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I captured this photo on a sunday cloudless day in London whilst walking past the Royal National Theatre on the southbank of the city. I like how processing to black and white has brought out so much detail in the walls.
These interesting structures are fenced in and are part of the Urban Artwork on an island surrounded by traffic going up to the Citlink Freeway. I've wanted to see these for awhile but the fence mean't I had to stick the camera through the gap in the gate.www.architectureanddesign.com.au/features/comment/beyond-.... With our FFF+ group
This is the mirrored cone at the center of the glass dome atop the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany. I took this shot early in the morning whilst on the spiral ramp that goes around the interior of the dome.
The Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) stands as a seminal example of contemporary architecture influenced by parametric design principles within the 21st-century urban fabric. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and completed in 2014, the complex occupies the former site of the Dongdaemun Stadium. Its design departs from the orthogonal geometries present in the surrounding urban fabric, replacing them with a fluid topography that integrates infrastructure and landscape.
The building’s envelope is composed of over 45,000 aluminum panels of unique shapes, achieving a continuous surface through advanced digital fabrication. In the nocturnal context, the facade’s perforations interact with ambient and internal light, creating a dynamic illuminated surface. This photographic study captures the DDP beyond its programmatic functions, emphasizing its scale and material articulation.
The juxtaposition of the vertical, anthropomorphic sculpture against the sweeping, horizontal curvature of the plaza establishes a formal contrast between human scale and the precision of the built environment. By minimizing visible joints through complex geometric engineering, the DDP presents a monumental intervention that engages in a dialogue between public space and contemporary architectural form.
Dongdaemun, Seoul, South Korea
Rolex Learning Centre on the EPFL campus...................In the beginning, there was just a field bordering a road. Three years later, on this same spot, one of the most exciting buildings in the world is there to welcome hundreds of students and visitors each day.................https://youtu.be/TcVNxeKDJWE
At the corner where Lisbon’s Avenida da Liberdade meets Rua Alexandre Herculano, a striking dialogue unfolds between two centuries of architecture. An ornate Art Nouveau façade, adorned with soft blue stucco and intricate plaster details, stands in seamless conversation with a gleaming glass tower that rises above it. Together they tell the story of Lisbon’s evolving urban identity—a city where modernity doesn’t erase the past but embraces it.
The original early twentieth-century structure, with its sculpted balconies and arched windows, reflects the optimism of a newly industrial Portugal. Its elegant symmetry and classical ornamentation reveal a careful balance between restraint and flourish, typical of Lisbon’s Belle Époque architectural vocabulary. Corinthian pilasters, carved garlands, and wrought-iron railings were designed not just for beauty, but as a statement of civic pride—an architectural promise that the city would always look upward.
Decades later, when Lisbon began to redefine itself for the contemporary era, the building’s upper floors were encased in mirrored glass. Rather than demolish or conceal the older façade, architects chose to preserve and reinterpret it—an act of adaptive reuse that honors both craftsmanship and progress. The new structure reflects clouds, sky, and surrounding rooftops, creating a living canvas that changes with each passing moment.
Standing here, one can feel the weight of Lisbon’s layered history. Horse-drawn carriages once clattered along this boulevard; now bicycles and electric cars glide by. Pedestrians pause at the corner café, their reflections rippling across the mirrored façade. Above them, the Art Nouveau curves—each carved flourish weathered but resilient—remind us that permanence and change can coexist in the same breath.
The interplay of glass and stone becomes a metaphor for Lisbon itself: a city shaped by earthquakes and empires, now reborn through creativity and respect for its architectural heritage. The reflection of the historic dome within the tower’s surface is more than coincidence—it’s dialogue made visible. The building stands as a case study in urban evolution, where architectural preservation becomes an act of storytelling.
In architectural photography, moments like this invite both precision and wonder. The vertical sweep of the façade draws the eye upward, while the mirrored surfaces blur the boundaries between solid form and open sky. It’s a composition of contrast and continuity—old craftsmanship meeting modern abstraction.
Lisbon’s enduring charm lies in this balance: the courage to build forward without forgetting the artistry behind. This corner, caught between reflection and reality, feels like the city in miniature—resilient, elegant, and endlessly reinventing itself.
The Monash gallery itself was designed by leading Australian modernist architect, Harry Seidler (1923-2006). Seidler emigrated from Vienna, Austria, in 1946, after fleeing his home country to England in 1938, just before its annexation by the Nazis.
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29/100 x Theme: Favourites in 2024
Near Grange jetty.
on the Esplanade, built 1880.
The architectural style of Adelaide is comprised primarily of six different styles:
1. Old colonial
2. Victorian
3. Federation
4. Interwar
5. Postwar
6. Late 20th Century
However, the architectural makeup of Adelaide is as diverse as that of Australia itself. Some other notable styles which have made their mark on Adelaide’s landscape include Victorian, Edwardian, Federation, Colonial, Italianate, Modernism, Contemporary, and Art Deco.
architectureanddesign.com.au
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124 pictures in 2024/75 Old fashioned
I captured this view of the main stairwell at De La Warr Pavilion during a recent visit to Bexhill, East Sussex. I wanted to flatten the scene by using monochrome, but I love the gold and copper tones of the lamp too much to not selectively colour the scene.
As the sun sets over the Tagus River, Lisbon’s Ponte 25 de Abril transforms from a feat of engineering into a work of art. Beneath its soaring red trusses, light and shadow play across the urban fabric—weathered walls, brick warehouses, and the occasional splash of graffiti. This view, taken from the Alcântara district, captures the essence of modern Lisbon: a city where history and industry meet beneath the hum of progress.
Completed in 1966 and originally named Ponte Salazar, the bridge was renamed after the Carnation Revolution of April 25, 1974, which restored democracy to Portugal. Its resemblance to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge isn’t coincidental—both were built by the same American firm, the American Bridge Company. Yet while the visual echo is undeniable, Lisbon’s bridge has its own character. Its steel structure stretches elegantly across the Tagus, connecting the capital to Almada and symbolizing a nation moving forward while honoring its turbulent past.
