The Balancing Barn in Suffolk: On the edge of a nature reserve a few miles from the Suffolk coast, the MVRDV-designed Balancing Barn cantilevers over the surrounding meadow.

New interior finishes, furniture, and a guesthouse were part of the restoration/renovation of John Lautner's Chemosphere, a 1960s house that makes frequent cameos in film and television.

Choosing not to make a big to-do of itself, this cottage blends in with its surroundings. A wall of glass on one end allows a merger of the outdoors with the interiors, while white trim leaves the appearance of a snow-kissed façade year-round. Berlin, Germany. By Atelier st Gesellschaft von Architekten mbH from the book Rock the Shack, Copyright Gestalten 2013.

Transformer or beach hut? Positioned in a coastal erosion zone, this holiday retreat for a family of five is completely capable of being relocated. An oversized shutter allows for protection from the elements when not in use and opens to allow sun in during the winter or provide shade on hot summer days. Waikato, New Zealand. By Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects, from the book Rock the Shack, Copyright Gestalten 2013.

The ever-changing, lush wooded surroundings of Minnesota, such as those experienced at this 8,000-square-foot Type Variant House outside of Minneapolis designed by Coen and Partners, are right near the small town of New Richland.

A Chilean home’s dramatic stained-pine exterior references local vernacular architecture.

The Museum for Architectural Drawing in Berlin, designed by Russian firm SPEECH Tchoban & Kuznetsov, has a wooden door that mimics the structure's textured concrete exterior.

Shulman's shot of Pierre Koenig’s Case Study House No. 22 in 1960 became one of the most iconic photographs of modern U.S. architecture and many felt like it encapsulated Los Angeles during at that time. Shulman ultimately photographed 18 of the 26 Case Study Houses commissioned by Arts & Architecture magazine. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Used with permission. Julius Shulman Photography Archive, Research Library at the Getty Research Institute

Women in Architecture Survey: According to the results of the Architect’s Journal Women in Architecture survey, the pay in the architecture field is still unequal and discrimination is common.

The Andersen Architectural Collection’s Eagle windows and doors provide the panes and passageways of the home.

Architectural ispiration and exhibition posters fill the walls of Juhl's home office. Two chairs of Juhl's design are placed on the side of his desk, designed in 1945.

Milman Road Renovation The Syte Architecture team referenced the past while assembling the two-story addition, cladding the exterior in zinc and reused brick from the original wall so it blended with the express chimneys and surrounding structures. Photos by Syte Achitecture

The U.S. State Department has just announced the representatives for the American pavilion at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale: New York's Storefront for Art and Architecture, helmed by the inimitable Eva Franch i Gilabert, will be programming the U.S. pavilion alongside Ashley Schafer of PRAXIS Journal and Ana Miljački, from MIT's architecture program. The trio—with input from Natasha Jen of Pentagram, Architizer, CLOG, and Leong Leong, who will design the pavilion's physcial space—will stage an "active, experimental architectural office that researches, studies, and remakes 1,000 projects designed by American architecture firms and exported abroad." To learn more about the players involved, take a trip with us through the Dwell archives.

Milman Road Renovation: Rear window view “What struck us as funny was the corner bay window,” says architect Oliver Barsoum. “It’s almost like you’re surrounded by glass on all sides. That’s where the project began.” The vision involved playing with and pushing that window into three dimensions. Photos by Syte Achitecture

Updating the A-frame of yore, this home’s liberal use of windows makes the most of panoramic views spanning two valleys. Catalonia, Spain. Cadaval & Sola-Morales from the book Rock the Shack, Copyright Gestalten 2013.

A wooden home nestled amongst a cluster of Japanese larch trees offers a perfect sanctuary from nearby Tokyo. Chubu, Japan. By Koji Tsutsui & Associates from the book Rock the Shack, Copyright Gestalten 2013.

Those seeking isolation and inspiration to tackle their work need look no further. A minimalist cube set against a picturesque background form a studio free of distraction, except maybe that view! Newfoundland, Canada. By Saunders Architecture from the book Rock the Shack, Copyright Gestalten 2013.

The stairs are partically hidden behind a slatted ash screen that supports steel bookshelves.

Livable sculpture at its finest. Created for the Zermatt Festival, an annual festival of chamber music, this structure (designed by a team of second-year architecture students!) maximizes the beauty of its surroundings with its 720-degree spiral composition. Valais, Switzerland. By Alice Studio/Atelier de la Conception de l’ Espace from the book Rock the Shack, Copyright Gestalten 2013.

1315 Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia, by Perkins + Will This LEED Platinum renovation of a 1986 office building is part of a larger attempt to increase the population density of downtown Atlanta by creating an attractive urban landscape. This property is also Perkins + Will’s Atlanta office, so they plan to treat the space like a laboratory—monitoring and recording data on energy use, water consumption and collection, as well as temperature, CO2, and humidity levels. The firm hopes to use this data to improve their own building strategies and contribute this information to the architecture and design community.

The sliding doors to a deck are by the Canadian company Dynamic Architectural Windows & Doors.

For the Architecture Novice: Plow through these 18 tomes for the equivalent of a semester of architectural history and a really heavy coffee table.

Starker is his portrayal of the Danziger House by Frank Gehry in 1964.

Positioned on the ground floor, the office enjoys spacial privacy, while still having intimate interaction with the living area above and common courtyard.

The skylights are constantly changing the home's interiors. It's "not just day/night, or dark/light," says Bernheimer, "but the quality of light...changes at any given hour, depending on where clouds are, where the sun is, whether the moon is full or not, all dependent on the time of day, time of year, and so forth."

Architecture for Humanity, a registered non-profit organization, addresses global humanitarian challenges at a local level by delivering vital, innovative, community-driven architectural construction and planning services to vulnerable populations worldwide.

Table designed by Exploration Architecture with the BigRep Printer, based on the adaptive growth patterns of trees and bones.

“Shophouses brought back memories of our childhoods, of open back doors and neighbors and relatives wandering in and out of the kitchen and cooking and eating and coming and going whether you liked it or not.”—Yang Yeo