马升东 MSD Magic Structure Design

Our homes are our castles… that old maxim dates from the days when one’s abode was a slovenly hovel, a well-mannered manor house or even an actual castle. The same goes for public buildings, apartment blocks and factories. Our buildings are the covers our enterprises - and ourselves - are judged by. These 136 brilliant buildings show, in so many ways, that when it comes to architecture skyscrapers reflect our soaring imaginations.

15 Amazing Monasteries, Sanctuaries and Abbies

Isolation, sacrifice, piety and purity - the severe qualities religious ascetics demand from themselves, they also require from their buildings. These incredible structures were built to house the most devoted of the faithful and neither hardship nor difficulty was allowed to stand in the way of their completion. From the sides of sheer cliffs to the tops of monumental pillars of stone, the houses of the holy were built to last for centuries - to glorify He who built the world in 7 days. Click Here for more Amazing Monasteries, Sanctuaries and Abbies

15 Immaculate Temples, Cathedrals and Churches

From time immemorial, religious leaders sought to display the rightness of their sect by constructing buildings that reflected the power and the glory of their Lord. Indeed, churches (and castles) were the forerunners of today’s glittering centers of power. They were an effective way to show the people, “Hey, my God is the greatest… just look at his house!” Click Here for more examples of Immaculate Temples, Cathedrals and Churches

7 Urban Wonders of the Modern World

Urban life is the hallmark of the modern man - and the modern woman. Our structures have surpassed being merely the sum of their bricks & mortar and have entered the realm of wonder: they do not just stand, they soar! Click Here for some astonishing examples of Urban Wonders of the Modern World

15 Cool High School, College and University Building Designs

Too cool for school? Not these cutting edge-ucational facilities! If students benefit from learning in inspiring surroundings, we may expect a gradual succession of graduates inspired to change their world, year after year. And while nothing can diminish the classic look of ivy-covered ivory towers, these totally rad school buildings are in no way short of, er, class. Click Here for more examples of Cool High School, College and University Building Designs

Architecture to Go: 10 Great Gas Station Designs

The lure of the open road beckons and you’ve got a tiger in your tank. Fill ‘er up? From the look of some of these fired-up gas stations you’d think they were dispensing rocket fuel for your Olds Rocket 88. No one knows why filling stations featured 9and feature) such ambitious, breathtaking designs but when the sign says “last gas for 100 miles”, you make an effort to look special. Now you’re cooking… with gas! Click Here for more examples of Architecture to Go: 10 Great Gas Station Designs

20 Amazing Airport, Train & Bus Station Designs

David Bowie once sang, “you ride like a demon from station to station”, and some of the world’s most outstanding travel stops look otherworldly indeed. It’s also been said that the journey is more interesting than the destination - and it sure is, if you’re passing through these transportation hubs along the way. Trippin’ yet? You will be; the adventure doesn’t really start until you stop. Click Here for more examples of Amazing Airport, Train & Bus Station Designs

Beyond Brutalism: Creative Concrete Architecture

Massive. Hulking. Brutal. These words describe an architectural style that surprised many by its wide spread and long lifetime as the style of choice. Take a closer look and be surprised all over again - many of these concrete classics are beautiful brutes, well worth a second glance. Even the word “Brutalist” reveals new layers of meaning: the word was coind from the French “béton brut” = “raw concrete”. Raw. Unadulterated. Fresh. Need more proof? Click Here for more examples of buildings Beyond Brutalism: Creative Concrete Architecture

12 Unbelievable Examples of Buildings in Motion: From Floating Churches to Rotating Skyscrapers

Architecture can inspire, but can it move you? Can you move them? Sometimes the answer is YES on both counts… as in the case of these dozen dynamic, kinetic constructions. Though not for those inclined to vertigo, many of these unique buildings were built with permanence in mind - until Man and Nature intervened. Ancient Egypt, America’s Atlantic coast, even merrye olde England have seen seemingly solid structures suddenly shift. Click Here for more examples of Unbelievable Examples of Buildings in Motion

15 Awesome Architectural Optical Illusions

All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream… and these eye-bending buildings seem dreamlike indeed! Fooling the eye with an optical illusion is cheaper than remodeling an existing structure. Buildings designed to be visually interesting tend to remain interesting much longer. It all depends on how you look at them - literally. Click Here for more examples of Awesome Architectural Optical Illusions

Unbuilt Buildings: 12 Awesome Future Architectural Designs

History is made every day and who can say what wondrous architectural designs are yet to leap off the drafting table and into being? Well, WE can; plans for wild & woolly buildings bigger and better than before are being floated as we speak - read - whatever. Architects are a competitive bunch who are constantly looking to get their designs and names into the limelight. It’s up to the engineers to make these outlandish fantasies work in real life but for now… all we have to do is dream. Click Here for

So you thought the ancient and modern wonders created by mankind and creative contemporary architecture were something? From underground ant colonies that extend farther than the Great Wall of China to termite mounds that tower at nearly twice the relative height of the Burj Dubai (tallest skyscraper in the world), and from the largest multi-species spider web ever discovered to the longest beaver dam on the planet, here are seven of the most awe-inspiring animal architects and architectonic structures of the animal kingdom.

