A pivotal institution in the early development of Modernism, the iconic Bauhuas school in Germany has been renovated to match its 1926 look and feel, complete with studios and sleeping spaces now open to the public.

The student rooms, now available for rent, are small, minimally appointed and feature private balconies, designed as spaces to sleep, hang up one’s clothes and work a bit in a chair at a desk, but mainly austere to drive people to collaborate in studio spaces.

Today, for around $50 a night, designers and fans alike can visit this place in Dessau and marvel at the proto-Modernist architecture, enjoying designs made both by and for students and teachers.

In the early 1900s, Walter Gropius pioneered a few form of functionalism and minimalism that would go on to shape not just Modern architecture but also graphic, industrial, furniture and interior design.

Combining an Arts-and-Crafts ethos with an industrial aesthetic, the school attracted talent from around Europe, and molded young minds to think about design in new ways. The institution itself moved around over the decades, from Weimar to Dessau and Berlin then back again.

At any given time, teachers like Vassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee taught around 200 students to fuse ideas from diverse disciplines including art, advertising, manufacturing and construction. The building itself features an innovative curtain wall system, and while it may look like a familiar form of Modernist design today, it was an early example of a movement that would become the International Style.

As long as heights don’t make you queasy, you could enjoy one of the best meals of your life from as high as 1,350 feet above street level, gazing out onto bustling cities like Dubai, Tokyo, Toronto, Shanghai and Chicago. Or, take a higher altitude approach at a restaurant that’s not just tucked into a mountain range in France, but also located almost 9,000 feet above sea level. These dining establishments are the closest you’ll ever get to eating meals in the clouds, outside of an airplane (unless, of course, you’re an astronaut, in which case, congratulations.)

Catch: Guangzhou International Finance Center, China

100 floors above ground level in the Four Seasons Hotel at Guangzhou’s International Finance Center, seafood restaurant ‘Catch’ looks down onto the city from an astonishing 1,312 feet in the sky through floor-to-ceiling glass windows. The 103-story building is the 15th tallest in the world, and opened in 2010.

At.Mosphere: Burj Khalifa, Dubai

The highest restaurant in the world crowns the top of the tallest tower, the Burj Dubai. Located on the 122nd floor, At.Mosphere is a 200-seat French restaurant set 1,350 feet above the ground. From your dining table, you can watch the frenetic pace of Dubai life or get a bird’s eye view of various ongoing construction projects.

Top of the World: Stratosphere Hotel and Tower, Las Vegas

800 feet above the Las Vegas Strip, ‘Top of the World’ is tucked into the highest floor of the Stratosphere Casino, Hotel & Tower and revolves 360 degrees every 80 minutes.

Club Jin Mao: Grand Hyatt, Shanghai

Gaze out at the Shanghai skyline from an unusual angle at Club Jin Mao, a showcase of classic Shanghainese cuisine on the 86th floor of the Jin Mao Tower at Grand Hyatt Shanghai. There’s seating for up to 40 guests, and six private rooms.

The Metropolitan Club: Willis Tower, Chicago

Chicago is actually packed full of sky-high restaurants, many notable enough to make it onto lists of the world’s highest. That means there are plenty of opportunities to dine with an amazing view of the city, the Chicago River or Lake Michigan. The Metropolitan Club is a classic, located on the 66th and 67th floors of the famous Willis Tower (which has 110 stories in total.) The Club has long been open to members only, but recently invited the public to dine as well.

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Grand or gaudy, brilliant or just big, this giant-sized, crystal-styled structure is to be the first in a series of gemstone-inspired hotels in which guest rooms are tucked behind colorful glazing – even its designers at NL Architects concede the scheme is at least “slightly insane.”

Dubbed the Amethyst Hotel, this project draws on a long history of cultural associations with this crystal: “The violet-coloured quartz stone has been the subject of numerous myths through history – in Greece it was believed to prevent drunkenness, while medieval soldiers used it for protection during battle, and others thought it could strengthen the immune system or prevent nightmares.”

Kamiel Klaasse and Pieter Bannenberg also drew inspiration from the long-standing tradition of having huge atrium spaces at the heart of hotel designs, seen in major chains like Hyatt and Marriott in the United States and around the world.

Instead of constructing the whole building around an central atrium, however, this approach conceptually slices the structure through its center, just as a geode is cut open to reveal the inner cavity and its hidden crystals.

Set to be built on an artificial island in China (though shown here in various theoretical settings), the design is already arguably serving part of its purpose simply by having been proposed: it is being discussed, debated, critiqued and commented upon by architects and designers around the world and as they say: all press is good press.

Deploying three novel pieces of multipurpose furniture, this 240-square-foot space manages to pack in all kinds of secrets, surprises and amenities for guests to explore, discover and utilize in a unique micro-suite.

The first featured item in the Kinect line, this new series of space-saving furnishings and fixtures from Resource Furniture, is the Lift, a coffee table that can be reconfigured into a workstation and contains additional storage space for laptops, gadgets, magazines and remote controls.

Also in the set: Slide, a credenza with a mini refrigerator and additional storage, and Hide & Seek, a wall-mounted cabinet that contains a bar, an espresso maker, and an ironing center, but that can be configured to different uses thanks to its modular design.

The transforming room, made in conjunction with New York’s Think Fabricate, also features a fold-out sofa and wall bed combination and can seat up to six people around its convertible conference-and-dining centerpiece.

The room, showcased at this year’s Dwell on Design, is both a demonstration model but also a powerful potential strategy for cramped urban hotels where space is at a premium (not to mention a good way for would-be consumers to test out transforming products for durability and functionality before they buy).

Quintessentially British, this boutique suite sleeps six, features a wood-burning stove and much more, but perhaps most amazing of all: the vehicle remains road-worthy, despite its conversion to a sweet retreat.

The Big Green Bus was originally part of the west midlands metro transit system and purchased by its new owner (and renovator) Adam Collier-Woods for approximately $7,500 at auction on eBay.

The still-working bus, driven back into the countryside by its buyer (and moved around on demand), required more than $15,000 to be turned into a unique three-bedroom accommodation, including a functioning kitchen and bathroom facilities.

Currently set on a “glamping site in the heart of the Sussex countryside,” the bus has its “own decking area, a fire pit and all this next to a beautiful pond.” The rural property can accommodate extra campers for parties larger than six who wish to enjoy a stay. In addition to pantry essentials (tea, coffee, milk, herbs and olive oil), logs for the fire pit or stove are available on request.

More from its maker and operator about its present location: “A gorgeous 15 minute walk away through country lanes to Chiddingly is the Six Bells pub, a classic traditional country pub, luring all sorts of music, poetry and arts lovers to its various festivals. Brighton is close by too with all its various charms, is 25 minutes drive down the road, or leave your car at Glynde and take the train. Lewes has more trains per hour, Make sure you get to the Lewes Farmers Market on the first Saturday morning of every month.”