Catch up with highlights from our digital travels this week…

Gong-worthy Olympic architecture

ZHA Acquatics Centre
Photography: Hufton + Crow

The competition isn’t limited to the track at the Olympic Games. Every year, the host nation battles it out to build the best venues.  Architectural Digest has turned stadium gazing into a sport, bringing us the definitive guide to the best Olympic architecture throughout the decades.

Remains of the Games

Berlin 1936 Olympic Swimming Pool
Photography: Andreas Leven

While some Olympic feats remain lasting achievements, others meet a less illustrious fate. In the race to outdo each other, countries often leave common sense at the starting block. Atlas Obscura has uncovered five abandoned Olympic monuments which – in the absence of medal-winning athletes – are being reclaimed by nature.

The Jetsons meets Waterworld

Photography: WaterNest 100
Photography: WaterNest 100

Looking for a waterside escape? This 98% recyclable house goes one step further, letting owners bed-down in a pod-like floating home. The aptly named WaterNest 100 takes its eco credentials seriously, cocooning residents in timber shell covered in solar panels. As Inhabitat reports, a smartphone app even lets them keep track of its battery level and location… in case their home floats away.

More madcap architecture

Tianmen Mountain walkway
Via Wired

China continues its reputation for big, bold architecture, with a death-defying glass walkway that wraps around Tianmen Mountain. Named the Coiling Dragon Cliff skywalk, the pathway suspends walkers 1,500 metres above ground, and takes 99 turns to reach the top of the mountain. Join Wired for a vertigo-inducing tour of the walkway – the latest madcap architectural attraction to open this summer.

Bounce around Ricardo Bofill’s Spanish icon

Ricardo Bofill’s pastel-hued La Muralla Roja housing estate seems perfectly designed for the Instagram age. Now we can admire it from all its photogenic angles in a new music video from Martin Solveig – a French DJ and producer. Watch the 1960s building come to life via Curbed.

Read next: JR installs two giant athletes in sites across Rio for the Olympics Games

Latest

Latest



		
	
Share Tweet