1) Towering Termites: Massive Earth Movers

(Source – Images via: nma, mcmillan and airninja)

Termites are amazing creatures by almost any metric. Their queens are 30 times the size of normal soldiers and workers and produce about 30 eggs per minute to keep the colony alive. Relative to their size, termites build the biggest structures of the animal kingdom – .4 inch creatures constructing towers weighing hundreds of tons and up to 25 feet in height and 40 feet in diameter (the human equivalent of 4,600 feet tall). And that is just 40 feet above the ground -  termites can also burrow as far as 225 feet underground.

2) Social Weavers: Avian Condo Architects

(Source – Images via: panoramio, webshots and flickr)

The so-called social (or sociable) weaver bird is one of the friendliest flyers in the sky. They combine forces and take over entire trees to make what can only be considered something like an awesome animal ‘apartment’ structure. Instead of building independent nests, up to 300 pairs of birds come together to build giant mega-nests up to 25 feet wide, 5 feet high and with an individual room for every couple. As with a huge condo complex, there are multiple ‘basement’ entrances that lead up through clusters of chambers.

3) Naked Mole Rats: Uncanny Underground Diggers

The naked mole rat goes by many names, including the potentially misleading “sand puppy” which might imply that these voracious diggers are cute and friendly fellows. They are uniquely eusocial amongst mammals, meaning they are hive-like and massively organized creatures like ants, bees, wasps and termites only much much larger and scarier looking. To add to their eeriness, they are essentially cold-blooded and feel absolutely no pain. Up to 100 of these strange creatures live together in a single underground habitat, which they dig with disproportionately gigantic sets of teeth that are placed in front of (rather than behind) their lips so they don’t swallow dirt. Naked mole rats can live for up to 28 years and colonies feed on tubers (engorged plant parts) that weigh up to 1000 times as much as an individual mole rat does.

4) Ants: Super-Strong Subterranean Excavators

The largest ant colony discovered to date stretches over 4000 miles across Europe – this super-colony is suspected to have billions of ants. Everyone knows that ants are incredible builders that can carry many times their own weight but few have gotten to see inside their spectacular subterranean structures. The particular colony shown above is 500 square feet in size, penetrates 25 feet into the ground and required the displacement of 40 tons of dirt to be created. As it was dug up, transit tunnels and ventilation inflow and outflow shafts were revealed as well as fungus gardens and trash pits. Be sure to watch the scientists unearth this monstrous architectural undertaking in this amazing video.

5) Caddisflies: Unique Underwater Builders

(Source – Images via: hunterian, cirrusimage, whatsthatbug)

Unlike most of the intriguing animals and animal architecture in this list the caddisfly and its buildings are not massive communally-constructed mega-structures. On the contrary, the caddisfly makes relatively minute architecture but does so with remarkable versatility and (perhaps a stretch) artistic license. Using whatever materials are available – from sand and shells to twigs and trash – the larval form of these so-called “underwater architects” build themselves mobile “shells” to protect them and provide natural camouflage (made from local materials) as they develop. Eventually, they grow mandibles and swim to the surface where they discard their unique architectural creations, flex their wings and fly away.

6) Dual-Built Beaver Dam: Longest in the World

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The longest recorded beaver dam in the world spans 2800 feet and has existed for over a decade. From the aerial images it is clear that at least two beaver families have worked in tandem in the construction of the record-setting structure. The nature of the wetland is such that long dams are needed to trap broad stretches of low-flowing water. Other dams in the area have been sized at up to 1500+ feet but at nearly 3000 feet this two-family dam is a one-of-a-kind discovery.

7) Communal Spider Web: Biggest in the World

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Thousands of spiders from twelve species worked together to construct this amazing web that spans over 600 feet. This is highly unusual behavior for spiders that normally fight over territory and prey, preferring to eat their enemies and build independent, solitary circular webs. However, record rainfalls provided such an abundance of edible insects that (scientists speculate) the spiders chose cooperation over conflict in this extraordinary case of evolutionary adaptation. Even more exceptional: the spiders did not just build it in the first place but have actually rebuilt the web three times after wind and rain has destroyed it.