Standing beneath it, one feels the monumental scale of the construction. The rhythm of the supporting columns and the geometric pattern of the girders create a visual cadence—part architecture, part music. The concrete piers catch the last warm light of day, glowing amber against the fading blue sky. Below, the remnants of Alcântara’s industrial quarter tell another story: of warehouses reborn as cafés, galleries, and event spaces. It’s a perfect example of adaptive reuse, where the city reclaims its industrial heritage and transforms it into cultural vitality.
The juxtaposition is striking. The old brick façade, weathered by salt air and time, holds its ground beneath the sleek lines of twentieth-century infrastructure. This layering of eras—historic reuse beneath modern engineering—defines Lisbon’s architectural identity. The bridge doesn’t overshadow the neighborhood; it frames it. Its vast underbelly becomes a canopy of shadow and sound, humming with the vibration of trains and traffic above, yet oddly serene below.
Photographically, the view is irresistible. The converging lines of the bridge draw the eye toward infinity, while the earthy textures of the foreground root the image in the tangible world. The soft pastel sky reflects Lisbon’s unique Atlantic light—a phenomenon that has inspired painters, poets, and photographers for generations. It’s no wonder this spot, once overlooked, has become one of the city’s most photographed sites.
In many ways, the 25 de Abril Bridge is more than infrastructure—it’s Lisbon’s emblem of endurance. It unites art and engineering, the old and the new, the river and the sky. Standing here as the city glows beneath it, one can’t help but feel that this is where Lisbon breathes most deeply: between the quiet dignity of its past and the boundless energy of its future.
Marco Abud Imagens
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Located on Collins Street at the gateway to Melbourne's Docklands precinct, the new Lantern Building is a landmark development that announces the entry into the refurbished 1880's Goods Shed below. Utilising faceted glass panels the building reflects and refracts light as an articulated beacon signalling the entry to the Docklands precinct.
Source: Mimoa web site
For more information follow:
www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/glass-lantern-build...
Bathed in golden sunlight and framed by a brilliant blue sky, this striking yellow turret is one of the most recognizable features of the Palácio Nacional da Pena—Pena Palace—in Sintra, Portugal. Rising dramatically from its mountain perch, the tower exemplifies the Romantic architectural style that defines this 19th-century masterpiece. With its onion-shaped dome, Moorish horseshoe arches, and playful crenellations, it embodies the palace’s dreamlike fusion of European and Islamic influences—a testament to the creative vision of King Ferdinand II, known as “the Artist King.”
Built between 1842 and 1854 atop the ruins of a medieval monastery, Pena Palace was conceived not as a royal fortress but as a celebration of imagination. Ferdinand II sought to merge architectural elements from Portugal’s past—Gothic, Manueline, Renaissance, and Moorish—into a single, expressive composition. The result is an architectural fantasy unlike any other in Europe: colorful, theatrical, and deeply symbolic. The yellow-painted façade seen here represents one of the palace’s most vibrant sections, its hue chosen to reflect warmth and optimism while contrasting sharply with the deep red and purple tones elsewhere in the complex.
The minaret-like turret reveals the Romantic fascination with the “exotic”—a 19th-century architectural trend inspired by Portugal’s maritime history and its encounters with distant cultures. The bulbous dome recalls Islamic architecture found in North Africa and the Middle East, while the intricate stone carvings at the windows draw from Manueline motifs, themselves rooted in Portugal’s Age of Discovery. The crenellations along the parapet serve both ornamental and defensive symbolism, evoking medieval castles yet rendered here with whimsical exaggeration.
From this vantage point, one can almost feel the grandeur of the Serra de Sintra unfolding below. The crisp Atlantic air, the distant sea, and the lush forests surrounding the palace all combine to heighten the otherworldly effect of the structure. Standing before it feels like stepping into a storybook where architecture becomes poetry and color becomes emotion.
Today, the Palácio Nacional da Pena stands as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, celebrated not only for its architectural innovation but also for the way it harmonizes with the surrounding landscape. Its vivid palette and romantic forms have inspired generations of artists, architects, and travelers, who see in its whimsical towers a reminder that creativity and imagination are timeless.
The yellow turret, glowing against the sky, remains a perfect symbol of that vision—an architectural exclamation point crowning one of the world’s most enchanting palaces.
At a quiet intersection in Lisbon, Portugal, sunlight wraps around this slender, tile-clad building like a silk ribbon, illuminating centuries of architectural tradition. Its elegant blue-green azulejos—Portugal’s signature ceramic tiles—shimmer against the pale limestone frame, creating a façade that feels both rooted and alive. The structure’s narrow form and chamfered corner follow Lisbon’s unique topography, shaped by the city’s steep hills and intimate street grid.
This building is a quintessential example of Pombaline architecture, the rational yet resilient style born from Lisbon’s rebuilding after the catastrophic 1755 earthquake. Designed to be both beautiful and functional, these buildings feature a concealed wooden lattice framework—known as the gaiola pombalina—engineered to flex with seismic shocks. Yet from the outside, all that science dissolves into grace: perfectly proportioned windows, wrought-iron balconies, and tiled exteriors that seem to dance in the Atlantic light.
Down below, the patterned calçada portuguesa—Portugal’s traditional mosaic pavement—adds rhythm to the streetscape, guiding pedestrians past shop windows and shaded doorways. The green ceramic planter and black awning hint at the building’s modern life: a boutique or café now animating its historic ground floor. Above, dormer windows punctuate the roofline, their repetition lending a sense of vertical harmony against the crystalline sky.
Lisbon’s architectural beauty lies not only in grand monuments but in moments like this—everyday corners where texture, geometry, and sunlight conspire. The contrast between the aged façade and the freshly painted trim speaks to the city’s ongoing dialogue between preservation and adaptation. Each layer of weathering, every chipped tile, tells a story of endurance through centuries of change.
Photographically, the composition captures architectural symmetry from an oblique angle, drawing attention to the interplay of depth and light. The crisp edges of shadow carve out a natural frame, accentuating how form follows both history and geography. Here, heritage architecture and urban evolution meet at a crossroads—literally and metaphorically—embodying Lisbon’s dual character: romantic yet rational, traditional yet forward-looking.
