I love how the lights in this photo create lines for your eye to follow, as well as the shape and composition of the buildings.  Color contrasts between the light of the buildings and the dark of the mountains is also very striking.  This photo has a ton of depth and texture, from the layers of the buildings to the contours of the mountains there is a rich amount of depth to this photo that make it visually interesting both vertically and horizontally.  Even though there is detail in the texture this photo more captures the theme of "The thing itself" with the thing being this community of housese set in the mountainside.  Because there are few distinctive markers this phot makes me ask a lot of questions, like where was this photo taken, are these houses or is this part of a hotel or something else entirely, how was the unit built into the side of the mountain, what's on the other side of the mountain beyond the skyline and so on.  My favorite part of this photo is the light dark contrast between the building and the natural landscape.