gephyrophobiacs: look away now

this is the sky bridge in langkawi, malaysia, a stunning cable-stayed bridge which actually curves around the single support column from which it’s suspended, 687 metres above sea level. whilst the upside is incredible views, the downside for gephyrophobiacs is that you’re seemingly placing all your trust in a single, relatively thin lattice tower which also happens to be standing at an angle.

the grand shaft - amazing military engineering

here’s an incredible piece of wartime engineering - the grand shaft in dover. built between 1806 and 1809 during the napoleonic wars, this triple spiral staircase was used as a rapid route for soldiers making their way from the clifftop barracks to the town of dover and it’s harbour below. without it the troops had to navigate badly maintained winding roads from top to bottom.

6 incredible star forts

star forts are incredible, relatively unappreciated structures that have recently become a fascination of mine - humungous constructions that only really become visually stunning when you look down on them from above. this type of fortification design was adopted in the early 16th century as people realised that simpler, often circular forts were pretty crap when it came to the job in hand: defense. many of them still stand today in varying sizes. some are empty, some contain ruins. some, as you’ll see below, contain entire villages.

and you think you’re cramped?

kowloon walled city, hong kong

area - 0.026 km²
population prior to demolition - 50,000, approx
population density - 1,900,000 / km²
(it’s interesting to note that the city of london has a population density of 4,669 / km² and that hong kong itself a density of 6,206 / km2)

said to be the most densely populated area on earth […]

hitler’s 4km long hotel complex

built in 1936, this immense piece of third reich architecture is a complex known to locals on reugen island as ‘the colossus’. to most others it’s known as ‘prora’. (click on photos for bigger).

believed to be one of the widest building complexes in the world, it consists of 8 rectangular buildings, seperated by a small […]