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Incense burner surrounded by the columbarium
Singapore

Kwong Wai Siew Peck San Theng

The confluence of modernist and traditional architecture in this religious complex reflects the history of both the living and the dead being uprooted, displaced, and rehoused.
medicine

In 19th-Century America, Fighting Disease Meant Battling Bad Smells

The history of unpleasant odor, or miasma, has unexpected relevance in the time of COVID-19.
Daniela Blei April 8, 2020
The arch
Chicago, Illinois

Chicago Stock Exchange Arch

A spectacular remnant of an Adler and Sullivan masterpiece that was destroyed in 1972.
Chequer Street Wooden Paving
London, England

Chequer Street Wooden Paving

This may be the last of London's wooden pavements, which were once a common sight in the city.
Kowloon Walled City was built without regulations.
infrastructure

The Strange Saga of Kowloon Walled City

Anarchic, organic, surreal, this enclave was once among the most densely populated places on Earth.
James Crawford January 6, 2020
"The History of World Commerce."
Los Angeles, California

'The History of World Commerce'

A relief that wraps around the concourse of Los Angeles's World Trade Center marks one of the city's failed urban design plans.
The Omsk Metro sign, installed when officials still expected the subway to open, still crowns the entrance.
tunnels

This Siberian Subway System Has Just One, Non-Functional Station

Omsk was promised a Metro system in 1979. Forty years later, locals salute a subway that never saw the light of day.
Yuri Litvinenko December 18, 2019
Botanic Gardens station platform.
Glasgow, Scotland

Botanic Gardens Railway Station

The abandoned transportation hub hides within the Glasgow attraction it once served.
Welcome to the International Sangha Bhiksu Buddhist Association, formerly Saint Agnes Roman Catholic Church.
temples

The Sacred Afterlives of Buffalo’s Vacant Churches

The best way to preserve a church in a shrinking city is often to convert it to a mosque or temple.
Sabrina Imbler November 4, 2019
The lookout.
Puerto Escondido, Mexico

'Un Sueño Posible' ('A Possible Dream')

This often-overlooked ocean walkway was once considered an impossible fantasy.
Seikan Tunnel.
Japan

Seikan Tunnel

The world's longest tunnel with an undersea section.
Southern side of the Seventh Street Improvement Arches.
Saint Paul, Minnesota

Seventh Street Improvement Arches

This double-arched masonry highway bridge is the only structure of its kind in Minnesota.
Hooray!
London, England

Whitechapel Fatberg Manhole Cover

It celebrates a very stinky task and salutes London's fatberg-vanquishing team.
Find the lamp on a quiet side street just off the Strand.
London, England

Carting Lane Sewer Lamp

The pretty iron lamp is a reminder of the architecture underneath London's streets.
Jacob's Ladder.
Edinburgh, Scotland

Jacob's Ladder

This obscure walkway links Edinburgh’s Old Town with one of the city's prime vantage points.
Väike-Õismäe District.
Tallinn, Estonia

Väike-Õismäe District

A series of concentric circles represented a bold new experiment in socialist urban planning, and it notoriously difficult to get around.
The bridge has been in the open position for decades.
Oxford, England

Rewley Road Swing Bridge

The remnants of this unusual bridge await an uncertain fate.
Qaqortoq, Greenland. The town's helipad can be seen on the far left.
Qaqortoq, Greenland

Qaqortoq Road

In a country where driving from one town to another is literally impossible, this small stretch of gravel is a remarkable feat.