The T30 can not only pride itself in being a five-star hotel, but also the hotel that took 15 days to be constructed from ground up. While its lines are plain and conventional, a 9.0 magnitude resistant building that employs the use of state of the art air filtration technology and sustainable building features in 15 days? Mind=blown.

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Smacked on the outskirts of Dovrefjell National Park, Snøhetta provides for a mythical experience for visitors. With sustainable architecture in mind, elements such as solid construction and natural lines come together in a perfectly harmonious manner. I’ve got to get my ass there someday.

Robust Outdoor Brands has designed these tiny PODhouses, sort of like permanent tent/huts, three of which have been placed at a campground in Switzerland. The units come ready to use, complete with heating, lighting, and electricity/solar ventilation. No toilet, though. You still have to dig a hole.

William O’Brien Jr. is Assistant Professor of Architecture at the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, and is principal of an independent design practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His practice was recently awarded the 2011 Architectural League Prize for Young Architects and Designers. Twins is a design proposal for two vacation homes for two brothers and their families on one plot of land in upstate New York and represents an examination of a curious part to whole relationship.

The mathematical principle of ‘dissection’ states that any two regular polygons with equal areas can be divided into set of similar shapes; ‘minimal dissection’ is the pursuit of the fewest number of subdivisions in each polygon. Another great project by William O’Brien Jr. is the Allansdale House. I don’t know what exactly attracts me so much about his innovative projects; they are so clean and spacious, ingeniously fitting in their natural surroundings. I wouldn’t mind having him build my future properties.

‘I designed these projects as if they had been proposed by someone else, someone far removed from the trajectory of thought concerned with the city.’ As if pointing an artsy middle finger to the city planners of beautiful Milano, The Cube beams like a glorious rebellion in the heart of the city. Contrasted with the Milano’s backdrop of historical motifs, The Cube redefines form and societal compliance is definitely non-existent here.

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The architects’ José Selgas and Lucía Cano’s work, El Batel, was made to look like a container. An excellent idea, as the building is located in the port of the Spanish coastal city of Cartagena, where loads of containers are brought to the city by boat. What Selgas and Cano couldn’t predict is that when the citizens of Cartagena saw this rectangular, plastic, multicolored frame, they would name it ‘the tupperware’.

Architect Ryue Nishizawa created this amazing ‘inside-out’ building in Tokyo that is chock-full of planters and outdoor space to accommodate a veritable urban forest.

I have a feeling the 1% are building underground bunkers to escape to when all this global warming, economic collapse, and widespread civil unrest reaches critical mass. This luxury home is built on top of an old missile silo in the Adirondacks, and comes with its own runway for small aircraft. It’s perfect for hiding from the 99% of us who will be turned into zombies!

In 2010, I decided to seek refuge at a boutique hotel located in a nondescript office building. Good move: I was slapped by a scene straight out of Stanley Kubrick’s seminal film 2001: A Space Odyssey. There it was, a gigantic metallic dome structure in the hotel lobby. In it was the reception desk.

Even the most tight-lipped Stephen Hawking fan would get quite talkative here: thanks to the dome acoustics, you can’t not sound like him. Board a room, and you’ll find the interiors aren’t too shabby either: look out for exhibitionist-friendly full-length mirrors and open-cube rain showers with colour-changing LED lights. Klapsons is designed by William Sawaya of Sawaya & Moroni.

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Want to live in a hole in the ground? Not a nasty wet hole, nor a dry sandy hole? Obviously, you’re not alone. There’s even a hobbit motel. Now that means comfort. Check out this selection of 15 green-roofed dwellings that take a page right out of Tolkien’s books and come in all sizes for all kinds of functions, from hotels in New Zealand to backyard playhouses and vintage underground hill-dug duplexes.

Starving after a hike near the Trollwall, the tallest vertical rock face in Europe? It’s now possible to have something to eat while admiring the view of the towering cliffs in this impressive restaurant, designed by Reiulf Ramstad Norway. The M-shaped glass roof really looks fantastic from the inside and the outside.

Interval Architects designed this building called Rollercoaster, which is located in a school in Beijing, China. The peaceful area provides an ideal place for students to study, relax or have a function; while this public space also presents an iconic image at the center of the campus.

Over the past few years, I’ve been growing increasingly ambivalent towards huge, expensive architectural projects with big name design firms attached to them. Who are these buildings actually for? The Antilla, a 27-storey building in Mumbai that is apparently the world’s most expensive house, now sits empty most of the time because according to vastu (the Hindu version of feng shui), there aren’t enough east-facing windows, making it unlucky to inhabit. Maybe the owners of the building could move some of the city’s poor into it and hold banquets and film screenings for them, instead of letting it sit unused.

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Imagine if every obnoxious nouveau riche person decided to build homes from this designer instead of Dog the Bounty Hunter inspired homes you know are going to crumble into hell in twelve years?

We’d be way happier as a planet with a home this size, no? Less is more, especially when it looks like this. And after you order yours, go to Lushpad and get yourself some recycled mid-century modern furniture.

The idea of high-rise farms and gardens is nothing new at this point, but I still find the concept compelling. This Vertical Forest designed by Milan-based studio Stefano Boeri Architetti is another interesting version of the idea of urban reforestation.

Nieto Sobejano has brilliantly completed the extension of the San Telmo Museum in San Sebastian, contrasting natural and artificial landscape. An unusual and living green wall is planted behind the laser-cut facade, allowing moss, lichen and plants to go through perforations, and adding splashes of color to the metal panels.

Bridges that look like the handiwork of fairies? These beautiful 500 year old structures exist for reals in Meghalaya, India. Because of the torrential floods that plague the region, clever locals decided to come up with a better solution and the ficus elastica root bridge was born.

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Section 2 of this new-ish New York park will be opening to the public this month. If the first expanse of this park, which is housed on reclaimed elevated train tracks that were originally constructed in the 1930′s, is any indication, this will continue to be one of the City’s most interesting and unique settings. The High Line is full of lush flower beds, walkways, quiet areas to sit and relax, and it sits just above the hundreds of art galleries that call Chelsea home.

Alain Demarquette is just amazing. His ideas about lines and shapes are totally what I love and he’s addicted to Berlin and Japanese contemporary architecture. His view is a long-term point of view: how people will interact with our XX and XXI century creations?

Whoever says Gen Ys will never be able to afford their own home has obviously never heard of Jay Shafer’s Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. Starting at just US$99 for the do-it-yourself plans or US$38,997 for the ready-made, almost anyone can own a Tumbleweed.

Aside from the environmental benefits of smaller living (which begins at 65-square feet), some models even come on wheels, which is perfect for wheeling in and out of your parent’s backyard.