The world's most spectacularly-designed houses that prove that nothing is impossible when it comes to architecture

These images show just how the other half live, and how architecture really is pushing the boundaries on home living.

Sixty of the planet's most spectacular homes, designed by world-famous architects, some dramatically balanced on cliff edges, others almost touching the sea, have been pulled together for a Collection in Architecture Now! Houses 3 published by TASCHEN.

The homes have all been completed in the last few years and demonstrate just how different life can be lived when space, materials, setting, and environment are used in novel and interesting ways.

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Data highlight slim pickings for construction sector

SOUTH Africa’s construction companies, humbled by the competition authorities’ imposition of R1.46bn in fines last month, had the lowest margins of nine industries contributing to gross domestic product (GDP), Statistics SA said on Wednesday.

The figures show the industry’s profit margins ranged from 4% in 2007 and 5% at the height of the construction boom in 2009 to 4.8% in 2010 and 2.8% in 2011, casting new light on the Competition Commission’s finding of a price-fixing, bid-rigging and project allocation cartel in the industry from September 2006. The commission believes the cartel is responsible for an overcharge of between 10% to 30%.

The industry contributed 3.8% of GDP in 2011, up from 2.3% in 2002 and 3.2% in 2007.

Its profit margins were lower than mining and quarrying (16.5%), finance, real estate and business services (12.1%), community, social and personal services (9.2%), electricity, gas and water (8.5%), transport (6%), agriculture, forestry and fishing (5.4%), manufacturing (3.7%) and trade (2.9%).

Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel again took a hard line against the construction sector on Wednesday, telling the media after a meeting of the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission that the cartel represented large-scale corruption and fraud. He said the provinces involved should consider lodging appropriate civil claims against the companies implicated — over and above the penalties already levied.

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U.S. home construction rises 6.8 percent in May

U.S. builders stepped up home construction in May and applied for permits to build single-family homes at the fastest pace in five years. The gains show housing remains a key source of growth for the economy.

The overall pace of homes started rose 6.8 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 914,000, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That offset part of the 14.8 percent decline in April. May's rate is still below March's pace of more than 1 million — the fastest in five years.

Construction increased in May for both single-family homes and apartments and condos.

And builders sought more permits to build single-family homes, which make up nearly two-thirds of the market. The seasonally adjusted annual rate rose 1.3 percent to 622,000 — the highest since May 2008. That's a sign that construction will increase further in the coming months.

Overall permits fell 3.1 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted 974,000. But that was because of a drop in apartment permits.

Overall, the report points to more evidence of a housing recovery that has become sustainable. New-home construction has risen 28.6 percent since May 2012.

Read more:U.S. home construction rises 6.8 percent in May - The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_23488802/u-s-home-construction-rises-6-8-percent#ixzz2WeCmd4eU

Ai Group : Infrastructure funding reforms urgent as construction slows

Reforms allowing super funds to take over infrastructure assets and provide money for investment in assets such as roads and rail are needed more urgently than ever after a report that predicts a halving in the pace of growth of Australian engineering construction turnover, industry body Ai Group says.

Without further funding to boost infrastructure investment as resources-based investment tapers off, growth in engineering and construction turnover is likely to drop to 5.5 per cent next year from 11.3 per cent last year, the latest Construction Outlook report by Ai Group and the Australian Constructors Association says.

“We’ve got to nail it down now,” Ai Group’s policy director Peter Burn said on Wednesday. “If what we’re going to do is have an expansion in infrastructure spend to make up for that decline in mining-related investment – we’ve not yet seen a decline, but we’ve seen it slow – we need to get something going. It takes a while before the shovels actually start digging.”

The report comes a day after the Industry Super Network, an association of not-for-profit pension funds, said they should be allowed to buy more public infrastructure assets - as seen in Industry Funds Management’s role in leading the $5.1 billion purchase of the 99-year lease on Ports Botany and Kembla in NSW - to increase their already-strong focus on infrastructure assets and to help close the gap on Australia’s estimated $770 billion shortfall in infrastructure.

For More Info Visit @ http://www.brw.com.au/p/professions/infrastructure_funding_reforms_urgent_o3Ozr4lWVwazPcvGMzs33H