Alentejo Country Hotel features log facades to match the surrounding cork trees
Vertical logs cover the gabled elevations of this rural hotel in southern Portugal, designed by Lisbon studio Future Architecture Thinking (+ slideshow). More
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Zsofia Kollar weaves human hair to create golden perfumed textile
Hungarian designer Zsofia Kollar has used human hair to create a series of scented objects, including a wall hanging and a U-shaped necklace (+ slideshow). More
SANAA's reflective Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009 "merged into the landscape"
Movie: gallery director Julia Peyton-Jones describes the reflective aluminium Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, created by Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA in 2009, as "strange and gorgeous" in this exclusive movie. More
Amagansett Dunes House by Bates Masi Architects is shaded with strips of canvas
This house in Amagansett, New York, by Bates Masi Architects is designed to take advantage of its windy site on Long Island's south shore (+ slideshow). More
Claesson Koivisto Rune unveils new business concept for entrepreneurial designers
Business news: Swedish architecture and design studio Claesson Koivisto Rune has developed a new business model that allows designers to earn 75 per cent of the proceeds of their products, rather than the standard royalty of five per cent or less. More
RIBA's Creation from Catastrophe exhibition showcases the world's best disaster-relief projects
A new exhibition about radical projects to rebuild communities in the aftermath of disasters points to the "changing role of architects in society", says its curator (+ slideshow). More
Winners chosen for Alvar Aalto museum extension but told to improve their design
A group of young Finnish architects have won a competition to integrate two museums by Modernist architect Alvar Aalto – but have been told their design needs "a lot of development". More
British architecture is experiencing a "dull period" says Peter Cook
Lack of experimentation and a culture of narrow-mindedness in schools has led to a dull period in British architecture, according to Archigram founder Peter Cook. More
Bartlett students use robots to build 3D-printed filigree chairs
A team of students at the Bartlett architecture school have developed a technique for 3D printing complex curved structures, and used it to build a set of intricate chairs. More
COBE's Frederiksvej Kindergarten is based on children's drawings
Each of the small house-like volumes that make up this Copenhagen kindergarten were designed by Danish firm COBE to look like caricatures of homes with peaked roofs as drawn by children (+ slideshow). More
3D-printed braille and picture books help blind children to read
A team from the University of Colorado Boulder have used 3D printing to create tactile versions of famous books for visually impaired children (+ slideshow). More
"Architecture is not a medium of personal expression for me" says Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid has rejected claims that her architecture is self-indulgent and wilful, believing that she is "widely misunderstood" by the mainstream. More
Yuta Takahashi designs minimal packaging for natural chocolate bars
Japanese designer Yuta Takahashi created the pared-back packaging for these natural chocolate bars to reflect their simple ingredients (+ slideshow). More
Dunne and Raby move to Parsons following RCA departure
Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby are joining the teaching staff at Parsons design school in New York, after leaving the Design Interactions course at London's Royal College of Art last year. More
Clavel Arquitectos creates extreme concrete cantilever for Crossed House in Spain
The upper storey of this concrete house by Clavel Arquitectos cantilevers out from the lower storey by 10 metres, stretching towards mountain views in Spain's Murcia region (+ slideshow). More
BIG's 8 House succeeds where the Smithsons' "streets in the sky" failed, says Bjarke Ingels
Danish architect Bjarke Ingels claims his Copenhagen housing development has accomplished the social mission Brutalist architects Alison and Peter Smithson set out to achieve with their "streets in sky" concept in the 1960s and 1970s. More
Uber rebrands with location-specific "asshole" logos based on bathroom tiles
Taxi service Uber has launched a new identity designed by the company's CEO, which presents users in different countries with customised colours and patterns, and which has already been compared to an "asshole". More
MIT students' bullet-shaped Hyperloop pod wins Elon Musk's SpaceX competition
A team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology has won a competition to design an experimental capsule for the Hyperloop – a conceptual high-speed transport network conceived by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. More
Terry Farrell proposes six new bridges across River Thames in east London
Farrells has proposed a series of low-level bridges over the River Thames to help stimulate water-side development in east London. More
It's now cheaper to open a traditional shop than an online store, says Fab co-founder
Business news: online retail businesses are becoming more expensive to run than traditional design stores, according to Bradford Shellhammer, who co-founded Fab.com and launched Bezar.com. More