When visitors step inside this viewing tower on the coastline of Lincolnshire, England, an inner chamber tilts forward so the nearby beach becomes visible through a pair of aligned horizontal slots (+ slideshow). More
This concrete tower of interconnecting red staircases was designed by Thai firm Supermachine Studio for an elevated game of hide and seek (+ slideshow). More
This wooden observation platform by architects Javier Mera, Jorge Andrade and Daniel Moreno sits high above a three-kilometre-wide lake inside an active volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes (+ slideshow). More
Comoco Architects has added a third new structure to the grounds of the medieval Pombal Castle in Portugal – a limestone-clad visitor centre that doubles as a viewing platform (+ slideshow). More
Warsaw office MFRMGR has revealed designs to revitalise a former Polish observation tower in the Baltic Sea to create a base for water sports enthusiasts and researchers, accessible only by boat. More
This community viewing platform and play area, designed by Hong Kong architects Olivier Ottevaere and John Lin, provides a loop that rises up to overlook rice terraces carved into the surrounding valleys (+ slideshow). More
Architecture students Angus Ritchie and Daniel Tyler have designed and built a mirrored lookout point in a Scottish national park that both frames and reflects views of the surrounding lochs and glens (+ slideshow). More
Imagine the vistas you could take in from these examples of skywalks and viewing platforms, which we've pinned onto a new Pinterest board. See our new Pinterest board »
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This vertiginous viewing platform in the Canadian Rockies was designed by Calgary firm Sturgess Architecture with a strengthened glass floor that provides a view straight down to the valley below. More
This wooden viewing cabin raised on stilts above the rugged landscape of southern Norway was designed by TYIN Tegnestue – the Trondheim office that also recently completed a top-heavy house extension (+ slideshow). More
A national park in the Netherlands is the setting for this old water tower, which Dutch firm Zecc Architecten has transformed into an observation point by twisting staircases through its middle (+ slideshow). More
Amidst the fast-paced construction of King's Cross in London, young Finnish studio AOR has installed an angular canal-side platform where visitors can make contact with some of the local wildlife (+ slideshow). More
News: the owners of an observation deck on the 94th storey of Chicago's John Hancock Center are considering adding a glass box into which visitors would be strapped and tilted forward to experience a bird's eye view of the city below. More
Visitors to this lakeside concrete tower in the Netherlands can scale its walls, jog up to an observation deck on its roof, or sail a zip wire across the water from a balcony (+ slideshow). More
This 25-metre wooden lookout in the Czech Republic by Mjölk Architekti is named Cucumber Tower in an attempt to discourage association with phallic forms (+ slideshow). More
Zaha Hadid has revealed images of her addition to the Messner Mountain Museum, a string of buildings dotted through the Dolomites of northern Italy. More
Landscape architects EMF teamed up with architecture firm Ardèvol to remove over 400 buildings from a former holiday village in eastern Spain and transform the landscape into a series of meandering pathways and coastal viewpoints (+ movie). More
This concrete staircase into the air by Lisbon architecture studio Ateliermob functions as a riverside amphitheatre on the banks of the Tagus in central Portugal (+ slideshow). More
These shots by photographer Edmund Sumner show some of the first visitors able to scale the roof of the O2 Arena in London, thanks to a new fabric walkway designed by architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Bblur Architecture (+ slideshow). More
Danish studio BIG has designed an observation tower shaped like a honey dipper for Phoenix, Arizona (+ slideshow). More