In a city where time feels slower and textures more tactile, this corner is a quiet testament to the enduring power of thoughtful design. It’s not just a building—it’s a living page of Lisbon’s architectural narrative, where tile, stone, and sunlight continue to write new stories each day.
Standing proudly beneath a brilliant blue sky, this Queen Anne Victorian captures the architectural soul of San Francisco—ornate, resilient, and unabashedly beautiful. The home’s steep gable, rounded turret, and intricate ornamentation are hallmarks of a style that once defined the city’s golden age of craftsmanship. Each detail, from the scalloped shingles to the gilded medallions, speaks of a time when architecture was as much about artistry as utility.
Built in the late nineteenth century, houses like this one emerged as symbols of ambition during San Francisco’s post–Gold Rush expansion. The Queen Anne style, imported from England and adapted to the city’s unique light and terrain, emphasized asymmetry, color, and texture. This particular home—dressed in brick-red, navy, and gold—balances elegance with exuberance. Its turret, capped with a slate conical roof and topped by a weather vane, gestures toward the city’s maritime heritage, while the deep bay windows echo its love of light and views.
At street level, a grand staircase leads to an arched entryway framed by panels of carved relief and painted trim. Look closely, and you’ll find the kind of detail that made Victorian builders legendary: hand-turned spindles, dentil moldings, and ornamental brackets—all carefully restored to preserve their original spirit. The textures are a visual symphony, the play of shadow and sunlight across wood and paint transforming the façade throughout the day.
Inside, homes like this once boasted high ceilings, inlaid floors, and parlors meant for both intimacy and display. Many have since been lovingly preserved or adapted for modern life, embodying the spirit of adaptive reuse that defines contemporary San Francisco’s relationship with its past. Despite earthquakes, fires, and waves of urban change, the city’s Victorian architecture remains its most romantic ambassador—a reminder of endurance through reinvention.
For photographers and historians alike, this home is a masterclass in architectural symmetry and heritage preservation. Its harmonious balance of color, craftsmanship, and historical integrity makes it a quintessential example of the beaux arts and classic design principles that guided the city’s builders. Against the clean backdrop of a coastal sky, every detail shines with intention: timeless, local, and unmistakably San Franciscan.
There is poetry in its persistence. While modern towers rise downtown, this Victorian still holds court, its weathered spire and painted panels whispering of an age when architecture sought not just to shelter but to inspire.
San Francisco City Hall stands as one of the most magnificent examples of American Beaux-Arts architecture—a monument to civic pride, resilience, and urban beauty. Captured here under the glow of evening light, its dome gleams in soft turquoise and gold, commanding the skyline of the Civic Center with timeless grandeur. Completed in 1915, the building was designed by Arthur Brown Jr., the same architect behind Coit Tower and several University of California landmarks. His design replaced the earlier city hall lost in the 1906 earthquake and fire, symbolizing the rebirth of a city that refused to fade.
At 307 feet high, the dome is taller than the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., and remains the fifth-largest dome in the world. Its gilded detailing glimmers at night, while floodlighting reveals the crisp articulation of Corinthian columns, sculptural reliefs, and triumphal arches. Every line of the structure was designed to convey order and dignity—principles that mirror the city’s ambition to stand as both a center of culture and democracy on the West Coast.
In the calm of night, when traffic slows and the Civic Center quiets, City Hall takes on a different kind of majesty. The interplay of shadow and illumination gives its marble surfaces a painterly depth. The faint glow through the arched doors hints at life within—weddings, celebrations, and public meetings—reminding viewers that this monumental space continues to serve the people it was built for over a century ago.
The building’s symmetry and precision reflect the Beaux-Arts emphasis on harmony between architecture and civic ideals. Its façade, framed by ornate pilasters and anchored by strong horizontal lines, draws the eye upward to the dome, which symbolizes unity, openness, and aspiration. The design also demonstrates an understanding of proportion and perspective rare in modern civic architecture.
City Hall has witnessed history both triumphant and tragic: from the swearing-in of mayors and the mourning of public figures, to the wedding of Mayor George Moscone and the subsequent assassinations of Moscone and Harvey Milk in 1978, events that forever shaped the city’s character. Today, the building remains not only a functioning seat of government but a beloved gathering place for civic expression—its steps often adorned with flags, flowers, or lights in solidarity with global causes.
Under the night sky, San Francisco City Hall becomes more than architecture—it becomes a beacon. It represents both the endurance and elegance of a city defined by reinvention, its luminous dome a quiet reminder that beauty and democracy can coexist in stone and light.
Southwark is a London Underground station in the London Borough of Southwark at the corner of Blackfriars Road and The Cut. It is between Waterloo and London Bridge stations on the Jubilee line.
Chemin Faisant.
Voir la ville comme un organisme vivant en constante mutation, où notre place reste à définir.
Bathed in San Francisco’s famous golden light, this lavender-painted Victorian house captures the city’s enduring romance with color, craftsmanship, and individuality. Its elaborate façade—complete with a turreted bay window, scroll-cut gable ornaments, dentil molding, and leaded-glass transoms—embodies the exuberance of the Queen Anne style that flourished here in the late 19th century. Few architectural forms are as closely tied to the identity of San Francisco as these multi-story wooden houses, which continue to turn ordinary streets into living works of art.
Painted in soft lavender tones with crisp white trim and subtle gold accents, the home celebrates the city’s long tradition of expressive palettes. What began in the 1960s as the “Painted Ladies” movement—a push to restore and vividly repaint Victorian homes that had fallen into neglect—has become a defining visual language of San Francisco. Each façade tells a story, not only of historic preservation but of creative reinvention. This house, with its gentle pastel hues and fine detailing, feels like a modern continuation of that legacy.
Architecturally, the building showcases everything that made the Queen Anne style so beloved: an asymmetrical layout, varied surface textures, and an interplay of angles and ornament. The corner bay expands outward like a prism, catching sunlight throughout the day and offering sweeping views down the street. The intricate gable latticework—sometimes called “gingerbread” detailing—adds a sense of movement and rhythm, as if the façade itself were breathing with the changing light. These features were not merely decorative; they expressed the optimism of a growing city eager to display its prosperity and artistry.
