A Vietnamese architecture firm with a portfolio of modern public buildings has turned its hand to perfecting indigenous low-cost houses. In contrast to the very-low-cost housing ideas we’ve covered recently, this one relies mainly on a local material that can be grown sustainably: bamboo.

Tea is not just another hot drink in China, it’s a way of life — something valuable enough that a building can be built just for drinking it slowly in a contemplative natural setting.

Upending the stereotypical image of the flat countryside of Flanders, a new low-energy house built by the Belgian design firm AST 77 mixes modernism and organic materials to blend into a steep, forested hillside near Rotselaar, Belgium.