Comments update: controversial gun laws in America were hotly contested this week, after the dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Texas resigned over a new state law that will allow students to carry firearms on campus.

Campus carry: Frederick "Fritz" Steiner said the law was the reason he was leaving his position at the Austin university after 15 years. Many readers were equally disgusted by the new state law.

"Equipping your little darlings with concealed guns will not protect them," reacted one guest commenter angrily. "It will just give everybody a false sense of security. What a disastrous and shameful policy."

"People need to feel free and safe in a university in order to develop fully," added Sim. "Guns don't fit into that."

Others didn't share this view and made the case for more guns in neighbourhoods.

"We already see that the total ban of guns on campuses, even in entire cities is ineffective," said regular commenter Concerned Citizen. "Records show that the stricter the gun laws, the higher the murder rates by guns."

What do you think? Join the conversation in our comments section »

BIG week: a week rarely passes by without Bjarke Ingels hitting the headlines and last week was no exception, as his firm unveiled this year's Serpentine Gallery Pavilion design and revealed plans for a major residential development in downtown Toronto.

"Stacked boxes... The only thing I'm surprised by is the lack of diagrams with arrows and planes being lifted or squeezed in this article," said SteveLeo in response to the pavilion design, while a guest commenter described it as a "trite motive fashioned out of disposable plastic elements."

Let us know what you think of BIG's Serpentine Gallery Pavilion design »

Readers reacted more positively to the firm's housing development in Toronto that is reminiscent of Moshe Safdie's experimental Habitat 67 housing complex.

"Cool project and I hope it gets built," said one reader, while another referred to it as a "downright stunning project."

"The thing that is missing here," countered Galicer, "is the fact that in the original Habitat every unit had its own open terrace. In this less-socialist version only the expensive units will." Read the comments and story »

Design dilemma: industrial designer Benjamin Hubert explained why he shifted his energy away from furniture design in an exclusive interview with Dezeen last week, saying "everyone seems to be designing the same thing" in the sector.

"The real, underlying problem is of course that way too many designers are graduating from design schools," wrote Tes. "Here in the Netherlands the amount of design school places has risen ten-fold in the last ten years."

"I think the problem is not the numbers of design graduates but the positions they're going to fulfil," replied George Worker. "If you look at designers as business consultants you can avoid the 'starving artists' or the 'Kickstarter kamikazes'."

"It's about time for students not to aim only for a glorified furniture industry, but finding new areas with potential," concluded Wadi. "Don't go to design fairs; visit tech fairs, listen to engineers, artists, doctors and other professionals who need good design solution in their field and not another chair." Read the comments and story »