In the context of San Francisco’s ever-evolving neighborhoods, this home stands as both a survivor and a statement. Many houses like it were built in the wake of the 1906 earthquake, or painstakingly restored afterward, as part of the city’s commitment to rebuilding with grace. Today, these Victorians coexist with modern structures and street art, forming a dialogue between eras—a visual reminder that San Francisco’s beauty lies in its layers.
From the ornate stained-glass windows to the perfectly symmetrical stairway leading up to its front door, this lavender Victorian invites admiration but also warmth. It is not a museum piece—it’s a living home, part of a street filled with music, conversation, and the daily rhythm of urban life. It perfectly reflects San Francisco itself: elegant, resilient, creative, and always ready to surprise.
Inside the Sea Ranch Chapel on California’s rugged Sonoma Coast, craftsmanship and spirituality merge in a space that feels both intimate and transcendent. The interior, shown here, reveals a symphony of materials—curving redwood, hand-forged metalwork, and textured stone—each chosen to evoke the organic harmony between human creation and the natural world. Designed by architect James Hubbell in collaboration with a team of artisans, the chapel is a sculptural marvel, conceived not as a traditional religious building but as a sanctuary for reflection, creativity, and peace.
The flowing redwood ribs that arc overhead recall the motion of waves, while the stone walls ground the space in the earth itself. Sunlight filters through stained-glass windows in hues of amber, green, and blue, creating a dynamic play of color that shifts throughout the day. Each piece of glass was handcrafted by Hubbell’s studio, designed to refract the coastal light into living patterns across the chapel’s surfaces.
In this view, a graceful wrought-iron gate frames a bench and cross detail at the heart of the space. The metal’s organic tendrils mimic seaweed or flame, symbolizing life’s continual movement and renewal. The juxtaposition of raw stone and finely worked wood demonstrates the chapel’s central philosophy: art as an extension of nature, where spiritual experience is born through the tactile and sensory.
The Sea Ranch Chapel was completed in 1985, funded by the Brown family as a memorial to their son. True to the Sea Ranch ethos of blending built forms with the landscape, the chapel nestles unobtrusively into its environment, echoing the region’s cliffs, surf, and forests. Its design encourages quiet contemplation—whether one enters to meditate, pray, or simply admire the craftsmanship, the space invites an emotional connection that transcends words.
Every curve and texture within the chapel carries the unmistakable imprint of human hands. Rather than relying on uniformity or industrial precision, Hubbell embraced imperfection as part of the building’s soul. The result is a space that feels alive—like driftwood shaped by tide and time. Visitors often describe the interior as a living sculpture, one that changes character with every passing beam of light.
The Sea Ranch Chapel stands today not only as an architectural gem but also as a meditation on the relationship between art, faith, and the environment. It reminds us that sacredness can be found in the material world—in the grain of wood, the chill of stone, and the quiet glow of glass touched by the sun.
At the intersection of Addison Street and Milvia in downtown Berkeley, California, this distinctive corner building catches the morning light with the warmth and playfulness that define the city’s evolving urban fabric. The curved facade, with its layered stucco tones of sage, ochre, and terracotta, introduces softness to an otherwise angular downtown streetscape. Beneath its rounded tower sits Pho Tasty, a neighborhood favorite whose presence adds a sensory richness to the architectural composition—steam, sound, and spice blending seamlessly with form and color.
This building represents the adaptive evolution of Berkeley’s architecture, where modern infill coexists with early 20th-century landmarks. Its smooth plaster surfaces, clean lines, and rhythmic window pattern nod to Art Deco and Streamline Moderne influences while expressing a distinctly Californian sensitivity to light. The rounded corner, framed by tall vertical windows, acts as both focal point and invitation—drawing the eye upward and echoing the city’s architectural tradition of balancing pragmatism with poise.
Berkeley’s downtown renewal projects of the late 20th and early 21st centuries sought precisely this blend: civic architecture that feels modern yet humane, engaging the street with texture and color rather than glass monotony. This corner structure accomplishes that goal elegantly, its ground-floor retail activating the pedestrian experience while upper floors provide residential or mixed-use space that connects urban life to community rhythm.
Seen through the lens of architectural photography, the building’s geometry unfolds in layers. Vertical window bands interrupt soft plaster curves, while the crisp shadow lines of the cornice and overhangs trace the day’s passing light. It’s a composition in movement—alive with reflection, contrast, and proportion. The weathered banners announcing Berkeley City College nearby serve as subtle reminders that education, innovation, and design coexist within a few city blocks.
In a city long associated with academic energy and cultural experimentation, this building stands as a visual metaphor for Berkeley itself—thoughtful, diverse, and always evolving. It doesn’t shout for attention; it glows quietly, letting the light and the city tell the rest of the story.
SKY @ CENTRAL PARK (old Fosters Brewery site)
www.centralparksydney.com/live/sky
"In November 2014, One Central Park was declared the Best Tall Building Worldwide by the esteemed Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, in Chicago. We agree."
VERTICAL GARDENS
www.centralparksydney.com/explore/a-sustainable-habitat
"Species include varieties of red, pink and purple bougainvillea, dwarf bottle brushes, with deep-red flowers, and vine species with flowers in whites, reds, yellows and purples."
Patrick Blanc - Vertical Garden Designer
"LIVING ARCHITECTURE” BY PATRICK BLANC
www.centralparksydney.com/explore/the-visionaries/patrick...
The story behind Patrick Blanc vertical gardens at Sydney’s One Central Park
www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/the-story-behind-pa...
One Central Park Vertical Gardens - Patrick Blanc
Sydney, Australia, 2013
A closer look upward in this Portuguese restaurant reveals not a simple ceiling, but a masterpiece of architectural texture—a marriage of craftsmanship and time. Here, stone and plaster tell a quiet story of human touch: every groove, every line, every chiselled surface shaped by centuries of local building tradition. The tactile rhythm of the pattern evokes both the discipline of masonry and the poetry of design, as if the structure itself were breathing the memory of its builders.
