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The ‘Shadowless’ church in Chengdu is undoubtedly one of the greatest modern architectural feats. Designed by the Atelier Shanghai Dachuan Architects, the church was inspired by impressionist painters. More specifically, French Impressionists. The building’s official name is Sino-French Science Church, drawing inspiration from Provence with its style and its surrounding lavender fields.

Although from afar, the church looks like it’s made of paper, its core component is actually aluminum. The church has no walls per se, but the way the light illuminates it makes it look even more ethereal. During the day, the sun creates a dynamic visual experience that changes as it moves across the sky. At night, the church is illuminated from within, creating the illusion of floating and blurring the edges.

Another architectural wonder in Chengdu, China, is the Longxing Temple. Today, the site’s stunning architecture is famous for its surrounding urban project that masterfully incorporates a lake. The temple itself has stood for more than 1,500 years, but the new urban project, completed in 2024, includes many more buildings.

The renewed Chengdu Pengzhou Longxing Temple Area has dining facilities, hotels, an art gallery, a civic center, a park plaza, a library, and even an exhibition hall. The temple is in the very center, and the other buildings are situated around it according to the concept of the “Ten-sided bushes of Buddha.”

One member of r/Architecture posted Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater house and asked: “What makes Fallingwater an icon of American art?” Perhaps it’s because Wright managed to design a house that seems seamlessly incorporated into nature. His goal was for the family who lived there, the Kaufmanns, “to live with the waterfall…as an integral part of [their] lives.” Since 1964, the house has operated as a museum and has seen over five million visitors. In 2019, it became a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Many users on r/Architecture wonder why much of the architecture from the Islamic world features geometric patterns. The same can be said about Islamic art in general, and if we keep in mind that Islamic mathematicians and astronomers made significant intellectual contributions to the sciences, it might make more sense.

In Islamic art, four basic shapes are the most common: circles, squares and four-sided polygons, stars, derived from squares and triangles in a circle, and multisided polygons. Artists would play with these geometric shapes by combining, duplicating, and interlacing them over and over, creating possibilities of an endless number of patterns. What makes it so pleasing to the eye is the symmetry and the vastness of the ornamentation, almost like a promise of endlessness and freedom.

Which architectural wonders caught your eye the most, Pandas? And how many of these stunning buildings have you seen in real life? Tell us all about your personal stories in the comments! If you’re in the mood for more gorgeous architecture, be sure to check out our previous publications about unique homes that might make you wish to live there and these incredible wonders of modern architecture by architects who weren’t afraid to think outside of the box!