How to Tell Gothic, Romanesque, and Byzantine Apart
A practical guide to distinguishing three foundational architectural styles from their arches, plans, and ornament.
Read article →Long-form guides to architecture, geography, and the history of famous buildings.
These articles are written to help Building Guessr players recognize styles, eras, and traditions faster, but most of them stand on their own as an introduction to a topic in architecture. New pieces are added periodically.
A practical guide to distinguishing three foundational architectural styles from their arches, plans, and ornament.
Read article →From the Lighthouse of Alexandria to the Buddhas of Bamiyan, a tour of landmarks that did not survive and why.
Read article →From the ten-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago to the 828-meter Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Read article →Minarets, steeples, pagodas, stupas: identify religious buildings at a glance across traditions.
Read article →The structural and geological story behind Pisa, Suurhusen, and other tilting landmarks.
Read article →What castles were actually for, how they evolved from motte-and-bailey to concentric stone, and why they disappeared.
Read article →Where concrete honesty came from, why it was hated, and why a new generation has fallen in love with it.
Read article →Why buildings in Dubai, Jakarta, and Oslo look nothing alike, and what the modern glass tower gave up.
Read article →Arch, truss, suspension, cable-stayed: a reader's guide to the four major bridge structural families.
Read article →Brief profiles of ten architects whose work you will encounter again and again across world landmarks.
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