We've rounded up five residences in Ecuador that architects have designed to celebrate the small South American country's local materials and climate. More about Five of the best houses in Ecuador on Dezeen
London architecture studio Cullinan Studio has built a house in Amersham, England, that is split it into sections to allow light to flood its interiors through the glazed gaps. More about Cullinan Studio designs "cracked open" house with gaps to let in the light
A dynamic screen of illuminated, rotating polycarbonate discs shield the upper level of this home in Melbourne, completed by Layan for the director of local lighting design practice The Flaming Beacon. More about Layan wraps Light House in a screen of illuminated metal discs
Ecuadorian studio El Sindicato Arquitectura has built a 12-square-metre parasitic structure atop a building in Quito. More about El Sindicato builds tiny Casa Parásito on a rooftop in Ecuador
Matthew Barnett Howland with Dido Milne and Oliver Wilton have used cork blocks to build Cork House in Berkshire, England, which is shortlisted for this year's Stirling Prize. More about Recyclable house is built from cork blocks
Overgrown concrete pergolas have been installed around Monticello, a brick house restored by Di Gregorio Associati Architetti in northern Italy. More about Di Gregorio Associati surrounds rural Italian house with planted concrete pergolas
A stack of intersecting concrete and metal cuboids combines to create this long, narrow home in Shiga, Japan by FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects. More about FORM/Kouichi Kimura designs Slender House in suburban Japan
American firms Brooks + Scarpa and Studio Dwell have created a suburban Chicago home with an inner courtyard screened from the road by "vertical twisting columns" of brick. More about Thayer Brick House is hidden behind a brick screen
Architecture practice Studio BAM! has built a skinny house clad in charred cedar in the garden of a Victorian end-of-terrace home in London. More about Studio BAM! builds Infill House in London garden
A series of minimal white blocks interlock to form this holiday home by Studio Andrew Trotter, which takes cues from local architecture in Puglia. More about Studio Andrew Trotter models Villa Cardo on traditional houses in Puglia
A glass walkway and terrace connect both halves of this black house near La Juanita beach, Uruguay, which FRAM Arquitectos and Delfina Riverti built almost exclusively out of wood. More about Wood stripes detail black house in rural Uruguay by FRAM Arquitectos and Delfina Riverti
Bates Masi Architects has used sliding doors, decks and balconies to open up this slatted wooden home in Annapolis, Maryland to the nearby water. More about Bates Masi designs slatted wooden home for sailing family on Annapolis waterfront
Vietnamese practice K59 Atelier has designed its own architecture office and home for a family in Ho Chi Minh City, connecting two alleyways with an open and airy ground floor. More about K59 Atelier merges its studio and home in concrete-framed block
Brazilian firm Laurent Troost Architects has built a concrete house in the Amazon, featuring outdoor living areas and a swimming pool that are elevated above the dense tropical forest surrounds. More about Laurent Troost Architects folds weathered steel roof over concrete house in Brazilian Amazon
A perforated metal facade covers the front of 3,500 Millimetre House, a wedge-shaped skinny house built on a 3.5-metre-wide site in Indonesia by AGo Architects. More about AGo Architects builds skinny house in Indonesia on a 3.5-metre plot
Tomohiro Hata Architect and Associates built Loop House around a planted central courtyard in pursuit of peace and quiet for a dense urban site in Hyogo, Japan. More about Tomohiro Hata's Loop House faces inwards onto a central courtyard
Californian architect Ryan Leidner has slotted a garden in between a renovated 19th-century residence in San Francisco's Mission district and its minimal extension to the rear. More about Ryan Leidner adds minimal extension to San Francisco saloon building
With the proliferation of drone photography more houses are being photographed from the air. Here are 12 homes that look impressive in bird's-eye view. More about Twelve houses photographed directly from above
Architecture studio Geza has wrapped a skin of sun-shading angled larch slats around this large gabled house on a steep Alpine slope in Italy. More about Geza designs gabled home to frame views of Alpine village
Australian architect Matt Gibson has created a multi-generational home from a stack of zinc-clad boxes on a narrow infill site in Melbourne. More about Stacked zinc boxes form multi-generational house in Melbourne