Architecture collective Cityförster have completed a wooden house in the Netherlands with a black rubber skin. More »

These polished marble blocks by Milanese designer Emanuele Pizzolorusso can be arranged on your desk to make miniature monuments. More »

Dezeen Wire: a team of engineers based in California have created a material made from a lattice of hollow metallic tubes that they claim is the lightest in the world – BBC

The substance is 100 times lighter than Styrofoam and consists of 99.99% air. Tubes with a wall thickness 1,000 times thinner than a human hair are used to create the lattice structure that gives the material it’s strength. Potential applications include shock and sound absorption and thermal insulation.

Norwegian architects Fantastic Norway have designed a mountain lodge with a sloping roof that you can ski over. More »

The Seoul office of Dutch designers Studio Dumbar has redesigned the national road signage system for South Korea. More »

Dezeen Wire: in her latest article for The New York Times, design critic Alice Rawsthorn examines the symbols and slogans adopted by the Occupy protest movement in cities around the world.

Rawsthorn explains that the name ‘Occupy’, which originated at the Occupy Wall Street protest against the banking and democratic system, “is a stellar example of both what is known in marketing as an umbrella brand name and what the anti-corporatists in the movement could call beating them at their own game.” She adds that the use of hashtags and slogans short enough to send on social networks such as Twitter have helped the movement spread globally and could represent a new protocol for protesters involving “the repeated use of a few carefully chosen words,” rather than images.

Amsterdam architects UNStudio have designed a new international airport for Kutaisi, Georgia. More »

Competition: we’ve teamed up with Australian T-shirt company Hello Fresco to give away six of their latest designs. More »

Dezeen Wire: Italian architect Renzo Piano says his London skyscraper, The Shard, will be loved by the public, because “it will be accessible, because it is transparent, understandable and not mysterious” – The Telegraph

The public will be able to access restaurants and a viewing gallery at the top of Europe’s tallest building, which fellow architect and friend of Piano, Richard Rogers suggests “will be one of Renzo’s major works [and] one of his major successes.”

Piano believes that skyscrapers such as The Shard represent the most responsible approach to tackling the issue of urban sprawl, stating: “It is more socially correct to intensify the city and free up space on the ground. The city is fragile and vulnerable, so we have to be careful.”

Dezeen in Israel: these high-heeled shoes that look like inflatable sex dolls are part of a collection of footwear by Tel Aviv designer Kobi Levi. More »

Walking along this elevated pathway by German artists Heike Mutter and Ulrich Genth is like being on a roller coaster. More »

British designer Tom Price has made an enchanted grove of cherry trees out of plastic tubes and cable ties.  More »

ECAL graduate Romain Lagrange has designed an indoor croquet set that’s crafted from timber, cork and leather. More »

Dezeen Wire: the opening of the September 11 museum in New York, which is scheduled for September 2012, is under threat due to an ongoing dispute over unexpected costs – The Washington Post

The museum is part of a memorial to the victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre being developed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who say that they are owed $156 million by mayor Michael Bloomberg’s National September 11 Memorial & Museum foundation. The row had been kept quiet over fears it could overshadow the 10th anniversary of the attacks but has now led to the suspension of construction contracts which could delay the completion of the museum.

See our previous story on the opening of the National September 11 Memorial, an animation of the memorial fountains and architecture critic Rowan Moore’s examination of the infighting that has plagued the redevelopment of the World Trade Centre site.