The house for a wealthy Indian client is a tropical "summa" of the Swiss master's thought: the clearly simple structure, the plasticity of the forms, the play of light and shadow, the exposed raw materials and the attention to microclimatic comfort - favoured by the hanging gardens and the cross-currents of air - coexist here with the traditional typology of Indian houses with large double-height living rooms.

No longer in use today, the centre is a work of somewhat rude but unusual and fascinating character. The building, halfway between a pre-Columbian pyramid and a bridge, is a stout anti-gravity volume suspended 2 m above the ground and supported by two macroscopic towers with stairs and a lift located on the north and south sides of the structure, which housed exhibition spaces and a projection room.

Carved out of the orography of a sloping site, the house is totally fused into the land. Access is through the only non-basement front, characterised by a large, low concrete beam that acts as a threshold between the exterior and interior. Large skylights let zenithal light filter into the underground spaces, while a roof terrace, which relates to the context thanks to the widespread planting and the layer of water, projects a spectacular view of the city. 

Invited by President Houari Boumedienne to design two campuses - the University of Mentouri and the Houari Boumedienne University of Science and Technology - to represent the vision of a modern Algeria after the declaration of independence from France in 1961 and to promote a new generation of academics, the internationally renowned Brazilian architect stayed in the country for several years. The Houari Boumédiène University of Science and Technology and the Salle Omnisports, known as "La Coupole" for the 1975 Meditteranean Games, with their massive masses and colossal open spaces reflect the enthusiasm of the socialist principles of the time, aimed at representing a reversal of the secular order.

Located in Cidade Jardim, an affluent residential neighbourhood in the centre of São Paulo, the Acayaba family home is an exuberant declaration of love for nature and expresses a concept of warm, welcoming living. A wrap-around concrete arch roof protects the living spaces and frames the views of the swimming pool and tropical gardens in an uninterrupted perceptual relationship. The house is still owned by the family today - after all, who would leave Paradise?

Designed jointly by the architect and the client, creative director Dan Mitchell, the 500-square-metre, three-bedroom house in a valley among the rice paddies, in the surfers' paradise of Canggu, with its rough concrete forms inspired by the works of Paulo Mendes da Rocha, hammocks, local furnishings and textiles, hanging gardens and lush flora evokes a passionate dialogue with the tropical landscape and suggests an authentic family atmosphere.

Located in the affluent Jardins neighbourhood a few blocks from the better known MASP (Museo de Arte de São Paulo), the Museo Brasileiro de Escultura e Ecologia is a single underground pavilion, protected by a generous canopy that partially covers a large square for outdoor exhibitions. Inside, in addition to the exhibition spaces, there are rooms for workshops and a café. So as not to forget that in Brazil nature has the same cultural "weight" as architecture, the garden is designed by Roberto Burle Marx.

The building was designed with particular attention to safeguarding the existing green space and botanical heritage, so that a large part of the building housing the warehouses is underground while the offices and public access rooms are above ground. Cantilevered volumes, powerful structures and large glazed bands animate the imposing exposed concrete fronts.

In a country plagued by natural disasters, the "Cyclone Shelter" programme implemented by the NGO "PRISM" has devised a solution for vulnerable areas of the country with traditional dwellings unable to survive violent storms. The Cyclone Shelter and Community Development Centres in the districts of Chakaria, Maheshkhali and Kutubdia provide shelter for local communities and their livestock in the event of an emergency and, on other occasions, host spaces for education, training and community information, in rough concrete architecture with a massive appearance that accentuates the reassuring and protective character of architecture.

The house leaning against a steep slope in the Santo Inácio neighbourhood is an aggregation of two rigorous, minimalist volumes: a cubic lower volume clad in zinc panels and a parallelepiped upper volume with a strong overhang and exposed concrete surfaces, jutting out like an optical telescope towards the surrounding forest.