A pane of glass overlaid with a simple line drawing brings crumbling ruins to life at one of Austria’s most famous historical sites, reanimating the partial building near the Open Air Museum Petronell. When a viewer lines up the illustration with the structure, known as Heidentor (Heathen’s Gate), the image completes itself in a compelling yet entirely low-tech fashion.

Located just east of Vienna, Carnuntum dates back to the the 1st Century A.D., when Roman soldiers expanded on an existing town 50,000 people to create a military encampment. Between 354 AD and 361 AD a huge triumphal monument was erected next to the camp and city. Contemporary reports suggest that Emperor Constantius II had it built to commemorate his victories.

“When the remains of Carnuntum disappeared after the Migration Period the monument remained as an isolated building in a natural landscape and led Medieval people to believe it was the tomb of a pagan giant. Hence, they called it Heidentor.”

Preserving ancient historical sites is often a balance between stabilization and restoration; fully restoring can enhance the exterior appearance, but is costly and arguably diminishes the authenticity of a ruin. This approach strikes a balance, much like augmented overlays in digital history apps.

Always pushing the limits of posh possibility, this latest endeavor aims to put an entire urban center in a temperature-controlled bubble of indoor spaces, centered around a vast Mall of the World.

Everything one can imagine will be found inside the complex, including 100 apartment and hotel buildings, various medical services, a huge shopping mall and the world’s largest indoor amusement park.

This over-the-top megastructure will join the Dubai’s collection of famous and record-breaking structures, from observation decks and submarine hotels to the tallest skyscraper in the world.

Its designers have unabashedly drawn from sources of inspiration around the world, including culturally central parts of New York, London and other historic metropolises.

Like some surreal voluntary version of Stephen King’s Under the Dome, the whole thing can be experienced without stepping outside, particularly in hot summer months. In cooler winter months, some pedestrian street roofs and park domes will be retracted to allow for natural air circulation.

The goal, as expressed by Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum (and envisioned by Dubai Holding), is to create a beacon for year-round tourism both from local visitors and those coming from abroad, transforming the UAE from a seasonal vacation spot to a place people can come at any time.

Its architects also claim the system will be eco-friendly, in part because the active and passive systems integrated throughout will work in concert with one another. Whether such a vast system in the desert can be green in the end (or willed be added to the growing list of failed abandonments in Dubai) remains to be seen .

The shape is a familiar classic – a central post pointing toward different destinations, sometimes near and other times a world away. This evolved version, however, replaces static locations and fixed directions with interactive ones.

Designed by Breakfast of Brooklyn, Points lets you input a query and receive both a written response and an orientation to go with it, giving distance and location along with other information.

The device is programmed with API data from real-time sources including regional public transit and, more broadly,Twitter, FourSquare and RSS feeds.

The resulting database gives passers by up-to-the-minute info as requested, displayed on 16,000 LED lights. It can also potentially display default local information automatically – about current news, events, performances or venues – when not otherwise (manually) engaged.

The intention here is to go beyond a simple touch screen, creating something recognizable at a distance, familiar to pedestrians and interactive both digitally and physically.

Aside from the creative challenges, fitting the required mechanisms for a smoothly-rotating effect into such a small space proved difficult but the designers are close to a finished product.

It’s that time of year when most ski resorts and destinations are wrapping up their winter ski season and avid urban vacationers are taking those last weekend runs. Ski buffs sometimes brag about skiing at Whistler, Big Sky or other more exclusive resorts, but how many can say they’ve skied in Bolivia or New Zealand? You can’t beat the price of skiing in South Africa and you can even catch a (chilly) lingerie fashion show on the slopes in Lebanon.

Lebanon: Who would have thought that Lebanon not only has ski resorts but that one of those resorts have annual lingerie shows? That’s right, the Faraya Ski Resort – an hour from Beirut and the largest ski resort in the Middle East – holds an annual show where shivering models show off the latest sexy styles. Lebanon is also one of the few places in the world where you can go skiing in the morning then take a dip in the Mediterranean in the afternoon! Of course, be sure to check the political climate before checking into a Lebanese resort.

Bolivia: At over 5,000 meters Bolivia has the highest ski slope in the world. However, the Chacaltaya glacier has been melting in recent years and much of the permanent snow cover has been depleted with time due to climate changes. Nonetheless, during the snowy season there are still skiers to be found on its slopes though – for now at least.

South Africa: Africa sounds like the last place to have skiing at any time of year, but find the right spots and accept man-made snow and you are good to go – just don’t trail-blaze too far!