It may not stop Fido from tracking in mud on his paws, but this doghouse can reduce your best friend’s carbon footprint while providing different levels of entertainment (plus bonus treat storage drawers).

Topped with a green roof (accessed by a sod-covered ramp), the house features a built-in water fountain that can be used both to irrigate the upper lawn and quench a pup’s thirst. A solar-powered fan also provides indoor cooling for hot dogs.

That green roof ramps down to connect to a lawn below, tying it in functionally and aesthetically to the surrounding yard. All in all, the place combines the aesthetic of a traditional dog abode, a cozy cabin and a modern house.

On the side of the home, a hidden drawer opens to reveal food, toys and other rewards for good dogs, making use of the space under the ramp (much like under-stair storage in a normal house).

Best of all: this sustainable dog house was auctioned off to a good home by Carmel Canine Cottages, its proceeds going to benefit the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). Meanwhile, no one is stopping dedicated pet owners from building their own!

Transforming an outdoor recreational space into an interactive evening wonderland, this series of variously-sized swings (and accompanying activities) encourages playful nighttime interactions.

Designed by Howler + Yoon Architecture (images by John Horner Photography) and located at Lawn on D in Boston, the focal point of the installation is the set of round hammocks filled with LEDs that change color as you sit on, swing or spin them.

The lights use customized micro-controllers, converting motion into changes in hue and luminosity, starting as a standard white by default. Also on offer: free wireless internet and various backyard-type ball games.

The swings come in three sizes and are set to be on display (and open to the public for play) through November, but it might be best to enjoy them now while the summer weather still lingers. But don’t worry: rain or snow, they will leave a light on.

The imagination readily fastens onto the anthropomorphic figures like those found in shipyards, turning looming metal giants into huge toy beasts, origami cranes writ large.

Lighting designer Dean Skira takes things a step further in this public exhibition titled Lighting Giants, using nearly 100 RGB LEDs to produce an array of colorful effects at a massive scale – 16,000 different possible hues in total.

Located in a major Croatian shipyard, the show involves a shifting spectrum of illumination that ranges from pure white to wild rainbows, all directed up into the rugged frameworks of industrial monstrosities.

The installation, funded by the ministry of tourism, was in part a response to calls for the relocation of the shipping infrastructure, seen by many as an eyesore. Instead of doing away with the cranes, a part of local industry and history, this work celebrates and highlights them.

About the artist: he is a “lighting designer with over twenty years of experience in designing innovative lighting solutions for urban, landscape, commercial and residential spaces. Even in his early childhood he was fascinated by light and its sources, strongly influenced by his father’s professional work in stained glass. He promotes an architectural lighting design concept that goes beyond utilitarian where lighting can have high impact on person’s emotional states.”

It sounds like a hoax at best, an architectural student thesis gone wrong at worst … yet it is entirely real: a series of conventional-looking, a-frame abodes atop a gigantic mega-block shopping center. And it only makes more sense the more you think about it.

After all, views command a premium, yards are a rare luxury, and stand-alone houses in cities in China are almost unheard of, so this four-home development can command some of the highest prices on the market.

Located stories above the sidewalks of Zhuzhou (Hunan province), the homes are spared street noise and have a surprising degree of privacy, being significantly set  back from the streets (images by China Foto Press/Barcroft Media).

Trivia(l) postscript: architecture buffs may remember the Postmodern-style Portland Building of the early 1980s – its original design featured a Greek temple-like structure to house rooftop HVAC systems (eventually discarded from the design due to cost). And speaking of HVAC … just how noisy will it be to live above a shopping mall alongside all of that mechanical? Only time and its residents can tell.