We're celebrating America's Independence Day today with a roundup of Dezeen's favourite US projects from this year, including a floating skate ramp, a house designed to look like a shadow in the desert and a residence blasted out of the rocks near Seattle (+ slideshow). More about Five of Dezeen's favourite American projects from 2014
A fluted fibreglass wall surrounds this temporary Maggie's Centre in Merseyside, England, designed by London studio Carmody Groarke to offer support to those affected by cancer. More about Maggie's Merseyside by Carmody Groarke features a fluted facade
World Architecture Festival 2014: the shortlist for this year's World Architecture Festival awards has been announced, including a cyclone-proof house, an Australian plant archive, an underground maritime museum by BIG and OMA's colossal De Rotterdam skyscraper (+ slideshow). More about World Architecture Festival 2014 awards shortlist announced
The age-defining rings of a tree stump provided the starting point for this small round house planned by design collective Penda for a wood-carving artist in Beijing (+ slideshow). More about Penda's doughnut-shaped House O is based on the form of a tree stump
The second project on Dezeen today from Swedish architecture office Wingårdhs is an eight-storey residential building constructed entirely from wood in the Stockholm suburb of Sundbyberg. More about Wingårdhs completes prefabricated apartment block built entirely from wood
Children attending this nursery in Spain by Pamplona studio Taller Básico de Arquitectura enter through an angular concrete corridor carved out of the building's faceted shell (+ slideshow). More about Faceted concrete corridor welcomes children to Taller Básico de Arquitectura's nursery
News: Frank Gehry has unveiled yet another reworked design for the proposed skyscraper complex in his home city of Toronto, reducing the number of towers from three to two. More about Gehry scales back Canadian skyscraper scheme to be "more Toronto"
Swedish architecture firm Wingårdhs has completed a university auditorium in a Stockholm suburb with a patterned glass facade that twists and leans over the adjacent street (+ slideshow). More about Glass triangles animate facade of Wingårdh's auditorium for Karolinska Institutet
This pale brick building for Dutch financial services company Rabobank has been purposefully designed by architecture studio Mecanoo to "not look like a bank" (+ slideshow). More about Mecanoo integrates public workspaces within banking centre for Rabobank
The overlapping volumes that comprise this family house outside Barcelona were designed by Spanish studio Mirag with clean white exteriors and bare concrete interiors (+ slideshow). More about Mirag's House in Llavaneres comprises four overlapping white blocks
News: the Design Museum in London has defended its decision to give its Designs of the Year top prize to a Zaha Hadid building in Azerbaijan, following widespread criticisms of the award on human rights grounds. More about Designs of the Year prize "about architecture rather than politics" says Design Museum director
An architecture graduate from the University of Westminster has designed a temporary plywood "temple" for the Burning Man festival in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. More about Josh Haywood creates temporary "temple" out of plywood for Burning Man Festival
A stripy facade modelled on a skyline bounds the circular campus of this Melbourne primary school, designed by Australian firm McBride Charles Ryan to reference walled cities around the world (+ slideshow). More about Stripy Melbourne school by McBride Charles Ryan mirrors the local skyline
Architect Zaha Hadid has described her Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan as an "incredible achievement" while project architect Saffet Kaya Bekiroglu said the project expressed the "soft, romantic side" of Azeri culture (+ interview + movie). More about Heydar Aliyev Center was "an incredibly ambitious project" says Zaha Hadid
News: Spanish office Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos has won a competition to design a woodland cultural centre for the organisation run by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, after claiming their proposal won't involve felling a single tree (+ slideshow). More about Nieto Sobejano scores Estonian cultural centre for composer Arvo Pärt
News: New York studio The Living has completed this year's MoMA PS1 gallery pavilion – a cluster of circular towers built from bricks that have been grown from corn stalks and mushrooms (+ slideshow). More about Tower of "grown" bio-bricks by The Living opens at MoMA PS1
Charred timber clads this woodland hideaway that Czech studio Uhlik Architekti has built on top of a large boulder within a forest clearing in central Bohemia (+ slideshow). More about Forest Retreat by Uhlik Architekti rests on a boulder in a Bohemian wood
A spiralling staircase with a stripy central balustrade unites the refurbished spaces of this city hall in the French commune of Le Pré Saint-Gervais by Paris firm Zoomfactor Architectes. More about Zoomfactor Architectes updates a city hall with a spiralling staircase
Columns arranged in V formations support the overhanging roof of this idyllic seaside residence in Chile, which offers occupants panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean (+ slideshow). More about Casa Rambla by LAND Arquitectos faces out over the Pacific Ocean
News: architect Zaha Hadid's undulating Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku has been named Design of the Year by London's Design Museum this evening. More about Zaha Hadid's Heydar Aliyev Center wins Design of the Year 2014