Hidden behind a bookcase in a secret room, a fireman's pole offers a fast escape route from the top floor of this Berlin home by local studio NOWlab (+ slideshow). More about Berlin apartment by NOWlab features a spiral staircase and a fireman's pole
This Victorian-era villa in Sydney has been renovated and extended to meet the needs of a family with an extensive art collection, while a concrete plunge pool caters for its grown-up children (+ slideshow). More about Smart Design Studio adds concrete extension and pool to dilapidated Sydney villa
Australian studio Project 12 Architecture has used plywood partitions and furnishings to reconfigure a converted warehouse in Melbourne and make more space for a growing family. More about Project 12 uses plywood joinery to create more rooms inside a Melbourne home
Marlene Uldschmidt's extension to an old farmhouse in Portugal's Algarve region features windows that cover entire walls and a paved rooftop promenade that affords views of the rural landscape (+ slideshow). More about Walkway extends over rooftop of Algarve farmhouse extension by Marlene Uldschmidt
Students and faculty members at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have designed a tiny house to help address the city's low-cost housing shortage. More about UCLA research lab unveils micro dwelling to help combat affordable housing crisis
The concrete volumes that make up this house on Sydney's seafront are arranged in a bridging formation to frame sculptures belonging to its art-collector residents (+ slideshow). More about Concrete blocks frame a private sculpture collection at Balmoral House in Sydney
Flower beds and vegetable gardens cover the rooftops of this mixed-use property in Halifax, Canada, designed by architect Susan Fitzgerald as a space for her to live and work in (+ slideshow). More about Susan Fitzgerald's live-work space in Halifax features a rooftop vegetable garden
An old submarine base in Bordeaux provided the site for this docklands housing complex by Agence Nicolas Michelin & Associés, where homes and gardens are arranged on either side of a glazed atrium (+ slideshow). More about Housing at old Bordeaux submarine base boasts climate-controlled atrium filled with gardens
Montreal studio La Shed Architecture has used the foundations of a demolished 1990s bungalow to create a new timber-clad home featuring split-level floors and an integrated car port (+ slideshow). More about Maison Terrebonne is a split-level home for a single occupant in Montreal
An arced wall forms the back of this white concrete residence by architect Rafael Lorentz, which stands on a hilltop in the Brazilian countryside (+ slideshow). More about HLM House by Rafael Lorentz is a hilltop Brazil residence built from white concrete
Arched, rectangular and pentagonal doorways cut through the three bowed walls that frame the dining room of this apartment by MAMM Design on the outskirts of Tokyo (+ slideshow). More about MAMM Design adds curved walls and different-shaped doorways to a Japanese apartment
Pale white brickwork, broad columns and a courtyard planted with trees are all features of this country house in the Chiltern Hills by architect David Chipperfield, which was recently named the world's best new house (+ slideshow). More about David Chipperfield's Fayland House conceived as a "large earthwork" in the English countryside
Beach houses have long been associated with traditional clapboard architecture – but architects are reinventing the vernacular, swapping roofs for swimming pools and introducing dramatic cantilevers. Here are 14 of the best contemporary examples from the pages of Dezeen. More about 14 of the best contemporary beach houses and seaside holiday homes
Polish architecture students Tomasz Zablotny and Paweł Maszota have unveiled a concept for a community of mobile micro homes that move around an old shipyard on railway tracks. More about Expanding micro homes could move around on a network of railway tracks
J Mayer H Architects has completed a housing and office complex in Germany, covered with graphic patterns that extend down from facades to create the impression of elongated shadows (+ slideshow). More about House and office complex by J Mayer H features monochrome facades and false shadows
Diamond-patterned brickwork helps this trio of apartment blocks in east London blend in with the historic 19th-century church that it surrounds (+ slideshow). More about Matthew Lloyd builds decorative brick homes around a 19th-century London church
The living spaces of this beach house in Byron Bay, Australia, by Refresh Design are accommodated in an upper storey that projects outwards at both ends from a timber-clad plinth (+ slideshow). More about Northern Rivers Beach House is raised off the ground to avoid flooding
The front of this family home in South Korea comprises three blank white blocks, designed to shield views from the house opposite, while the rear is glazed to open it out to a protected garden and balcony (+ slideshow). More about 172M2 House by JMY Architects maintains privacy with a blank facade and a secluded garden
Textured stone and wood surfaces are oriented both horizontally and vertically to emphasise spaces within this house for two doctors in Belgium (+ slideshow). More about Contekst combines oak, stone and concrete inside a minimal Belgian house
This pair of gabled homes in Winchester, England, are described by architect Adam Knibb as "contemporary timber pods on top of a dark monolithic base" (+ slideshow). More about Twin wooden houses by Adam Knibb Architects are raised up above street level