Graduate students of a Colorado university design-build programme have completed a pair of cabins on the Navajo reservation made of rusted steel and reclaimed barn wood (+ slideshow). More about University graduates design and build cabins on Navajo reservation in Utah
This house in the Utah desert is covered in sheets of rusty Corten steel to match the colour of the earth, while its four glazed gables are designed to take in views of the mountainous landscape (+ slideshow). More about Imbue Design completes a rusty steel dwelling in the Utah desert
The remains of a former miner's residence in the Arizona desert provided the foundations for this tiny steel and concrete retreat by designer David Frazee (+ slideshow). More about Desert hideaway built among the ruins of an old miner's shelter in Arizona
Rammed earth walls built using soil from the desert site are wrapped in a protective weathered steel shell at this courtyard house near Phoenix by local firm Wendell Burnette Architects (+ slideshow). More about Desert Courtyard House by Wendell Burnette features rammed earth walls
This house in the Australian desert by Dunn & Hillam Architects hunkers down into the earth and features a large angled roof to protect it from extreme temperature fluctuations (+ slideshow). More about Dunn & Hillam Architects use angled roof to protect Desert House from the sun
Photo essay: French photographer Romain Veillon explored an abandoned town that is slowly being consumed by the Namib desert to create these images of once-opulent buildings filled with sand dunes. More about Ghost town engulfed by mounds of sand in photography by Romain Veillon
This all-black house in the Yucca Valley desert was designed by Los Angeles office Oller & Pejic to look "like a shadow" (+ slideshow). More about Oller & Pejic's Desert House designed to look "like a shadow"
American artist Phillip K Smith III has added mirrors to the walls of a desert shack in California to create the illusion that you can see right through the building (+ movie). More about Lucid Stead installation by Phillip K Smith III makes a desert cabin appear transparent
This holiday house with rammed earth walls by US architects DUST is nestled amongst the rocky outcrops and sprouting cacti of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona (+ slideshow). More about Tucson Mountain Retreat by DUST
These seven star-shaped lights appeared in the flat expanse of Nevada's Black Rock Desert during the 2012 Burning Man festival (+ slideshow). More about Starlight by Erich Remash, Jeremy Berglund, Don Peterson and Chad Ingle
Eight architecture students from the University of Colorado have designed and built a cabin in the Utah desert for a Navajo woman (+ slideshow). More about Nakai House by University of Colorado students
Slideshow: following our earlier story about a university in the Moroccan desert with a sandy red exterior, here's a school of technology in the nearby town of Guelmim with walls covered in the same grainy render. More about Guelmim Technology School by Saad El Kabbaj, Driss Kettani and Mohamed Amine Siana
The harsh sunlight in the Moroccan desert casts dramatic shadows across the sandy red walls of this university by architects Saad El Kabbaj, Driss Kettani and Mohamed Amine Siana. More about Taroudant University by Saad El Kabbaj, Driss Kettani and Mohamed Amine Siana
You can clamber down the inside walls of this ramshackle timber basin in the desert by Los Angeles designers Ball-Nogues Studio into a surprise swimming pool. More about Yucca Crater by Ball-Nogues Studio
Foster + Partners have completed the world’s first space terminal for tourists in New Mexico. More about Spaceport America by Foster + Partners
Show RCA 2011: here's another piece of manufacturing machinery that harnesses sunlight by Markus Kayser - inventor of the Solar Sinter 3D printer in our earlier story - this time a low-tech, low-energy version of a laser cutter. More about Sun Cutter by Markus Kayser
Show RCA 2011: German designer Markus Kayser has built a 3D-printing machine that uses sunlight and sand to make glass objects in the desert. More about The Solar Sinter by Markus Kayser
Florida-based practice Oppenheim Architecture + Design have released these images of their proposals for 47 desert lodges at a resort in Wadi Rum, Jordan. More about Wadi Resort by Oppenheim Architecture + Design
French designer Matali Crasset has completed a hotel in Nefta where bedrooms are located in eight individual towers overlooking the Tunisian desert. More about Dar Hi by Matali Crasset
Paris architects Laetitia Delubac and Christian Félix have completed a holiday home and guest house in Siwa, Egypt. More about Ecolodge by Laetitia Delubac and Christian Félix