CITIES speak in silhouettes. In the spires, domes, and jagged glass crowns that define their skylines, you can read the ambitions of empires, the anxieties of a generation, and the soul of a culture. London, Dubai, and Mumbai— three global cities shaped by history, colonial entanglements, commerce, and reinvention—each bear witness to these ambitions through their architecture.

In this feature, we step into six buildings—two from each city—not merely to admire them, but to listen. From the Brutalist elegance of London’s Barbican to the spiritual verticality of Mumbai’s Global Vipassana Pagoda, each structure is a conversation between past and future, identity and innovation, society and solitude.