Venice Architecture Biennale 2014: architect Rem Koolhaas has today been confirmed as the director of the next Venice Architecture Biennale in 2014 and wants to use the opportunity to readdress the "fundamental elements of architecture". More about Rem Koolhaas confirmed as director of Venice Architecture Biennale 2014
Competition: we're giving readers the chance to win one of five copies of The New Wave in Danish Architecture, a book featuring contemporary projects by Danish architects such as BIG and NORD. More about Competition: five copies of The New Wave in Danish Architecture to be won
Japanese studio FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects designed this concrete house in Shiga to be deliberately alien to its neighbours (+ slideshow). More about House of Silence by FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects
These conceptual office units by American designer Victor Vetterlein are designed to be bought up by companies and sent out to employees' back gardens so they can work from home. More about MOSS office for working from home by Victor Vetterlein
London firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners has completed Neo Bankside, a set of six-sided apartment blocks beside the Tate Modern art gallery on the edge of the River Thames. More about Neo Bankside by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
French architect Emmanuelle Weiss has added a contrasting dark brick extension to a red brick house outside Lille (+ slideshow). More about Maison D by Emmanuelle Weiss
Danish architects Tredje Natur and PK3 have designed a series of artificial islands that will transform Copenhagen's harbour into a recreational area filled with wildlife and water sports (+ slideshow). More about Blue Plan for Copenhagen Harbour by Tredje Natur and PK3
News: Here are the latest images of architect Jean Nouvel's Philharmonie de Paris, set to become the world's most expensive concert hall after surviving the French government's recent cull of major cultural projects (+ slideshow). More about Jean Nouvel's Paris concert hall spared the axe
News: Scientists at a Spanish university are developing a new type of concrete that captures rainwater to create living walls of moss and fungi. More about Researchers develop "biological concrete" for moss-covered walls
This concrete house in Tokyo by Japanese architect Hiroyuki Ito has a glazed stairwell that splits the building into two distinct halves. More about Takanawa House by Hiroyuki Ito and O.F.D.A. Associates
Jagged copper balconies emulate the topography of surrounding landscape as they fold around the exterior of this apartment block in north-east Italy by architects Plasma Studio (+ slideshow). More about Dolomitenblick by Plasma Studio
News: well-designed classrooms can improve the academic performance of primary school pupils by 25 percent according to a new study undertaken by the University of Salford and UK architects Nightingale Associates. More about Well-designed schools improve learning by 25 percent says new study
Los Angeles firm Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects has restored a nineteenth century coach house in Dublin, Ireland, and inserted a contemporary house in front of it (+ slideshow). More about Flynn Mews House by Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects
News: a building designed by Zaha Hadid for Beijing has been copied by a developer in Chongqing, with the two projects racing to be completed first. More about Zaha Hadid building pirated in China
A spiral staircase climbs the all-timber facade of this house in Amsterdam by Dutch studio Egeon Architecten (+ slideshow). More about Villa Rieteiland-oost by Egeon Architecten
Spanish collective Grupo IUT built a tower of straw bales on the outskirts of Guimarães in Portugal (+ slideshow). More about Agricultural Mountain by Grupo IUT
This angular black concert hall was designed by Delugan Meissl Associated Architects to contrast with the curved white playhouse it accompanies in Erl, Austria (+ slideshow). More about Festival Hall Of The Tiroler Festspiele Erl by Delugan Meissl Associated Architects
A house named after its Z-shaped roof, designed by Hohyun Park and Hyunjoo Kim for the top of a steep hill near Seoul, is behind the last door on our Christmas A-Zdvent calendar. Read more about Z-house »
More about Dezeen's A-Zdvent calendar: Z-house by Hohyun Park and Hyunjoo Kim
Our second A-Zdvent calendar treat of the day is Y House by Japanese architects TOFU, with a staggered façade clad in an aluminium-zinc alloy. Read more about Y House »
More about Dezeen's A-Zdvent calendar:Y House by TOFU
We're racing towards the end of our A-Zdvent calendar of houses, so in the first of three final posts today here's a house in Inner Mongolia, China, by Multiplicities that's named after its X-shaped central void. Read more about (X) »
More about Dezeen's A-Zdvent calendar: (X) for Ordos 100 by Multiplicities