Rooms spiral up from a garden courtyard to a rooftop terrace at this family house in Japan's Yamaguchi Prefecture by Tokyo studio Keiko Maita Architect Office. More about House J by Keiko Maita Architect Office
Windows of various shapes and sizes give this weekend retreat on the south-east coast of Japan the appearance of a children's shape-sorter toy. More about Nowhere but Sajima by Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects
This house by Spanish architect Daniel Isern looks like a cluster of concrete cubes, stacked up on a steep hillside on the outskirts of Barcelona. More about Mediterrani 32, Sant Pol de Mar by Daniel Isern
This renovated family home in Japan by designer Yasunari Tsukada features large internal windows and a mezzanine loft, creating apertures and vantage points for looking into different rooms (+ slideshow). More about House in Takamatsu by Yasunari Tsukada
A narrow atrium brings daylight into windowless rooms on four storeys at this renovated house in Hanoi by Vietnamese office AHL Architects Associates. More about 4.5x20 House by AHL Architects Associates
The latest building to feature an indoor slide is this South Korean house by Seoul studio Moon Hoon, where a wooden slide is slotted into a combined staircase and bookshelf (+ slideshow). More about Panorama House by Moon Hoon
This holiday home in upstate New York by US firm Gluck+ features an elevated living room that hovers nine metres above the ground (+ slideshow). More about Tower House by Gluck+
Walls of Corten steel and timber surround this house by McAllister Alcock Architects on a vineyard in Mornington Peninsula, Australia (+ slideshow). More about Main Ridge Residence by McAllister Alcock Architects
An opaque box appears to balance over see-through walls of glass and perforated steel at this house and pet shop in Saitama, Japan, by architecture studio Norisada Maeda Atelier (+ slideshow). More about Torus by Norisada Maeda Atelier
This house in rural England was designed by British architect Lucy Marston to reference old English farmhouses and features red brickwork, a steep gabled profile and a corner chimney (+ slideshow). More about Long Farm by Lucy Marston
This coastal holiday house and swimming pool by Mumbai practice WE Design Studio is positioned over a stone retaining wall in the hilly landscape of Alibaug, India (+ slideshow). More about House in Alibaug by WE Design Studio
This project by architecture collective Rumah Asuh involved the repair and reconstruction of the last remaining traditional thatched residences on Flores Island, Indonesia. More about Preservation of the Mbaru Niang by Rumah Asuh
Australian architect Christopher Polly has converted a small Sydney bungalow into a two-storey house by adding extra rooms behind and underneath. More about Cosgriff House by Christopher Polly
Bernardo Bader Architects used locally sourced spruce, fir and elm to clad the interior and exterior of this rural cabin in Lower Austria (+ slideshow). More about Haus am Moor by Bernardo Bader Architects
Japanese architect Shigeru Ban developed these timber and earth houses for the rehabilitation of a Sri Lankan fishing village that was swept away during the 2004 tsunami (+ slideshow). More about Post-Tsunami Housing by Shigeru Ban
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
Australian office Kennedy Nolan Architects used recycled bricks, concrete and rough-sawn timber to construct this courtyard house near the beach in Melbourne. More about Merricks Beach House by Kennedy Nolan Architects
Dutch studio Barcode Architects has renovated a house in Belgium to make room to display a collection of hunting trophies. More about Markthuis by Barcode Architects
Chinese architecture studio Neri&Hu sliced away the rear wall and replaced it with glass for this renovation of a 1930s townhouse in Shanghai. More about Rethinking the Split House by Neri&Hu
A wooden wall with the silhouette of three little buildings lines the edge of this house extension in Melbourne by Australian architecture studio BLOXAS (+ slideshow). More about Profile House by BLOXAS