People have always been fascinated by the desire to reach the sky. While we don’t have wings to fly, we certainly have the brains and the skills to build towers whose tips always aspire to reach beyond the clouds. Here is a list of the 15 of the world’s most beautiful towers that have been astounding people ever since they have been built. And don’t forget to check the list of 25 most beautiful places of the world.

Sagemodern have designed this contemporary home nestled between the trees along side a golf course in Truckee, California. The home, designed as a secluded and relaxing environment for a family, has plenty of outdoor room and combines wood with black elements for a dramatic color palette. Inside, the wood element carries through to the ceiling and becomes a feature within the interior. The home has an open floor plan on the main level, with the lounge, sitting area/fireplace, dining and kitchen all sharing the same space, ideal for a large family. Off the living room there’s a covered deck set up for outdoor dining. Back inside, a long dining table separates the living room from the kitchen, and a large pendant lamp anchors the dining area within the open floor plan. In the kitchen, a dark wood island with bar has been paired with light colored cabinets and countertops. There’s also an eat-in breakfast nook in the corner. On the main level of the home, there’s also a mudroom with a built-in drying rack for gloves and shoes. A media room makes sure the kids have somewhere to go to watch movies and relax. And if there’s work to be done, there’s a home office with a view of the trees. The upper floor of the home is dedicated to the bedrooms. The master bedroom has a fireplace, an ensuite bathroom and a private balcony. The kids room has been set up with built-in bunk beds and plenty of storage.

This minimalist townhouse located in Landskrona, Sweden, was designed in 2009 by Elding Oscarson. “The narrow site is sandwiched between old buildings in Landskrona, Sweden. Though nicely situated by the beach in a growing region, this city has become notorious for its social problems, originally set off by the wharf industry crisis in the 80’s. Our lot has been empty since mid 1900’s. It is barely 5 meters wide with a tiny area of 75 square meters, facing a street but also a colorful hidden world inside the city block. We wanted keep a strong presence of this small-scale, motley, naturally worn place in the completed project – a feeling of almost being outdoor. Immediately adjacent buildings are low, but the street is lined with buildings of various height, size, facade material, age, and approach. After careful study of the site dimensions through physical models, we reached the conclusion that the site was so small that a rectilinear approach would enrich the street with a novel feature, a syncopation of its rhythm, while staying sensitive to the environment. We wanted to create a sharp contrast; to express inherent clarity, but more importantly to highlight the beauty of the surroundings.”

Rising from sand dunes on a golf course located on Costa Esmeralda, Argentina, the Golf House stands out thanks to its geometric design and brutalist architecture yet perfectly complements and establishes a dialogue with the natural environment. The striking house was designed by Argentinian architect Luciano Kruk as a holiday retreat where the clients can relax throughout the year. The structure is made of three separate volumes which are stacked together in an alternating pattern, with each block containing a separate living space. On the first level there are guestrooms for family and friends, while the middle block houses the living room and kitchen. At the top, the master bedroom offers breathtaking views towards the golf course and the sea. Exposed concrete and glazed walls combine with wooden terraces in a harmonious blend of contrasting textures and materials. As the house is meant to be used all year-round, some of the windows are shielded by concrete panels to protect them from the heat of the sun, while underfloor heating and air conditioning maximize comfort through the hot summer and cold winter nights. In the interior, the strong presence of the exposed concrete is balanced by the use of white seating and wooden furniture. With glazed walls on two sides, the living room is bathed in natural light and provides incredible views at the same time. At the base of the house, the young maritime pine trees represent a promise of a future Golf House that will look even more stunning than it looks today.

French designer, Philippe Starck recently joined forces with fellow architect, Luc Arsène-Henry, to construct a stainless steel cellar for Château les Carmes Haut-Brion. The Bordeaux wine estate desired a structure that can withstand unstable environmental conditions and be submerged in the site’s manmade lake. The duo answered with a sleek makeup which encompasses three stories: a barrel cellar on the lowest floor, a tasting room on the second floor, and a roof terrace where visitors are welcomed with a stunning vista of the vineyards. Moreover, the cellar which is meant to resemble a large knife that has fallen from the heavens, is also capable of storing approximately 300 wooden barrels of the finest wine. Starck says the design is “free from any architectural gesture, it symbolizes the qualities of the wine that is made there: finesse and elegance.” He adds: “[The wine’s] home had to be evocative, a minimum, an institution, a reflection.”

