Angular balconies and timber panelling characterise these housing developments by architects Zaha Hadid and Daniel Libeskind, both located in Milan's fast-growing City Life district (+ slideshow). More about Zaha Hadid and Daniel Libeskind build a community of 650 homes in Milan
Taking cues from Japanese gardens, landscape architecture firm Surface Design has created a series of planted terraces for a renovated home in San Francisco (+ slideshow). More about Surface Design creates verdant terraces for Butterfly House in San Francisco
Each floor of this timber-clad family home on an Amsterdam peninsula features wide windows and steel-framed balconies, offering views out over the IJ river (+ slideshow). More about A Room with a View by MeesVisser is an Amsterdam home overlooking the IJ river
Dutch architecture office UNStudio has completed the first two buildings of a major new university campus in Singapore, designed as a seamless network of rooms, balconies and courtyards (+ slideshow). More about UNStudio completes first buildings for new Singapore university campus
This sunken pavilion featuring a swimming pool and gym is set below the lawn of a home in northern Italy, and is connected to a new conservatory in front of the house by an underground tunnel (+ slideshow). More about Act_Romegialli completes underground swimming pool in the grounds of an Italian home
A long, horizontal block is hoisted above the ground on a collection of concrete pods, providing views of paddy fields and mountains for the home, gallery and studio of an embroidery artist in Japan's Shiga Prefecture (+ slideshow). More about Satoru Hirota Architects creates a "floating" home and gallery for an embroidery artist
The Vlotwateringbrug by NEXT Architects will span a river that forms an important natural pathway for the local bat population, and provide shelter for the mammals with a series of covered roosting spots. More about NEXT Architects' bat-friendly bridge to have winter roosts built into its concrete structure
The UK's first new electricity pylon in 90 years has been installed, with six structures designed by Danish architect Erik Bystrup now in place (+ slideshow). More about New pylons by architect Erik Bystrup will "become part of the landscape"
This parking garage in the Miami Design District features a textured facade of perforated metal panels, designed by architecture firms IwamotoScott and Leong Leong, with artist John Baldessari (+ slideshow). More about IwamotoScott and Leong Leong wrap a Miami parking garage in perforated screens
Bornstein Lyckefors Arkitekter has developed a conceptual house with an integrated outdoor shower, which could be built without permission thanks to a recent change in Sweden's planning rules. More about Waterfall House by Bornstein Lyckefors pushes the limits of a Swedish planning clause
Milan Expo 2015: this trio of wooden pavilions was designed by Herzog & de Meuron to showcase the principles of the Slow Food movement, which promotes regional gastronomy and a slow pace of life (+ slideshow). More about Herzog & de Meuron presents an alternative to "pompous and unsustainable" Expo pavilions
A triangular courtyard is contained at the centre of this three-sided high school in South Korea by Nameless Architecture (+ slideshow). More about Triangle School by Nameless Architecture has a three-sided courtyard at its centre
Architects and engineers from ETH Zurich university have used waste material to create a vaulted pavilion for New York City's Ideas City festival (+ slideshow). More about ETH Zurich designers create arched pavilion out of upcycled beverage cartons
Google has found another way to begin construction on its vast Silicon Valley campus designed by BIG and Heatherwick Studio – despite losing its original land bid to social network LinkedIn. More about Google reveals new site for Mountain View headquarters by BIG and Heatherwick
This timber-clad painting studio by Spanish studio Arquitecturia frames the trunk of an ash tree in the garden of an artist's house in Catalonia (+ slideshow). More about Cross-shaped artist's studio by Arquitecturia frames the base of an old ash tree
SHoP Architects has teamed up with West 8 to design a four-block development, aimed specifically at attracting technology businesses and turning Miami into "Florida's Silicon Valley" (+ slideshow). More about SHoP Architects and West 8 design new tech district for Miami
Located on a cliffside overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, this house by Cadaval & Solà-Morales is a cluster of 10 cubes that are each oriented towards a different viewpoint (+ slideshow). More about Sunflower House comprises ten cubes pointed in different directions
Both the jagged profile of Norway's mountain ranges and the gabled elevations of traditional houses informed this angular housing development in Stavanger (+ slideshow). More about Faceted waterfront housing in Norway conceived as "a mountain range of wood"
Architects are increasingly taking regular volumes and stacking them askew to create striking new forms. Well-known examples include SANAA's New Museum in New York, which resembles a pile of wedding presents, and OMA's De Rotterdam, which looks like an arrangement of upended shoe boxes. We've collected together the best examples of this trend from the pages of Dezeen and pinned them to a new Pinterest board.
Follow Dezeen on Pinterest | See our new Pinterest board
More about New Pinterest board: irregularly stacked boxes
The industrial aesthetic of this metal-clad house in Tasmania is interrupted by a timber-lined hole through its centre that creates sheltered terraces on either side of the kitchen (+ slideshow). More about Rural Tasmanian house by Philip M Dingemanse has a terrace piercing its middle