China’s Impressive ‘River Highway’ Lets Motorists Drive Through the Middle of a River
A mountainous river valley in China’s Hubei province is home to one of the Asian country’s most impressive pieces of infrastructure – a highway bridge that runs through the middle of a river. Finalized in 2015, China’s ‘river highway’ is widely regarded as an infrastructural wonder. Designed to link the town of Gufuzhen in Xingshan […]
The World’s Quietest Room Is a Scary, Unbearable Place
A chamber inside Microsoft’s Audio Lab holds the Guinness record for the world’s quietest room. It’s a strange place that reportedly causes people to start hallucinating. With everything moving at such a crazy pace in this day in age, we all crave a little peace and quiet from time to time, but it seems absolute […]
Jakarta’s Rooftop Suburb Is Built Atop a Giant Shopping Mall
The Indonesian city of Jakarta is home to one of the most unusual residential projects in the world – a suburb located atop a 10-storey shopping mall. Over the past 20 years, Jakarta has become one of the world’s most crowded megacities. With over 10 million residents in its metropolitan area alone and up to […]
Homeless Man Who Built His Own Fairytale Castle Is Now Forced to Tear It Down
A French homeless man who built his own intricate castle out of recycled foam after losing his apartment has been notified by authorities to tear it down because it poses a danger. David, a 53-year-old former animator from Toulouse, France, has been homeless for over a year, after reportedly losing his apartment to squatting. With […]
The Wind Wall of Rozenburg Allows Giant Ships to Safely Pass Through a Narrow Channel
The Wind Wall of Rozenburg is a unique installation designed to block strong winds from hitting the large ships passing through a narrow canal on their way to the port. After World War 2, the Dutch port city of Rozenburg grew both in size and prosperity, and in order to cope with the ever-growing maritime […]
The Anti-Pirate Houses of Ikaria Island
The Greek Island of Ikaria in the Aegean Sea is home to numerous camouflaged houses built under giant rocks to make them harder to spot by pirates. Nowadays, Ikaria is a popular tourist destination famous for its sandy beaches, picturesque villages and pristine natural landscape. But it wasn’t always the slice of paradise it is […]
Vietnam’s Famous Gilded House Is an Ode to Gold
An entrepreneur in Can Tho, Vietnam’s fourth-largest city, has been getting a lot of attention for his unique home, which is gilded both inside and out. Mr. Nguyen Van Trung is a Vietnamese businessman who reportedly made his fortune in the real-estate business. After visiting many countries around the world, he decided to return to […]
The World’s Smallest Town Has Only Two Streets and Three Rows of Houses
Hum is a picturesque hilltop settlement in Croatia’s Istria region whose main call to fame is being the smallest town in the world. Located in central Istria, approximately a 2.5 hours drive from Croatia’s capital city of Zagreb, the medieval hilltop town of Hum is home to between 20 and 30 people (21 according to […]
Rome’s Villa Aurora – The Most Expensive House in the World
Located on a hill in the heart of Rome and featuring the only ceiling mural ever painted by the Italian Baroque old master Caravaggio, Villa Aurora is widely regarded as the world’s most expensive house. The 30,000-square-foot, 16th-century villa is located a short walk from the famous Via Veneto, home to some of Rome’s best […]
The Broken Wheel – The Netherlands’ Unique Waterside Suburb
Het Brekkense Wiel, Dutch for “The Broken Wheel”, is a unique waterside residential area and tourist attraction in the Netherlands. Located between the Frisian Lakes and IJsselmeer, the largest lake in the Netherlands, the aptly-named Het Brekkense Wiel is a suburb made up of several properties on small plots of land resembling broken wheels and […]
China’s ‘Pig Hotels’ – Massive Multi-Storey Pork Production Facilities
After seeing its pork production decimated by African swine flu outbreaks, China has been investing heavily into so-called ‘pig hotels’, controversial multi-storey pig raising facilities. Talk about elevating pig farming to new heights! For the last three years, farmers across China have been investing billions of dollars into massive high-rise hog-raising facilities popularly known as […]
This Mindboggling Overpass Is Considered the World’s Most Difficult to Navigate
Featuring 20 ramps intertwined over five levels and connecting three major expressways, the Huangjuewan Overpass in Chongqing is considered to be the world’s most complicated overpass. When the first photos of Huangjuewan Overpass first hit the internet, a few years back, they cause a mix of shock, amazement and concern, especially among motorists. Many were […]
Tekesi County – China’s Unique Bagua-Shaped City
Built according to the “Bagua”, or the Eight Trigrams used in Taoist cosmology, Tekesi County has a unique and eye-catching layout that allegedly renders traffic lights obsolete. Bagua represents the fundamental principles of reality, seen as a range of eight interrelated concepts. It is a complex concept of Taoist cosmology which also has correspondences in […]
This $150,000 Miniature Japanese Palace May Be the World’s Most Exclusive Dog House
The “Inuden” (Dog Den), a $150,000 architectural wonder built exclusively by hand by a Japanese palace carpenter, is probably the ultimate dog house money can buy. Cultural Property Structural Plan Co., Ltd. is an Osaka-based company that specializes in the preservation and repair of cultural property buildings and seismic reinforcement design. It employs experts in […]
World’s Thinnest Skyscraper Is So ‘Skinny’ It May Sway in the Air
With a height-to-width ratio of 24:1, Steinway Tower, an 84-story luxury apartment building in Manhattan, is officially the world’s thinnest skyscraper. Steinway Tower is an impressive architectural achievement. Not only is it the third-tallest building in the Western Hemisphere – after One World Trade Center (1,776 feet) and Central Park Tower (1,550 feet) – but it’s actually […]