Once in a Lifetime presents tantalizing new possibilities for exploring and relaxing that redefine the idea of luxury travel.

The book showcases quality destinations beyond superficial pomp that represent a conscious choice for slowing down our hectic lives. The inspiring range of examples includes enchanting tree house hotels, incredible eco-friendly resorts, farms on which guests help with the work, simple hotels and glamping sites in spectacular scenery, as well as glamorous houses, trains, and boats. These are not only depicted in stunning photographs, but also insightfully described by renowned international travel, design, and architecture journalist Marie Le Fort.

Over the past 50 years, DETAIL has presented countless architectural highlights, which, in their time, drove development forward thanks to their experimental designs or groundbreaking use of materials. Yet, how have these once innovative designs fared? What lessons have been learned? Have the buildings changed over the decades?

Best of Housing by DETAIL Magazine: Housing is something individual: we each have our own ideas and aspirations for it, and we express a lifestyle by the way in which we house ourselves — the way in which we dwell. To dwell means to be “at home”, where one ideally has a sense of well-being.

When it comes to housing, there have been numerous studies of standards, developments and trends, which have analysed and compared people’s needs. But as needs change over time, so do trends. And also the global and demographic changes affecting society alter the way we dwell and flexibility becomes a decisive criterion.

The subject of housing also includes the integration of individual buildings in an urban context. Especially in cities, people often live in compact spaces in which there are fewer personal spaces and more communal areas. Yet each of us longs for a space of our own. Therefore it becomes important that designers develop ideas that meet our shared need for a balance between personal and communal space.

We have more than 86,000 photos in our Flickr Pool, so keep them coming! Remember you can submit your own photo here, and don’t forget to follow us through Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page to find many more features.

The photo above was taken by brancolina. Check the other four after the break.

As innovation and new developments in technology now follow each other faster and faster, making yesterday’s architectural fantasies today’s construction realities, there’s already a movement to return to the essential things in life: be it a quest for sustainability, which implies basic principles such as incorporating a region’s typologies and materials, or for reasons of expense, which often prompt a search for efficient designs or manufacturing technology, or even aesthetic requirements that allow people to step out of our increasingly noisy and heterogeneous environment.

Thanks to innovations in building materials, design technologies, and construction tools, a new generation of architects can finally realize structures that would have previously remained mere dreams. This emergence of a new vernacular of radically sculpted buildings, rooms, and installations melds rigorous usability with a playful and cutting edge aesthetic, facilitating highly functional yet undeniably exhilarating spaces.

Wiel Arets: Autobiographical References offers a unique and unparalleled view of this internationally renowned architect. Wiel Arets’ optimistic outlook towards the future, which he calls ‘A Wonderful World: A New Map of the World’, underlies his global philosophy. This book presents Arets’ lectures on that topic, debates between him and other thinkers and makers, 60 exemplary designs from his studio, and an extensive series of interviews with Arets. Within these texts his background, education, projects, and teachings are interwoven in a discussion that highlights the evolution of his career.

The latest issue of 2G magazine has just arrived to ArchDaily from our friends from Editorial Gustavo Gili. This new publication is edited in Spanish and English and comprises a series of monographs from renowned architects like Sou Fujimoto, Lacaton & Vassal and Eduardo Arroyo, among others. It also includes the writings from masterminds such as Mies van der Rohe and Lina Bo Bardi. The current issue, N.62, features the works of Stefano Boeri, known by projects like the Vertical Forest in Milan and La Maddalena Arsenal.

More information + full index after the break.

We have now over 85,000 photos in our Flickr Pool! As always, remember you can submit your own photo here, and don’t forget to follow us through Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page to find many more features.

The photo above was taken by naoyafujii in Tokyo, Japan. Check the other four after the break.