Vienna International Centre (VIC)

1972. Construction crews move earth along Vienna's Danube. Austrian architect Johann Staber has just beaten 287 international competitors with this bold vision—those six Y-shaped towers rising before you. Seven years later, on August 23, 1979, the Vienna International Centre opens as the world's third UN headquarters. But here's what makes this place truly extraordinary: the moment you step through these gates, you leave Austria entirely. This complex sits on inviolable international territory belonging to all 193 UN member states, leased annually for one schilling—roughly seven euro cents. Those towers soaring 127 meters aren't randomly positioned either. Staber arranged them so precisely that none cast shadows on the others, ensuring all 4,500 offices inside flood with natural light. Pure architectural genius. Look at those bold orange accents captured from 1970s fashion—somehow still striking after forty-five years. Inside these walls, soundproofed interpreter booths echo with simultaneous conversations in multiple languages as 5,000 employees from 125 countries craft global decisions on everything from nuclear safety to human rights. You're standing on shared international ground where architecture and diplomacy converge in ways few places on Earth achieve—a monument to what happens when the world chooses cooperation over isolation.