In Portugal, architecture has long celebrated surfaces as storytelling tools. The interplay between rough and smooth, matte and sheen, is as deliberate as any tilework in Lisbon or fresco in Sintra. This ceiling detail exemplifies heritage architecture at its most intimate scale—where beauty is not found in ornament but in texture, proportion, and the dance of light across uneven stone. Morning sunlight brushes gently across the ridged plaster, emphasizing the geometric hatching and concentric curves that might once have echoed the rhythms of the vaulted ceilings above.
The warm palette of ochres and creams reflects the earthy tones of Portuguese clay and limestone—materials abundant across the Iberian Peninsula and beloved for their durability and honesty. These surfaces are not perfect; they are preserved, proudly bearing the patina of time. That authenticity connects diners beneath it to something deeper than décor: the enduring artistry of historic preservation and architectural reuse.
Such interiors reveal how Portugal integrates the old with the new. Many contemporary restaurants are built within historic frameworks—former stables, convents, or warehouses—lovingly adapted into vibrant dining spaces. This commitment to adaptive reuse ensures the nation’s architectural legacy remains part of its living culture. The effect is both physical and emotional: dining beneath such craftsmanship feels like an act of gratitude, an acknowledgment of beauty that endures through centuries.
Photographically, the appeal lies in the structure’s architectural symmetry and its tactile rhythm. The precision of the composition—half smooth limestone, half patterned brick—draws the viewer into a dialogue between permanence and imperfection. It’s a study in contrast, but also in continuity, as tradition literally supports the present-day space.
In the end, this ceiling detail is less about design and more about devotion—to craft, to place, to history. The stones may be silent, but their surface hums with centuries of Portuguese artistry.
Crowned by crenellations and framed against a brilliant Atlantic sky, this watchtower of the Palácio Nacional da Pena—Pena Palace—embodies the whimsical spirit of Portuguese Romanticism. Perched atop the Serra de Sintra, this eclectic masterpiece overlooks rolling forests, the ocean beyond, and the centuries of architectural history that inspired its creation. Conceived in the mid-19th century by King Ferdinand II, the palace reimagined the ruins of a monastery as a fantasy castle drawn from dreams and legend. Its towers and terraces, each painted in vivid hues of yellow, purple, and red, merge the medieval with the mythical, turning architecture into an expression of imagination.
The tower in this image showcases the palace’s playful mix of Neo-Gothic, Neo-Manueline, and Moorish influences. The castellated parapet and narrow archways recall the fortresses of medieval Portugal, while the dome and adjacent tiled façades evoke Islamic geometry and seafaring ornament. Its weathered stone and warm ochre tones blend effortlessly with the surrounding vegetation, making the palace appear as though it grew organically from the Sintra hillsides.
More than a royal residence, Pena Palace was a declaration of cultural identity. In a century marked by political change, King Ferdinand sought to celebrate Portugal’s architectural past through revival and reinvention. His vision harmonized historical motifs with Romantic ideals of nature, nostalgia, and creative freedom. The result is a structure that feels at once ancient and fantastical, standing at the crossroads of art and landscape.
Visitors approaching the palace from below often first glimpse this very tower rising above the treetops—a beacon of gold against the blue Sintra sky. Up close, its details reveal the artistry that defines the entire complex: the rounded turrets, the intricately carved stonework, and the deliberate contrasts between smooth plaster and rugged masonry. Every viewpoint offers a new composition of form, color, and light.
Today, the Palácio Nacional da Pena is one of Portugal’s most treasured landmarks and part of the Cultural Landscape of Sintra, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It stands not just as a testament to 19th-century design but as a living symbol of imagination and national pride. To stand beneath this tower, surrounded by the scent of pine and the distant sound of the Atlantic wind, is to step into a dream of Portugal itself—where history, romance, and landscape exist in perfect balance.
Beneath the brilliant Portuguese sun, the ornate tower of the Sintra Town Hall rises like a fairytale spire—its whitewashed walls and patterned tile roof glowing against a cloudless blue sky. Officially known as the Câmara Municipal de Sintra, this remarkable structure embodies the Neo-Manueline revival that swept through Portugal in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. With its intricate stone tracery, decorative pinnacles, and playful asymmetry, the building is both civic architecture and national self-portrait—a proud celebration of Portuguese identity through design.
The Neo-Manueline style, rooted in the sixteenth-century Age of Discovery, was revived at a time when Portugal was rediscovering its cultural heritage. Architects drew inspiration from the ornate maritime motifs of the original Manueline period—shells, ropes, crosses, and botanical flourishes—and reinterpreted them through a modern lens. Sintra’s town hall, completed in 1910 by architect Adães Bermudes, stands as one of the finest examples of this revival. Its tower, capped with a teal-tiled crown and golden orb, serves as both a literal and symbolic beacon for the town below.
From the cobblestone roundabout, where bright flowers spill into view, the building’s rhythmic symmetry commands attention. Each window is framed with decorative plasterwork and iron lattice patterns that echo the fluid geometry of Gothic and Moorish design. The structure’s balance of precision and whimsy reflects the same architectural conversation found throughout Sintra—a place where Romanticism, nationalism, and craftsmanship converge.
Standing before it, one can almost hear the hum of history. Once the seat of municipal governance, the town hall remains a working civic space, its meeting rooms and offices still resonant with the steady pulse of public life. Yet the architecture transcends utility—it’s a gesture of pride, the kind of building that reminds its citizens that beauty has a civic duty of its own. The decorative crown, gleaming in sunlight, is no mere flourish; it’s an emblem of Sintra’s enduring blend of elegance and imagination.
For photographers, the tower’s creamy tones and precise shadows invite endless exploration. The structure embodies the very essence of architectural photography—contrast, rhythm, proportion, and texture, each playing its part in the visual harmony. Yet beyond composition, the story lies in how this building mirrors the town’s evolution. It bridges eras: the medieval charm of Sintra’s narrow streets, the Romantic dreamscapes of Pena Palace above, and the forward-looking optimism of twentieth-century civic design.
