list. I've seen several of them.
Load More Replies...The architecture is stunning but those are also some fine photography skills
It was nice to see, for the most part, that this was not a rehash of the same buildings: Notre Dame, the Pantheon, Big Ben, the Taj Mahal, etc. Those are lovely buildings, but there is so much more in the world.
I feel like this list is missing Peleș Castle in Romania, it's insanely beautiful imo and gives major fairytale vibes <3 2962543381...1e5017.jpg
Staircase inside the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto) AGO-605d27...1223c9.jpg
AreBee Whilst many of these buildings have extraordinary detail workings, it is intriguing to me that some of the simpler and cleaner designs are every bit as beautiful. You have nothing from Gaudi who is my all time designer of breathtaking buildings but I don't have any cause to complain of those that have been included.
Oddly, one of the most unsustainable and wasteful Architectural detail and feature is the swing door. I originally wrote that for my Architectural Thesis on Designing the Sustainable City nearly 50 years ago before anyone know there was such a thing. My how things change but explains why pocket doors, barn doors and sliding doors of all types are so popular today. Maybe fixed walls and so many other things should also slide?
I would add an Art nouveau masterpiece - L'Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona
Believe it or not, this is inside the Baps Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville, NJ. All hand carved...and there's lots more. The building is massive. DSC00745-6...57866f.jpg
This is absolutely amazing architecture. Some of these structures boggle the mind. I think my favorite is the white Victorian three story house in San Francisco with the beautiful Wisteria around the entranceway. ❤️
Not to diminish the artistry of the more modern buildings, but I am always in awe of those constructed before the age of machinery. How skilled those craftsmen had to be, how long it would take to build, how many men dedicated their lives to erect such elaborate buildings - it is beyond comprehension. And, that they have lasted so long!
Oh my goodness! I'm just gonna sit and squat this thread for a couple of hours. Truly breathtaking. Yeh I forgot to breathe!
You missed Ely Cathedral. It has a medieval lantern tower which is amazing.
Thanks for the great content sir .i will also share with my friends & once again Thanks a Lot. The World's Trusted Online Pharmacy Stores for Australia,USA, UK, Canada and EU .Buy Generic Medicine We offer wide range of Generic Product with quality. aspadol-100mg-tapentadol avana-50mg cenforce-130mg cernos-gel cialis-generic-10mg-tadalafil cialis-generic-2-5mg-tadalafil cialis-generic-40mg-tadalafil cialis-gene