This addition to a house in Kudamatsu, Japan, features an oversized pitched roof and a covered courtyard surrounded by arched openings (+ slideshow). More about Japanese house extension by Container Design is arranged around a covered courtyard
Glass sliding doors surrounding the living areas of this coastal house in South Africa can be retracted to create open-air spaces overlooking the ocean (+ slideshow). More about Pearl Bay Residence provides ocean views from South African coast
Architect Will Harkness was careful not to disturb any large gum trees with this compact holiday home for a retired couple in Lorne, just off Australia's Great Ocean Road (+ slideshow). More about Lorne Hill House is a retirement residence built among trees on Australia's coastline
This top-heavy white house in Kanagawa, Japan, was designed by Apollo Architects & Associates for a keen surfer and his family (+ slideshow). More about Wave is a surfer's house with a protruding windowless facade and a secret courtyard
Bronze-framed windows pierce the yellow-brick facade of this house on one of the oldest streets in London's borough of Kensington and Chelsea (+ slideshow). More about TDO pairs brick and bronze for contemporary house on a historic London street
Japanese architect Kazuteru Matumura has gutted the interior of an old townhouse in Osaka, creating a minimal two-storey home that can be partitioned with curtains (+ slideshow). More about Curtains replace walls inside renovated Osaka townhouse by Kazuteru Matumura
A slatted-timber gallery is raised above the porch of this woodland lodge near the shore of Lake Superior in Wisconsin (+ slideshow). More about Timber gallery sits above the veranda of Salmela Architect's lakeside retreat
The residents of a house in Melbourne have allowed architect Andrew Maynard to reveal their living spaces to passers-by, with a timber-framed extension that slots into the perimeter fence (+ slideshow). More about Melbourne house extension by Andrew Maynard presents a living room to the street
This 65-metre-long house in the Brazilian countryside was designed by Studio MK27 to be opaque at one end and transparent at the other (+ slideshow). More about Casa Mororó by Studio MK27 is a 65-metre-long house in rural Brazil
This house in Portugal by Contaminar Arquitetos is made up of three volumes of different shapes and sizes, with narrow terraces slotted in between. More about Contaminar Arquitetos divides Texugueira House into a row of three blocks
Two glass-fronted concrete shells project from the side of a steeply sloping valley to form this house by Austrian studio Love Architecture (+ slideshow). More about Love Architecture completes house of two halves overlooking an Austrian valley
Slabs of concrete create sunshades that look like open shutters for the windows of this house in Argentina, designed by architect duo Santiago Carlos Viale and Daniella Beviglia (+ slideshow). More about House in La Rufina is a raw concrete residence elevated above the Argentinian landscape
A concrete walkway projects from the street onto the roof of this concrete home in Caxias, Portugal, which is designed to go unnoticed from a hilltop road (+ slideshow). More about Greenery and observation decks top hillside villa by António Costa Lima
This tiny two-room house, measuring just three metres wide, is raised above a grassy slope on metal legs in Hohenecken, Germany (+ slideshow). More about Micro house by Architekturbüro Scheder is raised off the ground on stilts
Jonathan Woolf Architects used chiselled sandstone to construct this family home near Nairobi, which is built into a hillside and topped by a heavy sloping roof (+ slideshow). More about Hewn sandstone walls and an overhanging roof enclose a hillside home in Nairobi
Monterrey studio Greenfield used walls of rammed earth and rugged stone to frame the rooms of this villa for the staff of an animal breeding facility in Mexico's Maderas del Carmen natural park (+ slideshow). More about The Cave is a rammed-earth and stone villa in a Mexico wildlife conservation facility
Triangular facets give a folded appearance to the bare concrete facade of this house in Argentina by local architect Nicolás Campodonico (+ movie). More about Faceted concrete T-shape facade fronts courtyard house in Santa Fe
A small extension to the rear of this remodelled townhouse in Dublin is clad and roofed in panels of opaque black glass, designed by architectural studio Ailtireacht to reflect the building's surroundings. More about Black glass box forms a reflective extension to a Victorian townhouse in Dublin
A wooden spine extends beneath the diagonally pitched roof of this diamond-shaped house and artist's studio in Japan (+ slideshow). More about House and art studio by Alphaville features a diamond-shaped plan and a pointed roof
Perforated metal panels create a grid of Xs on the outer walls of this family house in Ljubljana by Slovenian studio OFIS Arhitekti (+ slideshow). More about OFIS Arhitekti creates grid of crosses on the facade of Villa Criss-Cross Envelope