In a town known for palaces, this is a different kind of monument—one that doesn’t retreat into myth but instead rises confidently into modernity. Its presence feels both historical and alive, a reminder that even in an age of simplicity, Portugal’s architectural voice remains richly, defiantly ornate.
Nestled beneath a canopy of green, this ornate fountain in Porto, Portugal, blends Moorish and Romantic Revival styles with extraordinary detail. Its horseshoe arches, intricate stonework, and patterned azulejos evoke centuries of cultural fusion that define Portuguese architecture. The play of sunlight across tile and stone gives the structure a timeless glow, while its serene presence along the quiet roadside invites passersby to pause and reflect. Once a civic ornament and source of refreshment, it now stands as a sculptural tribute to Porto’s layered artistic heritage—where North African influence meets nineteenth-century European imagination in the heart of the city.
A soaring view of the Library of Congress's Thomas Jefferson Building reveals the astonishing grandeur of its stained glass skylight and richly decorated ceiling. This image captures the view straight up into the heart of the Main Hall’s upper reaches, where Renaissance Revival splendor meets American optimism. The meticulously designed skylight—composed of nine intricately patterned stained glass panels—floods the hall below with diffused natural light, filtered through deep blues, pale greens, and soft amber hues arranged in dazzling floral rosettes. Each pane is framed in classical molding and bordered with coffered recesses, lending the ceiling architectural depth and rhythmic balance.
Surrounding the skylight is an explosion of Gilded Age ornamentation. Vibrant murals adorn the curved lunettes, where allegorical figures, winged cherubs, and classical motifs dance amidst scrolls and garlands. Dominated by deep greens, ochres, and golds, the painted ceiling panels feature lavish symbolism, including cornucopias, lyres, doves, and open books—visual metaphors celebrating knowledge, abundance, and the arts. Painted inscriptions, winged figures, and decorative medallions emphasize themes of enlightenment and civic virtue. These decorations, executed under the direction of the master artist Edwin Howland Blashfield and other artisans of the 1890s, elevate the room into a temple of American intellectual achievement.
The photograph’s strong vertical composition draws the eye directly into the stained glass skylight, flanked by fluted pilasters and Corinthian capitals that hint at the structure's monumental scale. The clarity of the glasswork, combined with the warmth of the muraled soffits and barrel vaults, illustrates the harmonious integration of architecture and fine art—a defining characteristic of the Beaux-Arts style.
Built between 1890 and 1897, the Thomas Jefferson Building was conceived as a showcase of American progress and democratic ideals. The ceiling’s opulence was never meant to intimidate but to inspire: to suggest that every citizen had the right to knowledge, learning, and beauty. In that spirit, the murals, stained glass, and ornamentation are not just decorative—they’re didactic, layered with meaning and designed to educate every visitor who looks up.
Today, this ceiling remains one of the most photographed and admired architectural features in Washington, D.C. Whether visited by scholars, tourists, or architectural enthusiasts, it serves as a reminder of the nation's commitment to culture and civic literacy. The interplay of light, art, and symbolism in this space continues to evoke awe—a testament to the enduring power of public architecture done right.
In this quietly luminous corner of the Doolan-Larson Building, time feels suspended. The honeyed light filtering through the blinds catches the polished grain of the wood-paneled walls, bathing the room in tones of amber and nostalgia. Once the heart of a historic San Francisco landmark at the intersection of Haight and Ashbury, this space—intimate and steeped in history—embodies the layered soul of the city itself.
Built in 1903, the Doolan-Larson Building has witnessed the full sweep of San Francisco’s transformation—from Edwardian prosperity to the bohemian counterculture that defined the 1960s. Within these interiors, the craftsmanship of another era endures: wainscoting, crown molding, and marbleized plaster walls that glow softly in the afternoon sun. The faint scuffs on the hardwood floor, the uneven warmth of the blinds—all speak to decades of lived experience. It’s not just a room; it’s a document of continuity and care.
The photograph’s architectural composition plays on symmetry and shadow, evoking the quiet introspection of historic interiors. Here, the eye drifts naturally to the small writing table—a gesture of human scale amid the architectural order. The mood suggests solitude and reflection, a private moment within a public story. It captures not only a beautiful room, but also the feeling of stewardship that defines heritage architecture and historic preservation across San Francisco.
Spaces like this invite reverence. The Doolan-Larson’s interiors have been lovingly preserved through the efforts of preservationists and the San Francisco Landmarks Board, maintaining their role as witnesses to both architectural and cultural evolution. In an age of steel and glass, such interiors remind us of the tactile poetry of wood, plaster, and filtered sunlight—the materials that once defined urban sophistication.
To photograph this scene is to honor a lineage of design: architectural detail that values restraint, craft, and proportion. The subdued palette enhances the sense of intimacy, while the geometry of the blinds and wall panels forms a natural rhythm—a symphony in light and line.
This image is both portrait and preservation: a study in how light interacts with memory. It tells a story not just of a building, but of the city that continues to reinvent itself while holding fast to its most beautiful spaces.
Bathed in soft coastal light, the entryway of the Sea Ranch Chapel feels like a passage into another world—one shaped by artistry, faith, and the surrounding rhythms of nature. Completed in 1985, this small, non-denominational chapel stands as one of the most beloved architectural treasures along the Sonoma Coast. Designed by architect James Hubbell, a master of organic architecture, the building’s form evokes both a seashell and a bird in flight, rising from the earth in flowing, sculptural harmony.
The entry doors, shown here open to the light, embody Hubbell’s lifelong fascination with craftsmanship and natural materials. Hand-carved from wood and inset with stained glass, they twist upward in a fluid gesture reminiscent of kelp or flame. The glass itself—crafted in vibrant greens, blues, and ambers—filters sunlight into living patterns that dance across the stone floor. Each element, from the smooth wooden ribs to the rough stone base, is designed to feel tactile and handmade, inviting touch as much as sight.
