Did IKEA copy the design of a bed by e15? Readers are debating whether the German brand is right to take the Swedish furniture giant to court in this week's comments update.
Snap: commenters agree that IKEA's bestselling Malm bed bears a similarity to e15's SL02 Mo design, but are divided over whether the company should hand over royalties.
"The e15 design is too basic to be afforded any legal protection, there just is not enough substance beyond what most woodworkers make in their shop everyday," said Sam Boychuk.
"Why would anyone sue about something this innocuous," agreed IDRACULA.
"I have the IKEA version and it looks better than the original," said Paul.
But some feel that copyright claims against IKEA hold wider ramifications for the design industry:
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No consensus: following the backlash against Patrik Schumacher's controversial World Architecture Festival talk, Austin Williams has defended the architect's right to free speech – but readers are debating whether the architect should be given a platform.
"This is the first site to say we need diversity in thinking and debate for the best solution in architecture," wrote Iulius Caius.
But some readers strongly disagreed with Williams' argument. "Sorry, this won't wash at all. A wannabe star architect reheats some half-baked Hayek, and the rest of us are supposed to genuflect before making our modest criticisms?" retorted Adrian Chaffey.
One reader suggested that, far from challenging the status quo, Schumacher is actually repeating a decades-old consensus:
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Won't budge-it: plans for a new outpost of the Guggenheim museum in Helsinki have been rejected by the Finnish government, prompting a debate on public spending for private projects.
"Was really hoping for the waves to come up," wrote Karan in disappointment, referring to the design's curvaceous form.
But not everyone felt the project was worth government investment. "Private-public partnerships are mostly a disaster for the public, costs almost always balloon out of control, and tax money goes down the drain," wrote Fresh Haus.
"Although a sensitive approach to the site, this project's interior spaces are rather timid if not banal, quite unspecific to what was going to be a 'Bilbao effect' for Helsinki," said Sorperdida.
Karol_B agreed:
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Marmite: James Stirling's No 1 Poultry has been granted listed status, leading commenters to discuss the love-it-or-hate-it postmodernist style.
"This building gives me joy whenever I see it," wrote Jamie. "The circumstances of its predecessor's demolition are a tragedy, but what an exuberant, silly and joyous building the new one is."
But the demolition of the Mappin & Webb building by John Belcher and the rejection of an earlier design by Mies van der Rohe for the same plot has mired No 1 Poultry in most reader's eyes.
"To think we could have had a Mies VdR right where this giant Lego sculpture is," wrote regular commenter Kay. "We're saving the horror shows of the last decade while razing the finesse that preceded it."
One reader went a step further:
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