Comments update: hacked Ikea flat-pack kitchens by Danish architecture studios BIG, Henning Larsen and Norm have triggered a debate about the affordability of good design. Read on for more on this and don't forget to explore our comments page to keep up to date with the latest discussions.
Flat hack: The kitchens were commissioned by Danish company Reform, which specialises in customising Ikea's affordable designs, but some readers think the results will be too expensive.
"They've hacked Ikea's affordable designs to create unaffordable aspiration pieces," said Massimo. "It's almost certainly out of my league in terms of cost now, which is rather perverse."
"The concept of using Ikea carcasses and adding more interesting surfaces is a great way of forming a practical kitchen," added SteveLeo, "but the fittings used are antithetical to the idea of an economical 'hack'."
"Of course this will be a little bit more expensive," replied Emily, "but it will offer personalisation, which is surely worth it?" Read the comments on this story »
Beauty or beast? The failure of a last-ditch attempt to prevent the demolition of Robin Hood Gardens – the controversial Brutalist social housing scheme designed by Alison and Peter Smithson – left some readers angry and upset.
"Abroad, Alison and Peter Smithson are hailed and celebrated," wrote one commenter. "Here in the UK, we cannot seem to look past the texture and patina of an undervalued and appallingly maintained structure."
However, regular commenter Colonel Pancake was affronted by claims that the structure has been misunderstood by society. "Is there anything more condescending than telling a society it's wrong to not love such an inhumane pile of quasi-intellectualised sh*t?" he said.
"I just fear that what will replace it will be another disposable/poorly built and unaffordable development to be added to someone's offshore property portfolio," concluded Filip Remplakowski. Read the comments on this story »
Pomo mojo: Postmodernism "wasn't all fun and games", but a serious and important precursor to experimental architecture, argued Aaron Betsky in his Opinion column for Dezeen's summer season on Postmodernism.
Arjay Cee wasn't convinced: "Betsky's apology would put decades of lurid banality in its best light by asking us to go along with a basic silliness: his pretence that the failed utopias of the 20th century left us no choice but to turn our built landscape into a winking Disneyland," he wrote.
"'Experimental architecture emerged to question Postmodernism's jokes', and in doing so it became a joke within itself," added Trim. "Not to mention another stylised movement..." Read the comments on this story »
Tokyo logo: weeks after the Japanese government decided to scrap Zaha Hadid's stadium design for Tokyo's 2020 Olympics, the sporting event was hit by another controversy when the designer of the visual identity for the games was forced to defend his logo from accusations of copying.
Dezeen readers sympathised. "Logos are often simple artworks," said Jeroen van Lith. "Isn't it very plausible that every now and then one resembles another?
"Both solutions look to have been accomplished naturally," agreed The Liberty Disciple, although another commenter described it as a "curious coincidence". Read the comments on this story »