Peter Hoffman chemically disturbs serene images of the natural world by dowsing his film in gasoline and setting it on fire.

A beautifully useful home for bees, designed by the students at the University of Buffalo.

Photographer Matt Molloy digitally stacked time-lapse photos to create the smears of color in the skies above this Toronto farm.

Jared Lim’s photography finds beauty in architectural repetition—like the intriguing patterns created by these stadium seats.

Design duo Carnovsky’s light installation at Missoni’s Milan showroom illuminates the company’s classic patterns. Image: Jacopo Farina and Marco Prosperpio

What could be the world’s largest duck—designed by conceptual artist Florentijin Hofman—meanders through Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor.

Creative studio Marshmallow Laser Feast designed this forest of touch-sensitive lasers.

The work of artist HENSE includes graffiti tags and building-sized murals like this one, at Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola in Lima, Peru.

Parisian artist Thierry Cohen imagines a nighttime view of Rio de Janeiro free from light pollution.

A breathtaking (and perhaps vertigo-inducing) view of Hong Kong’s skyscrapers from French graphic artist and photographer Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze.

A reclaimed wood sculpture offers guests the chance to wander through a cavernous model of the digestive system. Image: Henrique Oliveria

The combination of movement and an LED-enhanced wakeboard create an effect photographer Patrick Rochon calls light painting.

This Mondrian-inspired treat is the creation of Caitlin Freeman, pastry chef at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s rooftop garden café.

Molecules are more than the building blocks of life, they’re the inspiration for the building that houses LaTrobe University’s Institute for Molecular Science.

Teams of up to 500 people compete in Tarragona, Spain’s legendary Concurs de Castells—a battle to build the highest human tower. Image: David Oliete

Visitors to Milan’s Salone del Mobile experienced the tranquility of Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec’s Quiet Motion installation.

Cast in violet light, Abu Dhabi’s Sheik Zayed Bridge evokes an undulating sea serpent. Image: Zaha Hadid Architects

Nic Fiddian-Green’s monumental "Horse at Water" sculpture is a stunning complement to the Umbrian countryside.

Sticks of gum make for colorful—albeit unstable—building blocks in this elaborate construction by French artist Jeremy Laffon. Image: The Fox is Black

A dizzying view of a dramatic staircase at London’s St. Pancras Chambers. Image: Hufton and Crow.

Inspired by a carbon molecule, architects Kristoffer Tejlgaard and Benny Jepsen constructed this Roskilde, Denmark dome from prefabricated timber modules. Image: Kristoffer Tejlgaard

The work of Colombian artist Federico Uribe is electric; he uses repurposed objects, such as electrical cables, to arrange elaborate scenes.

The canopies above Jordan’s Queen Alia International Airport were inspired by Bedouin tents. Image: Foster + Partners.

Architects Lily Jencks and Nathanael Dorent used tile to create a mind-bending experience at the London showroom of Capitol Designer Studio. Image: Hufton and Crow

Shadows and light ripple through Landmannalaugar—lava fields near Icelandic volcano Hekla. Image: Helga Laufey Guðmundsdóttir

A pillow fight didn’t cause this cloud of feathers; it’s an ethereal installation by French artist Isa Barbier.

Hundreds of prayer flags—a symbol of blessing in Tibet—offer colorful contrast to a stark winter scene. Image: Elaine Won

Have people been telling you that the light has gone out of your eyes? Designer Soomi Park’s LED eyelashes offer an illuminating solution. Image: Soomi Park

Visitors to the Vieux Port Pavilion in Marseille, France can enjoy two views of the sunny harbor. Image: Foster + Partners

Photographer Tim Flach brings out the inner puppy in this Portuguese Water Dog.

Visitors to the Teton County Library in Jackson, Wyoming, can watch their questions—posted to the digital catalog—transform into synaptic firings across fiber optic cables, illuminated by LED lights. Image: e/b office

It’s no mirage. This handwoven rug by Swedish studio Oyyo has taken flight. Image: David Magnusson

The waters of Hutt Lagoon in Western Austrailia are pink—a naturally occurring phenonmenon casued by algae farmed in nearby ponds. Image: Steve Back

Artist Takahiro Iwasaki sculpts intricate micro-landscapes on everyday objects, like the head of a toothbrush or a roll of tape.

London designers Raw Edges used hundreds of ribbons to curtain the space around the Kvadrat display at Stockholm Design Week. .

Photographer Alan Friedman captured this ethereal image of the sun with a camera and telescope and then finessed it for hours to reveal the fine details.

No need to look for rainbows in the sky in West Bengal, India—home to this multi-hued education building. Image: Abin Design Studio

A colossal statue of the Buddha towers above a man in a coal yard in China’s Ningxia Province. Image: Zang Kechun

A visitor to the ROM for Kunst og Arkitektur in Oslo, Norway, wanders through curtains of light—8,064 points of LED light, to be exact. Image: Squidsoup

Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata stacked 1,000 chairs to create this intriguing structure at Manarat Al Saadiyat Galleries in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Image: Tadashi Kawamata

A cathedral in Alta reflects the natural phenomenon for which the Norwegian town is famous—the Northern Lights. Image: shl architects

An airplane ride above North Holland tulip fields reveals that rainbows aren't bound to the heavens. Image: Normann Szkop

Dispatchwork, an art collective, enlivens an ancient wall in Bocchignano, Italy, with LEGO tiles. Image: Dispatchwork

Haze above the Yamuna River lends an ethereal glow to the Taj Mahal. Image: Christopher Domakis

These paper heads—cut from the pages of Horizon, a bi-monthly arts journal first published in September 1958—are one in a series of paper doll collages by artist Matt Lipps. Image: Matt Lipps

No fear in waking this sleeping lion, made from squash, sprouts, and banana peels. Image: Carl Kleiner

Artist Tauba Auerbach's book sculptures experiment with the concept of tetrachromatic vision—the ability to perceive four colors instead of the more common red, green, and blue. Image: Vegard Kleven

This man-made cumulus—formed when Dutch artist Berndault Smilde released vapor from a fog machine into a climate-controlled space—existed for mere seconds before dissipating. Photo: Cassander Eftinck Schattenkerk

Cabinets, a refrigerator, boxes, and even an electric piano fill the space between buildings in Rotterdam—a work Swedish artist Michael Johansson calls "Tetris."

Try as you might, you won’t be able to get comfortable in this easy chair, made of paper and occupying an imaginary office crafted by French artist Alexis Facca.

Look closely, notice anything? Artist Liu Bolin hides in the open, camouflaging himself so he disappears into an environment. Photo: Liu Bolin

Heights don’t bother photographer Alexander Remnev, who routinely climbs tall buildings without a harness to snap dizzying photos like this one. Photo: Alexander Remnev

A young Buddhist monk demonstrates his agility in Hunan Province, China. Photo: Steve McCurry

The stacked ice bubbles of Abraham Lake in Alberta, Canada, are a rare phenomenon caused by methane gas naturally released by the lake’s plant life. Photo: Chip Phillips

The world’s smallest deer, the pudu, is just 16 inches tall and weighs 20 pounds. This baby, only one month old, is even smaller. Photo: Jose Luis Saavedra

This runaway tent was able to take flight thanks to some creative photography and a bit of digital manipulation. Photo: Laurent Chehere

Only on close inspection does this swirling, iridescent sphere reveal itself to be an ordinary soap bubble. Photo: Jason Tozer

Every morning, the giraffes of this Kenyan estate help themselves to a table of breakfast treats. Photo: The Safari Collection

The last, foggy remains of night cling to the trees high up in the Polish mountains. Photo: Boguslaw Strempel