Fed up with the beauty ideals portrayed in the media, designers are challenging body image with products, clothes and accessories that distort the figure and face, highlight preconceptions and poke fun at unrealistic trends. Here are 10 of the best we've seen. More
Apollo Architects & Associates has completed a top-heavy building in Japan's Aichi Prefecture containing both an art gallery and a family residence (+ slideshow). More
Comments update: unrealistic body-image expectations are the hot topic this week, after Soo Kyung Bae created a collection of jewellery designed to highlight the area between a woman's thighs. More
Layers of compacted earth form walls for this house by architecture studio Blaanc, which is set in the middle of a vineyard in Portugal's Montijo municipality (+ slideshow). More
Adult sex toys are in the midst of a design revolution, says Rita Catinella Orrell, who has written a book on the subject called Objects of Desire. More
US design studio Brook&Lyn has used pastel-coloured panels and a huge circular mirror to create the first physical showroom for Everlane, at the online clothing retailer's San Francisco headquarters (+ slideshow). More
London design studio Bompas & Parr has used bioluminescent algae to create a collection of orb-shaped necklace pendants that glow when shaken. More
A slatted wooden screen wraps around the extended living space of this 1960s bungalow in Sydney, forming a protective surface that shields the interior from direct sunlight and views from the street (+ slideshow). More
US designers Yitan Sun and Jianshi Wu have proposed transforming Manhattan's Central Park into a sunken landscape encircled by a below-grade megastructure with office, housing, retail and cultural space. More
American consumers who learned about design through Ikea are starting to appreciate other brands and are "very ready and ripe" for online retailers like Ahalife, according to Shauna Mei, founder of the e-commerce site that has just hired former Net-A-Porter director Christopher Colfer to drive the brand's global expansion (+ exclusive interview). More
London studio APA Architects has created a set of collaborative offices for credit card company Barclaycard at its headquarters in Northampton, England, which are designed for a specific way of working (+ slideshow). More
Business news: Ahalife, the design marketplace that acquired e-commerce site Bezar earlier this year, has appointed online fashion retail expert Christopher Colfer to its board to help it become the first global design store on the web. More
Concrete boxes are arranged on either side of a long glazed corridor to form this concrete house by Belgian studio Sculp IT, which is made up of both indoor and outdoor spaces (+ slideshow). More
Milan 2016: Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto explains why he has chosen light rather than physical objects to create his Milan design week installation for fashion brand COS (+ movie). More
The black and white geometric forms hanging from the ceiling of this boutique in Kuwait are intended to entice costumers into the store (+ slideshow). More
German designer Nils Holger Moormann has transformed a Volkswagen T6 bus into a mobile home away from home (+ slideshow). More
Four matching staircases lead up to the rooftop terrace of this Algarve hotel by Portuguese studio PAr, offering guests views out towards a nearby lagoon (+ slideshow). More
Global Architects has transformed the interior of a 1980s Dutch residence, by inserting a house-shaped volume that provides cosy bedrooms and secluded bathrooms (+ slideshow). More
Photo essay: a shark in a corridor and a toad seated on a filing cabinet are among the scenes found by Austrian photographer Klaus Pichler when he went backstage at the Natural History Museum Vienna (+ slideshow). More
Canadian studio Architecture Microclimat has created a simple athletic facility in Quebec with a lofty ceiling that enables gymnasts to hang high in the air (+ slideshow). More