Emerging Dutch firm Unknown Architects has renovated a 200-year-old house in Leiden by stripping back its interior, and inserting built-in furniture and a twisting white staircase (+ slideshow). More about Unknown Architects updates 200-year-old house with twisting staircase and wooden furniture
Japanese design studio Nendo has installed screens based on wrought iron fences in the women's clothing section of Tokyo's Seibu department store so it resembles a European city park (+ slideshow). More about Nendo styles Tokyo department store like a European park
Following our earlier story about a tea house in Prague, here's another cafe with vaulted ceilings by Hungarian studio Spora Architects, in a two-hundred-year-old former palace in Budapest (+ slideshow). More about Budapest cafe with vaulted brick ceilings by Spora Architects
Czech studio A1 Architects covered the walls of this cafe in Prague with a tactile mixture of black plaster, coal and pieces of straw, in a modern take on the clay plasters used inside traditional Japanese tea houses (+ slideshow). More about Straw and plaster-lined cafe by A1 Architects based on Japanese tea houses
Dutch firm 8A Architecten has modernised a small labourer's house in Leiden by adding a large oak structure that incorporates a staircase, storage facilities and sofa (+ slideshow). More about 8A Architecten adds combined staircase and sofa to Leiden house
Australian skincare company Aesop has opened a new signature store in Hong Kong that features shelving made from blackened steel, plus sinks made of oak and copper. More about Aesop's Hollywood Road store features pale oak, copper and blackened steel
Japanese architects Sides Core left mineral wool insulation exposed on the ceiling of this hair salon, wrapping light fixtures like vines along pipes and suspending light bulbs at different levels (+ slideshow). More about Hair salon with an exposed ceiling and twisting lights by Sides Core
A landscape of stepped boxes covered in sisal displays products at this Barcelona boutique by local firm Arquitectura-G. More about AOO shop in Barcelona by Arquitectura-G has a stepped sisal display platform
Mexican firm Taller 6A has renovated a library inside an eighteenth-century building in Mexico City, adding a bookshop with hundreds of wooden boxes on its walls, its ceilings, and under its glass floor (+ slideshow). More about Mexican library renovation by Taller 6A features bookshop covered in boxes
British designer Tom Dixon's interior for Paris restaurant Éclectic combines raw, industrial concrete surfaces with tactile brass, marble and leather details. More about Tom Dixon completes Éclectic restaurant in Paris
German studio Von M has rebuilt the interior of an apartment block in Stuttgart to create a trio of open-plan homes where built-in furniture divides rooms and stark walls are offset with colourful objects (+ slideshow). More about Von M modernises three apartments inside a Stuttgart apartment block
Spanish firm Nook Architects has renovated a Barcelona apartment by adding patterned floor tiles plus a combined step and window seat leading out onto the terrace (+ slideshow). More about Nook Architects add patterned floor tiles and window seat to Barcelona apartment renovation
Sheets of translucent black material separate areas of this Aesop skincare store in Kyoto by Japanese studio Simplicity (+ slideshow). More about Translucent fabric divides Aesop store in Kyoto by Simplicity
A curving timber-clad wall divides the work space from a multipurpose meeting room at the offices of domohomo architects in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. More about Architecture studio with a bulging wall by domohomo architects
Zaha Hadid Architects is one of 11 international firms designing a studio apartment at a new McDonald's charity house in Hamburg to accommodate the relatives of children receiving hospital treatment nearby (+ slideshow). More about Zaha Hadid designs apartment for Ronald McDonald charity house
Dutch studio Bureau SLA has inserted a smooth white house-shaped art gallery into a timber nineteenth-century Dutch military building. More about Bureau SLA inserts bright white gallery into old timber armoury
A bright red shipping container at the entrance to the offices of Cape Town branding agency 99c houses a waiting room for visitors. More about 99c offices by Inhouse Brand Architects feature a waiting room inside a shipping container
Wooden structures and traditional joinery are used in this Melbourne takeaway chicken shop by local interior designers Hecker Guthrie to evoke the appearance of a chicken coop. More about Foxes Den cafe by Hecker Guthrie references a chicken coop
Dutch architecture studio OMA installed tessellated wood curtains as part of its design of the Paris flagship store for French fashion label Maison Ullens (+ slideshow). More about OMA drapes wooden curtains in Maison Ullens flagship store
An events space designed by Rem Koolhaas' OMA has opened in the basement of London department store Selfridges, featuring a circular amphitheatre, vivid green columns and a stripy monochrome floor (+ slideshow). More about OMA's Imaginarium hosts lectures in Selfridges' basement