News: Japanese firm Kengo Kuma + Associates has unveiled plans to replace an ageing Tokyo medical centre with a louvre-clad hospital built around a landscaped garden. More about Kengo Kuma designs Tokyo hospital wrapped around a garden
Architecture studio NAAD has gutted a 100-year-old house in Kyoto and re-skinned the interior in plywood to create a temporary dwelling that is designed to look incomplete (+ slideshow). More about NAAD lines a century-old Japanese house with exposed plywood
Both curving and straight walls overlap inside this family home in Shiga Prefecture by architect Tsuyoshi Kawata, which was designed to frame views of a nearby park (+ slideshow). More about Curving walls eclipse glazed facade of park-side house in Japan by Tsuyoshi Kawata
The stepped profile of this house in Japan by architecture studio IHRMK gives clues about the complicated layout of rooms contained within. More about IHRMK's house with a staggered profile looks out over a landscape of paddy fields
Two curving staircases encircle the exterior of this wedding chapel by Tokyo-based architect Hiroshi Nakamura, meeting at a rooftop platform that overlooks the Hiroshima coastline (+ slideshow). More about Intertwining staircases spiral around the glazed core of Hiroshi Nakamura's Ribbon Chapel
Japanese studio Movedesign has converted an old timber-framed house with parquet floors and exposed wooden beams into a bakery in downtown Fukuoka (+ slideshow). More about Old timber-framed house transformed into a bakery by Movedesign
Harp strings fixed across the facade turn this hotel chapel on a lakeside site in Shiga Prefecture, Japan, into a huge musical instrument when the wind blows (+ slideshow). More about Lakeside hotel by Ryuichi Ashizawa adjoins a wedding chapel with a musical facade
Japanese studios Rhythmdesign and Case-Real came up with the design for this nursery school in Kumamoto after being given a brief to create "not a small school, but a big house" (+ slideshow). More about Hakemiya Nursery School is designed to remind children of their homes
This house by Suppose Design Office slopes down beyond the boundary wall of a reservoir in Fukuoka, south-west Japan, to allow residents to be as close as possible to the water (+ slideshow). More about Suppose Design Office's House in Hibaru stretches down to the edge of a reservoir
This rural Japanese house by Suppose Design Office features sunken rooms and see-through walls, designed to allow residents to observe and interact with wild animals (+ slideshow). More about Hiroshima Hut by Suppose Design Office is a see-through house with sunken rooms
An ivy motif spreads across the exterior of this bookstore in Japan by Klein Dytham Architecture, while the interior presents books and magazines on a "street" that also includes a cafe and a hair salon (+ slideshow). More about Klein Dytham's Shonan T-Site is a bookstore with a makeshift high street inside
Wooden ceiling beams extend beyond the walls of this boxy black house in Japan by Apollo Architects & Associates, creating a canopy above a secluded entrance courtyard (+ slideshow). More about Trellis canopy shades courtyard of Pergola house by Apollo Architects
Japanese studio Alphaville raised the base of this Osaka house up on crooked stilts, revealing the complex arrangement of rooms, bridges and lightwells contained within (+ slideshow). More about Alphaville's Dig In the Sky house is made up of three blocks connected by bridges
Bedrooms the size of a single mattress are slotted two-high into the walls of this wooden guesthouse in Japan by Alphaville, which takes its cues from capsule hotels (+ slideshow). More about Ladders lead to capsule-sized bedrooms in Koyasan Guesthouse by Alphaville
Small-scale fittings, blackboards walls and round toilet cubicles are incorporated into this kindergarten in Japan, designed by architecture studios Hibino Sekkei and Youji no Shiro around a garden playground (+ slideshow). More about Light-filled classrooms surround a courtyard garden at DS Nursery in Japan
Curving walls rise from opposing directions to form an aisle through the centre of this wedding planner's office in Japan by Ryo Matsui Architects (+ slideshow). More about Curving walls create arched avenue through wedding planning venue by Ryo Matsui Architects
Trees sprout out of the rainbow-coloured cubes that make up the facade of this bank in northern Tokyo – the fourth building that architect Emmanuelle Moureaux has designed for Sugamo Shinkin (+ slideshow). More about Coloured boxes and plants cover the latest Sugamo Shinkin Bank by Emmanuelle Moureaux
Forty-two identical windows puncture the exterior of this house in Japan by Tato Architects, which also features a staircase that leads onto a piece of furniture (+ slideshow). More about A staircase lands on a desk inside House in Hikone by Tato Architects
Young Japanese architect Cohta Asano created a new space for a hairdresser inside an existing building in Iwaki, adding a steel frame to support angular wooden shelves and partitions (+ slideshow). More about Cohta Asano divides Japanese hair salon with diamond-shaped partitions
It's rare to find new houses in Japan that haven't been designed by Japanese architects – but this Tokyo residence with a textured glass facade is the work of Dutch architect Wiel Arets (+ slideshow). More about Glass-coated Tokyo house by Wiel Arets looks like it's been shrink wrapped