The patinated copper roof overhead tells its own story of time and weather. Once gleaming, it has softened into a rich green that mirrors the coastal vegetation around it, further anchoring the chapel in its landscape. This dialogue between materials—wood, glass, stone, and metal—reflects Hubbell’s belief that architecture should age gracefully, blending back into nature rather than competing with it.
Inside, the chapel continues this theme of organic unity. Every surface curves, every beam bends as if grown rather than built. Light enters not through conventional windows, but through stained glass that illuminates the interior with hues that shift throughout the day. The result is a living architecture that changes moment to moment—a space of peace and reflection shaped by artistry and the natural world.
The Sea Ranch Chapel was built as a spiritual gift to the community, a place for solitude, meditation, and ceremony. While The Sea Ranch is internationally known for its modernist design ethos—defined by architects like Charles Moore, Donlyn Lyndon, and Joseph Esherick—Hubbell’s chapel adds a lyrical counterpoint to that rationalist legacy. It reminds visitors that emotion, spirituality, and craftsmanship are also integral parts of architecture’s language.
Standing at this threshold, one feels the convergence of human creativity and natural grace. The Sea Ranch Chapel is not just a building—it is a prayer in form, light, and material.
Standing proudly on the corner beneath shifting clouds, the CornerstoneSF Church building in San Francisco captures the ornate romanticism of early 20th-century Moorish Revival architecture. Its indigo façade, graceful arches, and intricate white trim bring to mind Mediterranean and Andalusian influences—an unexpected yet harmonious presence in the heart of the city.
The building’s crowning tower, with its arcaded openings and deep eaves, recalls a bell tower or minaret, while the rhythmic repetition of arches across the façade adds an architectural lyricism that speaks to the optimism of its era. Constructed during a period when many American architects drew from eclectic global styles, this structure fuses spiritual aspiration with the craftsmanship of civic pride. The stucco walls and decorative plasterwork show the hand of artisans who believed in architecture as storytelling—a theme that resonates deeply in San Francisco’s layered urban fabric.
Originally built as a church, the building has evolved over time but continues to serve as a gathering space for community and reflection. Its vivid blue hue feels contemporary, yet the sculptural massing and ornamental flourishes firmly root it in the early 1900s. The repetition of Moorish motifs—horseshoe arches, geometric patterns, and flowing cornices—evokes a dialogue between light and shadow, faith and artistry. The choice of color adds to the emotional charge: blue for calm and devotion, white for purity and transcendence.
From street level, the structure’s welcoming arched entryway and rhythmic fenestration lead the eye upward, culminating in the delicate tracery that crowns the tower. Like much of San Francisco’s eclectic architecture, the building is a visual bridge between worlds—historical yet alive, sacred yet civic. Its enduring beauty lies in its balance between ornament and proportion, the play of historical reference and local identity.
Today, CornerstoneSF continues the building’s long legacy of gathering, performance, and connection. The architecture reminds visitors of the city’s openness to reinvention: a place where ornate historic forms coexist with contemporary use. Whether admired for its spiritual presence or its decorative power, this building remains one of the Mission District’s most visually distinctive landmarks—a testament to San Francisco’s ongoing dialogue between past and present, art and life.
TransGrid’s new Haymarket HQ in Sydney has become the first NSW project to be awarded a 6 Star Green Star Office Interiors v1.1 rating in round one of assessment, exceeding its original sustainability targets at no extra cost thanks to initiatives from the project team, client and subcontractors.
The building has also been awarded 5 Star Green Star Office Design V3 and 5 Star Green Star Office As Built V3 ratings, and recently won the contractor, Built, a NSW Master Builders Association Award for Excellence in Resource Efficiency for its dematerialised fitout and high waste recycling rate.
The design for the nine-storey commercial office building by Bates Smart, Enstruct and Arup was the winning entry in a City of Sydney design excellence competition. The building is situated above an existing four-storey building, and an innovative use of heavy steel trusses across the roof of the existing building to act as a giant transfer truss enabled the new structure to cantilever six metres out beyond the envelope of the existing building, giving an extra 300 square metres of floorplate for each level.
Source:http://www.thefifthestate.com.au/case-studies/transgrids-new-hq-exceeding-targets-and-why-less-is-more/69804
And for more information
www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/bates-smart-cantile...
Rising at the edge of San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood, this contemporary structure at 100 Hooper Street demonstrates how adaptive urban architecture can balance innovation and warmth. Its façade alternates between sleek black metal and classic red brick, creating a dialogue between the industrial history of the surrounding area and the precision of 21st-century design. The building’s massing is distinctly modern—crisp, geometric, and composed of clean vertical lines—but its human-scaled ground level and textured materials invite approachability.
Designed with flexibility and sustainability in mind, the structure reflects San Francisco’s ongoing evolution from a city of factories and shipyards into a hub for technology, design, and education. The use of brick at the base roots the building in the city’s architectural past, while the upper stories of dark, minimalist cladding and glass communicate forward-thinking intent. Together, they embody the dual character of the Mission Bay district—historic yet future-oriented, practical yet refined.
The intersection of Hooper and 7th Street, where this photo was taken, has become a showcase for the city’s new generation of mixed-use buildings. The adjacent California College of the Arts (CCA) campus contributes a creative pulse to the area, while nearby biotech and design firms highlight the district’s diverse economy. This proximity between creative and technological spaces is no accident—it’s part of a broader effort to cultivate interdisciplinary collaboration through thoughtful urban design.
Light plays a crucial role in defining this architecture. The narrow vertical windows cut cleanly through the façade, catching San Francisco’s sharp coastal sunlight and revealing subtle tonal variations in the exterior materials. In the late afternoon, the building glows softly against the blue sky, its forms sharpened by the long shadows typical of the city’s western light. The result is a space that feels both substantial and alive, an urban composition of rhythm and restraint.
As with much of San Francisco’s contemporary architecture, 100 Hooper embodies sustainability not just as a set of features, but as a philosophy of permanence. Its materials are chosen for longevity; its form for adaptability. The design invites natural light deep into its interior spaces, minimizing energy use while enhancing the experience of those who work and study within. It’s a quietly confident building—urban in scale, timeless in detail, and distinctly Californian in spirit.
