A colossal iron staircase bursts through the medieval stone walls of this fortified tower in rural Italy and into a copper-clad extension, as part of a renovation by local studio Gianluca Gelmini (+ slideshow). More about Gianluca Gelmini inserts an angular iron staircase inside a medieval Italian fortress
London studio Haworth Tompkins has completed its £80 million refurbishment of Brutalist icon the National Theatre, including the addition of an all-new aluminium-clad theatre production facility (+ slideshow). More about Haworth Tompkins completes renovation of Denys Lasdun's National Theatre
Claesson Koivisto Rune has designed an art gallery in Marfa, Texas, which is the Stockholm studio's first completed project in the USA. More about Claesson Koivisto Rune pays tribute to Donald Judd with first US building
New York architecture studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro has unveiled a preliminary design for a new museum in Colorado Springs dedicated to the legacy of US Olympic and Paralympic athletes (+ slideshow). More about Diller Scofidio + Renfro unveils spiralling design for US Olympic Museum
David Chipperfield has today unveiled his plans to reconfigure and renovate the Royal Academy of Arts in London, which will include building a bridge between two historic buildings. More about David Chipperfield reveals plans for Royal Academy of Arts overhaul
This library extension in the centre of Bruges is covered in sheets of pre-rusted Corten steel, deliberately contrasting the white plasterwork of the original building (+ slideshow). More about Studio Farris adds rusty steel extension to a library in Bruges
A dramatically scooped roofline creates a spiky steeple and a triangular entrance for this church in southern Norway by Link Arkitektur (+ slideshow). More about Ålgård Church by Link Arkitektur features a concave vaulted roof
Prominent names in the contemporary art world are fighting to save the Russell Page-designed viewing garden at New York's Frick Collection museum. More about Artists rally to protect Russell Page garden at New York's Frick museum
Chicago is expected to be named as the location for the Obama presidential library next week, with David Adjaye tipped to be the project's architect. More about Adjaye in the frame for Obama library ahead of official announcement
The Museum of Shit is housed in an Italian castle and is dedicated to demonstrating "what a useful and living substance crap really is" (+ slideshow). More about Italy's Museo della Merda is full of shit
Foster + Partners has revealed its plans for a creative community in Dubai modelled on the fashionable neighbourhoods of New York's Meatpacking District and east London's Shoreditch. More about Foster + Partners to build hipster village in Dubai
Bornstein Lyckefors Architects pays tribute to an agricultural technique known as slash-and-burn with this forest museum near Torsby, Sweden, clad with wooden logs (+ slideshow). More about Log-clad museum by Bornstein Lyckefors honours the legacy of Finnish slash-and-burn farmers
Scandinavian firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen has completed a canal-side cultural complex in Malmö, Sweden, featuring a 1,600-seat concert hall, a conference centre and a trio of hotel towers (+ slideshow). More about Schmidt Hammer Lassen's Malmö Live is a cultural complex designed as "a small city"
Children's play areas located beneath the zigzag roof of this community centre by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma have been landscaped to form a hilly indoor terrain that can be clambered over or used as slides (+ slideshow). More about Community centre by Kengo Kuma features playrooms with undulating floorboards
Each of the 304 ribs of bamboo that make up this Buddhist temple represent a victim killed when a ferry sank off the coast of South Korea (+ slideshow). More about Wise Architecture erects bamboo temple on South Korean coast for victims of a ferry disaster
Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects has unveiled its design for a new library in Christchurch, New Zealand, to replace the building left wrecked after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes (+ slideshow). More about Schmidt Hammer Lassen designs new library for earthquake-damaged Christchurch
Renzo Piano's new building for one of New York's most prestigious museums has been described by critics as an "art tanker", "ungainly" and "more clunky than romantic" – but they like it anyway. More about Renzo Piano's "prodigiously misassembled" Whitney Museum is a grower, say critics
Italian architect Renzo Piano has completed his new home for the Whitney Museum of American Art – an asymmetric steel and concrete assembly in Manhattan's Meatpacking District (+ slideshow). More about Renzo Piano's new building for the Whitney set to open
Moshe Safdie's firm has unveiled its design for the National Medal of Honor Museum in South Carolina – a five-pointed structure that will present the history of the USA's most revered soldiers. More about Safdie Architects designs museum to honour American war heroes
The cavernous shaft created at the entrance to London's Thames Tunnel by eminent 19th-century engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel is set to be transformed into a performance venue. More about Brunel's first project to become London's latest underground venue