This concrete house in Tokyo was designed by Japanese firm Apollo Architects & Associates for a family that regularly accommodates foreign exchange students (+ slideshow). More about Concrete Calm house by Apollo Architects designed to accommodate exchange students
News: a tower under construction in Miami by Porsche Design and Dezer Development is to feature car elevators, allowing some of the world's wealthiest people to park right next to their living rooms (+ slideshow). More about Car elevators in Porsche Design's Miami tower will give billionaires drive-in apartments
News: John Pawson has become the latest designer of a holiday home for Alain de Botton's Living Architecture project with his proposal for a black brick lodge in the Welsh countryside (+ slideshow). More about John Pawson designs countryside lodge for Alain de Botton's Living Architecture project
News: president of the Rhode Island School of Design John Maeda has announced he will leave the school to join a Silicon Valley venture capital firm and chair eBay's new Design Advisory Board. More about John Maeda leaves Rhode Island School of Design for venture capital firm and eBay
This combined dental clinic and beauty salon in Takashima, Japan, by Osaka designer Ryutaro Matsuura features a plain white facade that conceals windows and patios behind perforated metal screens (+ slideshow). More about Bright white clinic by Ryutaro Matsuura with concealed windows and patios
A quick traffic report: we're proud to say Dezeen has had over 100 million pageviews this year. Thanks to all our readers!
More about Dezeen reaches 100 million pageviews in 2013
These wearable devices by designer Ling Tan cause unpleasant sensations when the wearer becomes inactive or stops concentrating (+ movie). More about Reality Mediators wearable technology by Ling Tan punishes laziness
This small house in Japan by architect Hiroyuki Shinozaki features volcanic stone walls and a ribbed structure that forms the shape of a dome over the central living space (+ slideshow). More about Hiroyuki Shinozaki's House I features stone walls surrounding a ribbed dome
Israeli designer Ron Gilad has added a modular shelving system and an oval table to his TT furniture collection, which features surfaces that appear to hover unsupported within a metal frame. More about Ron Gilad designs shelves that seem to float in metal frames
Letter I stands for Japanese architect Arata Isozaki in the ninth window from our A-Zdvent calendar of architects. Isozaki's most famous projects include the Museum of Modern Art in Gunma, but he more recently completed an inflatable mobile concert hall in collaboration with artist Anish Kapoor and the Qatar National Convention Centre, where tree-like columns support an overhanging roof (pictured).
See more architecture by Arata Isozaki »
More about Dezeen's A-Zdvent calendar: Arata Isozaki
Curved walls made from sun-bleached timber slats screen the exterior of this sports centre by Explorations Architecture in the French commune of Arpajon, near Paris (+ slideshow). More about Sports centre clad with sun-bleached wooden slats by Explorations Architecture
London designer Emilie Voirin has created a minimal nativity set where characters in the Christmas story are represented by wooden blocks with their names printed in plain black capital letters. More about Minimal Nativity Set made of plain wooden blocks by Emilie Voirin
Dezeen and MINI World Tour: next in our series of movies from Eindhoven, Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek discusses his fascination with waste materials and explains how he set up his huge studio complex in the city to manufacture his own products. Update: this interview is featured in Dezeen Book of Interviews, which is on sale now for £12. More about Eindhoven designer Piet Hein Eek: "I always want to make my own stuff"
A rare prefabricated one-room house designed by Jean Prouvé in 1945 is on sale at Design Miami for $2.5 million. Update: this interview is featured in Dezeen Book of Interviews, which is on sale now for £12 (+ movie + interview). More about One-room prefab house by Jean Prouvé on sale at Design Miami for More.5m
We've recently featured a house with a fritted glass facade and an energy efficient house in a glazed box located in the Netherlands. From the iconic Piet Blom cube houses to the traditional Dutch townhouse, here is a selection of Dutch homes from the pages of Dezeen. See our new Dutch houses Pinterest board »
More about New Pinterest board: Dutch houses
Dublin designers Notion have established their own design brand called NTN with an inaugural collection featuring wooden sunglasses, an aluminium watch and a table with a hammock underneath (+ slideshow). More about First collection from new Dublin design brand includes a table with a hammock underneath
Following a preview of the nearly completed Pérez Art Museum in Miami this week, our eighth A-Zdvent calendar window features Swiss architecture duo Herzog & de Meuron. Here's a picture of their Vitrahaus showroom shaped like a pile of houses.
See more architecture by Herzog & de Meuron » »
More about Dezeen's A-Zdvent calendar: Herzog & de Meuron
Decorative tiles salvaged from different apartments are rearranged in stripes across the floor of this Barcelona residence by Spanish studio Bach Arquitectes (+ slideshow). More about Traditional floor tiles arranged in stripes in a Barcelona apartment by Bach Arquitectes
Dezeen and MINI World Tour: in our first movie from Miami, Jacques Herzog of Herzog & de Meuron claims the Swiss architecture studio is trying to create a "new vernacular for Miami" that eschews sealed, air-conditioned buildings in favour of more "transparent or permeable" structures. More about Herzog & de Meuron is "deconstructing stupid architecture" in Miami
Design Miami 2013: designer Simon Heijdens has created a series of hand-blown glass vessels that turn data from wind movement into projected patterns of light, installed at Design Miami this week (+ slideshow + interview). More about High-tech lighting installation by Simon Heijdens creates "3D drawings in water"