Extending down the hillside from an existing hotel, a series of matte black structures rise from the deep green landscape like spikes. Without revealing many details, Peter Pichler Architecture has unveiled its vision for unique sustainable “Tree Houses” in the Italian Dolomites – though they’re quite unlike most of the tree houses we’re used to seeing. Taking inspiration from the sharp, dramatic shapes found within these forested mountainous environments, the elevated huts offer sweeping views from two stories of expansive glazing.

Spiked on both ends, the cabins almost seem to have been hammered into the ground. Each one measures 35 – 45 square meters (about 376 – 484 square feet) and features a small sitting area on the lower level and a bedroom and bath on the top floor. Made of local wood with blackened timber exteriors, the structures appear to be quite open to each other, though they might ultimately face in slightly different directions to give the occupants more privacy.

“We believe that the future of tourism is based on the relationship of the human being with nature,” says the Milan-based studio. “Well integrated, sustainable architecture can amplify this relationship, nothing else is needed.”

Though certainly sharper and more dramatic, the new structures aren’t dissimilar from a previous project of Pichler’s. The Obereggen Mountain Hut contains a new restaurant adjacent to the cable station Oberholz in Obereggen, Italy with direct connection to a ski slope. The architect envisions it as a growth emerging from the hill like a fallen tree, with three main branches creating “a symbiosis” with the landscape.

Currently perched atop the Avoriaz Mountain in France so guests can flip from their beds straight onto the ski slopes, this traveling minimalist hotel made of shipping containers signals a new nomadic future for comfortable accommodations. Instead of housing attendees in tents, events in far-flung locales can now offer all the comfort of an urban hotel – including private bathrooms.

The Flying Nest by French designer Ora-ïto made its debut on the consumer market this winter at the Avoriaz Ski Resort after nearly two years of road testing. In March 2017, a prototype was placed just steps away from the fields where France’s national football team trains, and then it travelled to the 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race, the Rencontres d’Arles photography festival and the Agora biennial art festival in Bordeaux.

Each of the shipping containers is lined with warm wood inside and out, all sourced from certified forests, for a clean, neutral and natural appearance. Measuring 130 square feet, the units offer a living area, bathroom and a white linen bed tucked beside a picture window for views of the location du jour as well as air conditioning and wi-fi. The containers stack on top of each other into “islands” of six, connected by terraces to encourage intermingling of guests.

The project aims to offer “unique hospitality experiences during outstanding events and to meet accommodation needs where hotel capacity is at its saturation point.” Since the hotel is totally self-contained, providing its own utilities, it can be placed virtually anywhere that can be accessed by trucks, cranes or helicopters, from deserts and beaches to mountaintops, without making a significant impact on the site.

It’s a simple but powerful idea, spreading out and embedding hotel rooms into the urban fabric to give visitors a space from which to explore as well as a place that feels like it’s more part of the city than a monolithic tourist resort. The Hotel Enso Ango features a series of zen-inspired buildings and landscaping in what it boasts as Japan’s first ‘dispersed hotel’ in the ancient capital of Kyoto.

The idea, in part, is to encourage travel between the buildings in the hotel network, both to experience their amenities but also to explore more along the way. In simple terms: it aims to combine the best of staying at a cozy bed-and-breakfast with the benefits of a high-end hotel.

Each unit features courtyard gardens and meditation spaces, aimed at providing a relaxing experience to compliment city exploration. There are also spaces, like a central bar, that are open to the public, offering opportunities to mingle with locals.

The spaces are spread out through key neighborhoods of Kyoto and crafted to be both contemporary while also including local art and craftsmanship. As the hotel grows, it aims to build out additional spaces around the city.

Each building is located within walking distance from the others, as well as from a hotel hub space where the lobby, gym and tearoom can be found, providing an opportunity for guests to mingle, but at their discretion rather than by necessity. Those who wish to can participate in group meditation lessons, tatami craft and runs through historic parts of the city.

“Welcoming visitors is a building which embodies classical Machiya construction featuring a front desk and corridor-cum-gallery space decorated with art by Masanobu Ando. At the end of this corridor, the gallery space opens into a lounge area with a small garden known as Tsuboniwa – a typical feature of Kyoto houses, providing a spot to enjoy nature and relax in the safety of a private space.”

A maze of staircases leads absolutely nowhere within a series of new hotel rooms at ‘The Other Place’ in China, nodding to artist MC Escher’s famous lithograph print entitled ‘Relativity.’ Shenzhen-based architecture firm Studio10 renovated the existing rooms at ‘The Other Place’ guesthouse in Guilin, giving half the rooms a ‘maze’ theme with deep forest green walls and the other half a ‘dream’ theme in soft pink and white.

The surreal staircases stretch up the walls, taking advantage of the impressive ceiling height. Occasionally, there really is something at the end of them – a door, or a loft – though even the doors aren’t quite what they seem. Others just contribute to the graphic nature of the design, their undersides stepped as well to add to the optical illusions. The architects envision the design as a seamless transition from 2D to 3D.

“All components from the reality world such as lighting fixtures and electronic appliances have been concealed behind a series of black-painted doors, maintaining the pristine, chimerical nature of the space,” they say of the pink “dream” rooms.

“In the other forest-green-themed room, anti-gravitational stairs lead to golden doors, behind which there could be a trail leading to a secret forest – or some other unexpected findings that surprises you.”

While no physical space can quite capture the strange, vertigo-inducing spatial confusion of Escher’s drawing, ‘The Other Place’ definitely honors the original in a way that’s instantly recognizable (and also evocative of La Muralla Roja by Ricardo Bofill.)

A pivotal institution in the early development of Modernism, the iconic Bauhuas school in Germany has been renovated to match its 1926 look and feel, complete with studios and sleeping spaces now open to the public.

The student rooms, now available for rent, are small, minimally appointed and feature private balconies, designed as spaces to sleep, hang up one’s clothes and work a bit in a chair at a desk, but mainly austere to drive people to collaborate in studio spaces.

Today, for around $50 a night, designers and fans alike can visit this place in Dessau and marvel at the proto-Modernist architecture, enjoying designs made both by and for students and teachers.

In the early 1900s, Walter Gropius pioneered a few form of functionalism and minimalism that would go on to shape not just Modern architecture but also graphic, industrial, furniture and interior design.

Combining an Arts-and-Crafts ethos with an industrial aesthetic, the school attracted talent from around Europe, and molded young minds to think about design in new ways. The institution itself moved around over the decades, from Weimar to Dessau and Berlin then back again.

At any given time, teachers like Vassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee taught around 200 students to fuse ideas from diverse disciplines including art, advertising, manufacturing and construction. The building itself features an innovative curtain wall system, and while it may look like a familiar form of Modernist design today, it was an early example of a movement that would become the International Style.