Buildings
Fortresses, cathedrals, palaces, and civic monuments built at civilization scale.
19 articlesLatest in Buildings
America's Infrastructure is Being Neglected and Hurricanes Show Us How
Hurricane Helene revealed catastrophic failures in American infrastructure, from crumbling dams and washed-out interstates to overwhelmed emergency response systems, exposing how decades of neglect left communities unprepared for climate-supercharged disasters.
China Is Building the World's Largest Dam
China is constructing the Medog dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet, set to become the world's largest hydropower station at 60 gigawatts. Explore the engineering challenges, geopolitical tensions, and environmental concerns surrounding this trillion-yuan megaproject.
A Chinese Maglev Revolution is Coming...
China is building thousands of kilometers of maglev rail lines and developing 600 kph trains that could transform intercity travel. Here's everything we know about the coming revolution.
Dubai is Building the Largest Airport on the Planet.
Dubai is constructing Al Maktoum International Airport, a colossal $35 billion aviation hub designed to handle 260 million passengers annually. Discover the five runways, 400 gates, AI-powered systems, and the new "aerotropolis" rising from the desert.
High-Speed Rail is a Global Disaster...
From soaring costs and political gridlock to corporate lobbying and NIMBYism, high-speed rail projects worldwide are struggling. Explore why this promising technology faces such dismal results—and whether there's still hope.
The Big Problem with a Bering Strait Crossing
Explore the ambitious yet troubled history of proposals to connect America and Russia via the Bering Strait, from 19th century dreams to modern engineering and political obstacles.
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- Why the Sydney Metro cost $3.1B more than projected
- The engineering flaw that grounded Berlin Airport for 9 years
- How the Hoover Dam would be impossible to permit today
- NEOM: $500B city in the desert, or the world's most expensive PR stunt?
More in Buildings
Kelvedon Hatch: The UK's "Secret" Nuclear Bunker
Inside Kelvedon Hatch, the Cold War bunker built to keep the British government alive 38 meters underground through nuclear war.
Masikryong: Inside North Korea's Enigmatic Luxury Ski Resort
How Kim Jong-Un built a luxury ski resort in 10 months as the centerpiece of a tourism dream that COVID turned into a ghost town
The Mosul Dam: Iraq's Catastrophe Waiting to Happen
Iraq's Mosul Dam sits on soluble gypsum that's been dissolving for decades. If it fails, a 45-meter wave could reach Baghdad and kill up to a million
The Mushroom Motherboard: The Fungal Computers That Might Change Everything
Inside Bristol's Unconventional Computing Lab, where mushrooms grow out of motherboards and mycelium might out-think binary computers
The Rockefeller Empire: The Dynasty That Changed America
From a con-artist patriarch to Standard Oil and a fortune that outlasted the Gilded Age, how the Rockefellers built and kept a dynasty
Where Will the Next Nuclear Meltdown Happen?
Corruption, tsunamis, and war all threaten the world's 400+ reactors. We trace the three scenarios most likely to cause the next nuclear meltdown