Sustainable house on the Geul by Upfrnt and Zwarthout
This riverside holiday house in South Limburg, the Netherlands, is raised on tree trunks to prevent flooding and clad with charred wood to reduce the need for maintenance (+ slideshow). More
This riverside holiday house in South Limburg, the Netherlands, is raised on tree trunks to prevent flooding and clad with charred wood to reduce the need for maintenance (+ slideshow). More
A row of raw concrete gables give a zig-zagging profile to this summer house by Swedish studio Tham & Videgård Arkitekter on an island in the Stockholm archipelago (+ slideshow). More
The roof of this house in Paraguay can be lifted open like the lid of a box (+ movie). More
This slatted structure by architects Plasma Studio looks like it's crawling over an apartment building in the Italian Dolomites (+ slideshow). More
French designers Zébra3/Buy-Sellf have designed a prefabricated holiday home in the shape of a cloud that sits next to a lake in south-west France (+ slideshow). More
A contemporary house inserted behind the crumbling walls of a ruined twelfth-century castle in Warwickshire, England, by Witherford Watson Mann is one of the six projects nominated for the 2013 Stirling Prize (+ slideshow). More
This guest house by Russian architect Peter Kostelov has a patchwork timber facade with perforated panels that look like paper doilies (+ slideshow). More
Seaweed pillows were used as cladding for this holiday house on the Danish island of Læsø by architecture studio Vandkunsten and non-profit organisation Realdania Byg (+ slideshow). More
The southernmost tip of Scotland's Isle of Skye is the setting for this small wooden house by local firm Dualchas Architects (+ slideshow). More
Roughly hewn concrete gives a rocky texture to the walls of this Alpine holiday home by Austrian studio Marte.Marte Architects (+ slideshow). More
This guest house by American firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson nestles against a rugged stone wall within a coastal mountain range in California (+ slideshow). More
Windows of various shapes and sizes give this weekend retreat on the south-east coast of Japan the appearance of a children's shape-sorter toy. More
This holiday house with rammed earth walls by US architects DUST is nestled amongst the rocky outcrops and sprouting cacti of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona (+ slideshow). More
Australian office Kennedy Nolan Architects used recycled bricks, concrete and rough-sawn timber to construct this courtyard house near the beach in Melbourne. More
Milwaukee office Johnsen Schmaling Architects chose a palette of bare concrete, cedar and anodised metal to construct this small family retreat in a remote Wisconsin forest (+ slideshow). More
Chilean architect Pedro Gubbins designed this concrete residence as a rural retreat for himself and his family and has balanced it on top of a dry-stone wall (+ slideshow). More
Dutch design studio Tjep. has developed a concept for a self-sufficient retreat with a facade that opens like a cupboard and a moving "solar tree" on the roof (+ slideshow). More
Lisbon studio Atelier Data has converted a row of stables in rural Portugal to create a summer retreat for a family (+ slideshow). More
This yacht house on the southernmost tip of the Crimean coastline by Robin Monotti Architects includes four holiday apartments (+ slideshow). More
Jagged copper balconies emulate the topography of surrounding landscape as they fold around the exterior of this apartment block in north-east Italy by architects Plasma Studio (+ slideshow). More