6 awe-inspiring architectural wonders around the world
Architecture across the globe is drastically different; discover something new with these design and architectural wonders.
Buildings are works of art in their own right, created from the imaginative minds of impressive architects and designers. If you dig checking out digs, take a look at these man-made marvels from around the world.
1. Casa Wabi, Oaxaco Coast, Mexico
Travelling with: Neha Kale
It ripples through my body somewhere beyond my line of vision, the sound of the wave that booms like a thunderclap. The surfers who have flocked here since the 1970s called it the Mexican pipeline, this swell that rises and falls with the insistence of a heartbeat on this golden stretch of Mexico’s Oaxacan coast.
Casa Wabi is adorned with abstract sculptures.
Last night, I had marvelled at it on our balcony during one of those Fanta-orange sunsets that are synonymous with Puerto Escondido. But now, I am standing inside the 10-metre-tall observatory at Casa Wabi. It leans on a 60-degree angle in the direction of the Pacific, like a temple half-buried in sand.
See the sky anew from within the observatory.
The acoustics are near-perfect: artists have been known to play their guitars here. I sit on the wooden bench and look up. Through the aperture, a piece of the sky floats – a flawless, bleached-blue oval.
Explore site-specific exhibitions at the art centre.
Over the edge of the wall, the Sierra Madre del Sur mountain range hovers ghost-like on the horizon, four kilometres above sea level. Here, the collision of mountain and sky and ocean exude an elemental power. My senses are stretched. I’m awake to the primal energy of the landscape in a way I’ve never been before.
Hotel Terrestre is run on solar power. (Image: Bookings through designhotels.com)
2. The Taj Mahal, Agra, India
Travelling with: Carla Grossetti
The Taj Mahal presents as poetry in the form of architecture. And there is perhaps no grander gesture of love than this man-made marvel, built from acres of pearlescent marble as a tomb to honour the love the 17th-century Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan had for his beloved queen Mumtaz Mahal.
The poetic grandeur of The Taj Mahal never fades.
India’s most identifiable monument, which features a mosque, guesthouse, gateway, gardens, courtyard and cloisters, has been drawing hopeless romantics to its picturesque location on the banks of the Yamuna River in Agra for centuries. It’s the absolute embodiment of an era.
The Taj Mahal is India’s most identifiable monument.
3. Alhambra, Granada, Spain
Travelling with: Emily Murphy
A masterpiece of medieval Islamic architecture, the Alhambra looms over Granada, astounding anyone who wanders into its realm. Constructed in the 13th century, this sprawling hilltop fortress complex incorporates Nasrid-era royal palaces and the Generalife summer palace.
Alhambra Palace is bordered by beautiful rectangular courtyards and fountains.
Designed with mosaics, carved stucco, geometric patterns, vegetal motifs, Arabic calligraphy and muqarnas (decorative vaulting), the Alhambra reflects the tradition of Moorish architecture developed over previous centuries, while also displaying elements of Spanish Renaissance architecture. The Alhambra is the only preserved palatine city of the Islamic period and became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984.
The mystical fortress of Alhambra used to be inhabited by Nasrid Sultans, rulers of the last Spanish Muslim Kingdom.
4. Rock-hewn Churches, Lalibela, Ethiopia
Travelling with: Carla Grossetti
Ethiopia has some of the world’s most notable examples of early design and architecture set among soul-stirring landscapes. The 11 monolithic rock-hewn churches at Lalibela, for instance, date back to the 13th century, commissioned by King Gebre Meskel Lalibela to recreate the city of Jerusalem within his own kingdom.
St George Church is one of the iconic rock-hewn monolithic churches in Lalibela, Ethiopia.
And in the highlands of the Simien Mountains, you’ll find the UNESCO Heritage-listed castles of Gondar, known as the ‘Camelot of Africa’. You can witness these enthralling sites on an Abercrombie & Kent tour, either by following an existing itinerary or jigsawing together a bespoke adventure.
Worshipers in white gather around the rock-hewn church.
5. Museums of the Arabian Peninsula
Travelling with: Sarah Reid
First, in 2008, came the gleaming white cubist confection better known as the I. M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), the building that put Qatar’s capital on the architectural map.
The National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ) is a groundbreaking heritage museum.
Then, in 2019, a spectacular assemblage of giant discs reminiscent of a desert-rose crystal marked the new and vastly improved National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ) – and solidified Doha’s standing as a serious player in the design world.
Louvre Abu Dhabi is the Arab world’s first universal museum.
Reopened in 2022, MIA’s refreshed exhibits are now as impressive as its exterior. Across the Gulf, the Jean Nouvel-designed Louvre Abu Dhabi, inaugurated in 2017, is a modern masterpiece that puts a new spin on ancient Islamic architecture.
The Museum of Islamic Art showcases the diverse cultural heritage of Muslims.
6. Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, Isfahan, Iran
Travelling with: Catherine Marshall
Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque’s delicately tiled dome mushrooms above the flat-roofed buildings barricading Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan, Iran.
Naqsh-e Jahan Square is a glorious masterpiece that is home to iconic mosques.
Step inside this 17th-century masterpiece and float in a bowl of blue: lapis and sea-green tiles veined with gold arabesques and Quranic inscriptions. When the sun pours in through a lofty window and strikes the aquamarine floor, it will feel like a benediction.
The Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque was impressively built during the Safavid Empire.
This was beautiful thank you.