This retirement home near Antwerp was designed by Belgian studio Areal Architecten around a pair of courtyards to avoid creating identical rooms along endless rows of corridors. More about Areal Architecten's Mayerhof retirement home wraps around two courtyards
Black panels of corrugated iron clad the exterior of this lakeside wooden cabin in rural Victoria, Australia, by local firm Branch Studio Architects (+ slideshow). More about Pump House by Branch Studio Architects is a metal-clad lakeside retreat
Pointed doorways and openings throughout this house in Kyoto, Japan, were designed by Alts Design Office to mimic the building's gabled profile (+ slideshow). More about House-shaped doorways puncture Hazukashi House by Alts Design Office
A wall clad in slabs of red volcanic stone conceals the entrance to this otherwise minimal white house in a suburb of Reykjavík, Iceland, by local office PK Arkitektar (+ slideshow). More about Volcanic stone wall hides doorway into B25 house by PK Arkitektar
Chris Dyson Architects has added a soot-washed brick extension with a curved wall to a Georgian terraced house and former nunnery in east London (+ slideshow). More about Chris Dyson's curved brick extension completes a Georgian terrace in London
Charred cedar clads the walls of this house in Aichi, Japan, by architecture studio MDS, while exposed wooden beams create a rack-like effect on the underside of the diagonally slanted roof. More about Charred timber clads walls of Okazaki House by MDS
Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates built this unusually skinny house on a three-metre-wide site in a residential district of Aichi Prefecture, Japan (+ slideshow). More about Katsutoshi Sasaki's Imai house is just three metres wide
A suspended steel staircase is completed by a piece of wooden furniture in this renovated Oslo loft by London studio Haptic (+ slideshow). More about Floating steel staircase divides Idunsgate Apartment by Haptic
Canadian studio Naturehumaine inserted a glass floor and skylight to draw sunlight through the interior of this two-storey house in Montreal, and reintroduced wooden boards to make a feature of the staircase. More about Montreal house by Naturehumaine features a glass floor with a skylight overhead
London studio dRMM has completed a house and studio for Hackney artist Richard Woods, using his trademark cartoon-style print to add colour to the building's facade and staircase (+ slideshow). More about Richard Wood's cartoon-style prints added to his new Hackney residence by dRMM
This conceptual design for a family home by postgraduate architecture student Gonzalo Vaíllo Martínez features a fluid structural frame, a skeletal staircase and a skin incorporating blinds that open and close like gills (+ movie). More about Futuristic family home by Gonzalo Vaíllo Martínez based on biogenetic forms
Architecture studio AOC has renovated a four-storey townhouse in north London, adding wall-hung vintage bicycles and timber mouldings based on the faces of the resident family. More about AOC adds wall-hung bicycles and basket-weave flooring to London townhouse
Irish studio GKMP Architects added glazed white tiles to the angular walls of this extension to a semi-detached house in Dublin to help direct sunlight into the interior (+ slideshow). More about Tile-covered walls reflect light into Dublin house extension by GKMP Architects
Bamboo poles were used to clad the facade and surrounding walls of this house in the Philippines by Swiss-Filipino studio Atelier Sacha Cotture (+ slideshow). More about Bamboo cladding surrounds house in the Philippines by Atelier Sacha Cotture
A grid of chunky timber beams criss-crosses a void between the ground and first floors to allow light to circulate in this Studio Aula-designed house in Shiojiri, Japan (+ slideshow). More about Criss-crossing wooden beams fill a void inside Studio Aula's Cocoon House
Interior designer Olena Yudina used a monochrome colour palette for the redesign of this apartment in Kyiv, adding glazed brick walls to every room and a recurring bird motif to bring the owners good luck (+ slideshow). More about Bird motifs dotted through monochrome Kyiv apartment by Olena Yudina
This house in northern Switzerland, by local architect Pascal Flammer, frames views of a vast rural landscape through round and rectangular windows, as well as through entire walls of glazing (+ slideshow). More about Pascal Flammer's House in Balsthal features wooden braces and a circular window
This wooden home in Helsinki by Finnish architect Tuomas Siitonen has a roof that dips in the middle to allow views across it and a kinked plan that wraps around a secluded garden (+ slideshow). More about Timber-clad House M-M by Tuomas Siitonen wraps around a sheltered garden
Cedar shingles typical to New England houses have gradually faded from warm beige to a soft greyish brown on the walls of this residence in Maine by Los Angeles office Bruce Norelius Studio (+ slideshow). More about Maine residence by Bruce Norelius Studio reveals its age with a fading cedar facade
News: architecture firm OMA is working on designs for a 167-metre skyscraper on Folsom Street in San Francisco. More about OMA plans San Francisco skyscraper