There are some pretty amazing buildings being constructed around the world; some of them absolutely defy conventional human civil engineering wisdom and others challenge the laws of gravity. Every year seems to take the bar higher; pioneers of material sciences, civil engineering, landscaping, interior designing are taking design and architecture to a whole new level with unbelievably futuristic spaces for work, living and play. Here’s your introduction to some of them.

Set in a clearing near the Passo del Cavallo, a high Alpine pass in Italy’s Brescia province, Alps Villa is framed by a open valley to the south and the peaks of the Alps to the north. A panoramic window surrounded by a faceted wood and corrugated copper frame dominates the facade of this villa. The broad window faces out onto the valley, while a courtyard sunken into the slope to the rear of the house gives views of the mountains that rise 1,200 metres above sea level. Botticini wanted to strike a balance of “harmony and tension” between the building and the site, and this semi-submerged design helps to creates the illusion that the structure is rooted to the hillside. “We are still in a place close to the urban noise but at the same time far away, where the aroma of mountain herbs and grazing sheep seem to have stopped time,” said the Italian architect, whose studio is based locally. “The house looks like in his primary relationship with the landscape without other artificial elements other than the suspended staircase that cuts the grass slope.” The sheets of pre-rusted corrugated copper and treated Accoya wood that cover the walls help to further integrate the building with the site. “The ventilated wall copper is modulated with a slight pleating to vibrate the light on the non-reflecting surface,” explained Botticini. “The wood of the great splay reflects light that is refracted from the south.” A flight of textured metal steps runs up the hillside from a steep hairpin road that bypasses the front of the house. The foot of the stairs is enclosed by a gatehouse-like structure made from same oxidised copper and wood as the house. The house’s glazed entrance is sheltered by the broad window and a terrace set on its overhanging sill. Inside, an irregular C-shaped plan curves around to protect the iroko wood patio. The plan is split into three sections, the first hosting three bedrooms and their corresponding bathrooms, the second a living and dining space, and the third a kitchen and circulation area.

The Djerassi Resident Artists Program, located in the Santa Cruz Mountains, is a place where creatives can go to rejuvenate their spirit and get some serious work done. To achieve this, it starts with the architecture – the spaces must be conducive to writing. Architect Cass Calder Smith was commissioned to design lodging for the program. Called the Diane Middlebrook Studios, the project brief was left open-ended. The project consists of four new studios. The property consists of over 600 acres of rolling hills, forests and meadows high in the coastal hills of Woodside, CA. The new building extends the existing campus over a meadow approximately 100 yards from the main building, which was originally a cattle barn dating back from when the property was a working ranch. The project was conceived as a memorial to Diane Middlebrook, an accomplished writer and teacher, and late wife of program founder Carl Djerassi. Though the studios are designed to be used by artists of all disciplines, special attention was made to cater to the specific needs of writers, where quiet contemplation, free from distraction, is a welcome amenity. The building itself is actually a cluster of four separate one-room studios, grouped together under a fifth structure, a free-standing steel canopy supporting a solar panel array over the eastern ends and pedestrian pathway connecting the four studios. The siting of building takes advantage of uninterrupted views of the Pacific coast to the southwest, and the coastal ridgeline to the east. These views are captured within each studio by the strategic placement of doors and windows, where the distractions of the everyday movement of cars and people are unseen. Decor wise, each studio features a set of stylish basics – a bed, writing desk, and chair. A sliding glass door faces south and passively heats the interior, in addition to the galvanized metal roof with solar panels. Although they’re relatively simple units, this is perfect for achieving interruption-free solitude and natural beauty that so many people crave.

ODA Architecture is throwing back to the Space Age with its latest designs for a tower at 303 East 44th Street, which is being developed by Triangle Equities. The top half of the building will feature 16-foot gaps between every two floors that are separated by white beams, The Real Deal reports. The spaces between the floors will be turned into private, outdoor sculpture gardens. “There’s going to be a time in New York City where living without a substantial outdoor space is just going to be unacceptable. It’s going to be like living in the suburbs without a backyard,” ODA principal Eran Chen told TRD. “All these towers that don’t have them are going to lose their value.” The 600-foot-tall building will have 41 floors, with the lower half of the building devoted to one- and two-bedroom apartments, and full-floor units starting on the 23rd floor. Five of the outdoor private gardens are separated by two floors each, and those apartments have about 2,800 square feet of space, while the garden measures 1,400 square feet. The penthouse has access to the sixth garden.

