Like tableware or sliced bread, the umbrella is the subject of many reinvention attempts but few approach the sheer cleverness and ingenious simplicity of this design solution, which tackles drips, winds, crowds and compactness in one product.

Created by engineer and inventor Jenan Kazim, the KAZbrella solves the core everyday issue of umbrellas bringing water into your home or vehicle, while also making them easy and safe to open in crowds as well as resistant to high winds (able to pop out then back into shape without breaking). When the umbrella is closed, a strap around the top seals the water inside, keeping it from dripping.

“The patented design includes a string and pulley mechanism that allows the frame to open the opposite way to a traditional umbrella, though the action of pushing the slider up until the upper latch is engaged remains the same. It still looks and functions like a traditional umbrella when open, but when closed the spokes fold in so they point away from the handle and the outer surface is hidden inside.”

The KAZbrella also employs materials for lightweight durability, from its fiberglass spokes and aluminum frame to its double layer of woven polyester. It can be opened and closed through smaller gaps than its ungainly cousins, making it easier to keep dry while entering or exiting spaces. It can then be set down against a wall, in a stand or on your car seat without getting things wet.

Using the existing logs from a previous cabin structure as formwork, this retreat manages to retain the scale and textures of its predecessor in a dramatically modern new building.

Nickish Sano Walder Architects sought to preserve elements of this Graubünden, Switzerland holiday home, leaving visible the voids left by rounded horizontal wood walls, circular depressions of crossbeams and infilled chimney sticking out the top. Those familiar with the work of Rachael Whiteread may recognize this radical approach previously applied in an artistic context.

A description from the designers: “From a distance Refugi Lieptgas looks like a traditional wooden hut. Taking a closer look you will actually find that this cabin is made of concrete. The old barn that stood here previously characterises the appearance of the new building. By using the logs of the block construction as a formwork for the concrete a fossilized version of the old barn has been created. An unusual holiday home for two people – both romantic and modern.”

On the exterior, the only piece of wood visible is a newly-installed front door which serves as a stark contrast to its cement-colored surroundings. Inside, light wood trim is set against gray interior concrete and exterior stone.

Love it or hate the new incarnation, the previous structure literally left its impression on this replacement, all without leaving a physical trace in the form of its actual materials. Alas, the former life of the building is less visible on the inside – a missed architectural opportunity, perhaps.

Skyscrapers are the traditional small-footprint solution for growing square footage in big cities, but what are developers to do in growing places like Mexico City where new building construction is limited to just ten stories tall?

The only option, of course, is to reverse direction: build down instead of up. This his earth-scraper design by BKNR Arquitectura features a cental lightwell that doubles as a layered park, bringing illumination, ventilation and living greenery into the depths of the building.

Since the ‘base’ of the structure is an open void rather than a filled volume, the existing city square is maintained – it becomes a transparent platform, effectively, adding dimension without subtracting functionality. This configuration provides not only a window to the world below that you can also walk on, still also allows for public gatherings, music festivals, open exhibitions, marches and parades.

Below, the extensive building has multiple floors each of housing, shopping and office spaces, all arrayed around the exterior with views that face in rather than out – another inversion of expectations and conventions. Of course, there are some practical questions yet to be addressed, ranging from those in the realm of engineering and mechanical systems to those of simple emergency egress.

Vegas is a strange and sometimes-seedy speck of civilization with virtually nothing nearby of note … save perhaps the massive Hoover Dam and its associated geology, that is.

And what better way to contrast something new with the horizontal strip and its upward-spiking tower … than via an upside-down vertical endeavor, like this thesis project by Stephan Sobl?

This dazzling inverted design features a “lightweight carbon-fibre structure” that “would be suspended from a concrete cantilever and supported by a spiralling metal shell.” The result is a sort of half-exposed skeletal tension system – a building, one could say, in mid-strip.

If it seems over-the-top (or edge, as it were), that may be true, but is also fitting for the context – in Las Vegas, the only way to get attention is by grabbing it away from what is already there (you don’t have to tell that to those running establishments in the old downtown). In a way, it is very Darwinian, and only the flashiest survive.

And of course, it would not be Vegas if you could not access the structure both on foot and by car, and if it did not house a casino, hotel, boxing ring, concert hall and all the other standard amenities of a local resort.