‘Monument Valley’ was such a smash hit that the game was even featured in Netflix’s ‘House of Cards’, but while its levels are often described as featuring “impossible architecture,” that’s actually false. There are places in the world that look a lot like environments from its fantasy worlds.
Chicago-based journalist Victoria Lautman first encountered the stepwells of India over 30 years ago and published an extensive essay on them featuring some incredible images back in 2013. It’s just resurfaced thanks to social media.
The massive, subterranean temples were designed as way to access water in regions where the weather flips between brutally hot dry months and torrential rain in monsoon season.
You can read Lautman’s article on Arch Daily and enjoy the rest of the amazing photography there.
➤ India’s Forgotten Stepwells [Arch Daily via This Is Colossal]
Body image credits: Victoria Lautman
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