The pool forms part of the Embassy Gardens Legacy Building, a project commissioned by developers Ballymore who selected HAL Architects to work alongside Arup associates as engineers, Camlins as landscapers and Luis Bustamante to work on the scheme’s interiors. The remainder of the 2,000-unit complex will include a “working from home” business area, a gym and a rooftop bar. The transparent swimming pool will be 90 feet long, connecting two of the structures within the Embassy Gardens apartment complex, all while being suspended 10 stories (about 115 feet) in the air. The glass-bottomed pool will be nearly 10 feet deep, 19 feet wide and allow residents the ability to swim back and forth (or use the walkway) to visit the building’s rooftop bar, spa and orangery – all while enjoying those beautiful views The buildings will start on site in the summer of 2015 with the first completions due in 2017.

Mountaineer Reinhold Messner is a renowned adventurer who has achieved incredible feats: he was the first person to climb Mount Everest without the aid of an oxygen tank, as well as the first to ascend all 14 mountains around the world that are over 8,000 meters high. Since earning these accomplishments, he’s created a series of museums dedicated to mountain culture across the Alps. His sixth and final installment is called the Messner Mountain Museum Corones. Designed by architect Zaha Hadid, it’s an impressive concrete structure embedded within Mount Kronplatz. The massive museum sits 7,000 feet above sea level and occupies over 10,000 square feet of space. Three angular canopies emerge from the ground, mimicking large boulders that you’d see on the mountainside. They’re made from glass-reinforced fiber concrete, and they have a pale gray exterior that blends into the neighboring limestone surface. To offset the exterior, the inside of the building has slightly darker tones that match the anthracite coal buried deep underground. Hadid’s design offers an awe-inspiring look at the surrounding landscape. She explains in a press release, “The idea [is] that visitors can descend into the mountain to explore its caverns and grottos, before emerging through the mountain wall on the other side, out onto the overhanging terrace with its spectacular, panoramic views.” The Messner Mountain Museum Corones was recently opened to the public in late July, and it’s home to artifacts, images, and tools from the brave explorer’s life.

MGArchitects have designed an extension to a 1890’s heritage house on the waterfront in Hobart, Tasmania. “The client brief called for one renovated 1890 cottage and one small concrete house, both on a single steep waterfront site in Hobart, Tasmania. Heritage constraints and eventual Planning Appeal success resulted in a single residence which can be zoned into separate living environments. The suburb of Battery Point has great historical importance. This context and south facing site created challenges that informed the design. Dense urban context required a design that provided privacy whilst embracing the spectacular views. The concrete walls and the celery top pine framing, both structural and visual, were detailed to ensure seamless resolution of these design challenges. Crucial to the acceptance of this very contemporary building was its performance. The building incorporates super-insulated thermal mass, protected by a timber framed curtain wall double glazing system that protects floor slab edges, and reverse-veneer celery top pine walling. The Celery Top Pine was sourced locally, the structural design tailored to suit the available lengths of the unmilled logs. Off-cuts were used for cladding, fascias and joinery ensuring minimal waste of the material. The building utilizes rainwater harvesting for the pool, low emission finishes, natural gas hydronic heating and solar harvesting although few of these elements are visible.”

Today we want to show you unusual and intriguing architecture project called “Ninety7 @ Siglap”. This beautiful house was designed by Aamer Architects and is located in Singapore. Magnificent views that can be observed from atop Siglap Hill inspired designers to create such creative house. By the words of architects: “Master and family room are placed on the third level having the best views. Living and Dining on the second level, connected with external verandahs / terraces that flow upwards and fold into the roof form with deep overhangs for sufficient shade and channeling the breeze through the whole house. Two resort style “Cabana” bedrooms are located on the ground level by the pool with a large open/covered terrace for poolside parties. A sculptural metal “drum” anchors the “ship” to the ground and houses the toilet/shower and barbeque pantry. Roof gardens and timber decks provide added insulation from the sun”.

Wonderful house with poetic name “House on the Flight of Birds” was created by Portuguese studio Bernardo Rodrigues Arquitecto. It’s accumulation of curved and rectilinear volumes creating a comfortable and jolly living space. House is located on St. Michael island in the Azores, Portugal. According to the architects, “the microclimate of this farmland offers frequent wind and showers so the first design strategy was to block those winds with a wall, offer diverse patios and covered courtyards on the ground floor protected from rain and open all living space to the natural green around by using glass walls receded from the exterior. On the upper-floor there are the private rooms more enclosed and protected.”