Rising at the edge of downtown Berkeley, Berkeley City College presents a striking vision of modern academic architecture—an interplay of glass, concrete, and light that reflects the city’s forward-thinking spirit. The building’s bold façade balances transparency and solidity: a dynamic expression of how education bridges structure and imagination. Framed by clean geometric forms and a central cylindrical volume, it’s an urban statement of function meeting aspiration.
Designed to integrate with Berkeley’s dense, walkable core, the college embodies the principle of accessibility both physically and philosophically. Its glass curtain walls open the interior to the city, symbolizing knowledge that’s visible, public, and shared. Inside, atriums and open staircases create natural light pathways, guiding students and visitors through a space that feels alive with motion and purpose. From street level, the entry’s symmetry draws the eye upward—an architectural metaphor for academic ascent.
The building’s design language leans on modernist influences, recalling the legacy of California’s civic architecture that values clarity and restraint. The juxtaposition of materials—polished metal against raw concrete, cool glass against warm beige stone—echoes Berkeley’s own duality: intellectual rigor housed in a city known for creative rebellion. It’s a study in contrasts, where precision coexists with openness.
Completed in the early 2000s, Berkeley City College’s main campus stands as part of the Peralta Community College District, serving a diverse student body drawn from across the Bay Area. The architecture reflects that diversity—not ornamental, but inclusive and transparent, built for collaboration rather than hierarchy. The cylindrical form crowning the structure acts almost like an observatory, hinting at curiosity and discovery as its guiding ideals.
Photographically, the building rewards patience. At different times of day, sunlight transforms its planes into a living composition of shadow and reflection. The structure becomes a mirror for Berkeley’s ever-shifting sky, connecting earthbound education with the vastness of possibility.
In a city famous for its Victorian and Craftsman architecture, this modernist landmark offers a counterpoint—a sign that Berkeley’s architectural story is still being written. It honors the same values that built its predecessors: beauty, purpose, and the pursuit of enlightenment.
The UCSF Health building in Mission Bay, San Francisco stands as a sleek emblem of 21st-century healthcare design, combining glass, metal, and light in an architectural expression of precision and purpose. This structure reflects the University of California, San Francisco’s evolution into one of the world’s leading centers for biomedical research, patient care, and education. Set within the city’s thriving innovation corridor—where life sciences and technology converge—the building anchors UCSF’s Mission Bay campus, home to hospitals, laboratories, and institutes shaping the future of medicine.
The façade’s composition of reflective glass panels and silvery cladding mirrors both the literal and symbolic transparency of the institution’s mission: openness to discovery, collaboration, and care. The rhythm of vertical windows and the interplay of morning light on its surfaces evoke the precision of a clinical environment while softened by the palm trees that punctuate the sidewalk below—a reminder that even the most technical spaces exist within the life and texture of San Francisco.
Architecturally, UCSF Health’s Mission Bay facilities were designed with sustainability and wellness at their core. Natural light floods patient rooms and workspaces, reducing energy use and supporting emotional well-being. The building’s stacked, offset massing creates terraces and shaded recesses, ensuring both efficiency and comfort. Each level functions as part of an interconnected ecosystem—research, treatment, and education all integrated under one roof to accelerate the path from scientific discovery to healing.
But beyond its glass and steel, the building embodies a civic promise. It represents San Francisco’s ongoing investment in public health and innovation, extending UCSF’s legacy from Parnassus Heights to a waterfront neighborhood reborn from industrial land into a global health district. Patients arrive here not only from across California but from around the world, seeking advanced care in oncology, neurology, pediatrics, and precision medicine. Researchers and clinicians collaborate across disciplines, redefining what’s possible in human health.
Viewed in the afternoon light, the building’s façade glows with the same quiet confidence as the city itself—curious, resilient, forward-looking. In a city long known for its spirit of reinvention, UCSF Health’s Mission Bay campus embodies San Francisco’s newest frontier: not gold, not code, but care.
Bathed in soft afternoon light, this magnificent horseshoe arch marks one of the most striking entrances of the Palácio Nacional da Pena—Pena Palace—in Sintra, Portugal. Its Moorish-inspired geometry, intricate tilework, and crenellated parapet showcase the richly eclectic spirit that defines the entire palace complex. Rising from the misty Serra de Sintra, this gateway invites visitors into a dreamscape where Gothic, Renaissance, and Islamic architectural influences intertwine in a vivid Romantic fantasy.
Built in the mid-19th century under the direction of King Ferdinand II, the palace stands as one of Europe’s earliest and most iconic examples of Romantic architecture. The monarch, deeply influenced by German and Austrian castles, envisioned Pena as a place where imagination could run free—a fairytale retreat filled with symbolism and beauty. This particular archway, with its alternating stone voussoirs and tiled interior wall, reflects Portugal’s historic dialogue between cultures, echoing the Mudéjar and Moorish design traditions that once flourished across the Iberian Peninsula.
The glazed azulejos adorning the inner face of the arch shimmer in the sunlight, their blue-green hues playing off the warm ochre of the surrounding walls. Each tile, meticulously arranged, contributes to the rhythmic pattern that defines Portuguese artistry. The crenellations above, reminiscent of medieval battlements, add an element of fortress-like strength to this otherwise ornamental gateway. It’s an entrance that feels simultaneously defensive and decorative—a perfect embodiment of the Romantic era’s fascination with history, myth, and visual drama.
Beyond its aesthetic brilliance, the arch serves as a threshold—both literal and symbolic. Passing through it, visitors leave the everyday world behind and step into the realm of imagination that Pena Palace represents. The winding paths beyond lead to terraces, domes, and courtyards of contrasting colors and forms, each revealing another layer of Ferdinand’s vision: an architectural dialogue between past and present, Europe and the Orient, dream and reality.
Today, the Palácio Nacional da Pena is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, celebrated for its visionary blend of architecture and landscape. Standing beneath this archway, surrounded by lush ferns and distant mountain views, one feels the palace’s enduring magic—a reminder that great design transcends time, uniting beauty and storytelling in a single breathtaking composition.