Dezeen Magazine

Miami Produce Center by BIG

This week, BIG designed buildings on stilts and IKEA hacked its own furniture

This week, BIG revealed plans for the Miami Produce Center in Allapattah, and IKEA asked Scholten & Baijings to hack two of its most popular furniture designs.

BIG's Miami Produce Center will comprise a stack of eight volumes raised on stilts above former warehouses, containing co-working offices, co-living apartments and a hotel.

The complex will also comprise three existing buildings due to be transformed into restaurants, shops, cafes and a school.

IKEA asks Scholten & Baijings to hack two of its most popular furniture designs

A collaboration between IKEA and Scholten & Baijings launched this week, after the Swedish retail giant enlisted the Dutch design duo to create fresh takes on its Klippan sofa and Poäng armchair.

Grenfell Tower: in Memoriam, by JAA Architects
Grenfell Tower reimagined as a black concrete-covered memorial

Fearing that the "tragedy caused through negligence" would not be memorialised sufficiently, JAA revealed a concept to encase the burnt-out shell of Grenfell Tower in a sarcophagus of black concrete.

In Ireland, Steven Holl Architects won a competition to revamp the University College Dublin campus. The proposal features buildings that reference geological forms of the Giant's Causeway.

Ai Weiwei's Beijing studio demolished
Ai Weiwei's Beijing studio demolished by Chinese authorities

Famed activist and artist Ai Weiwei took to Instagram this week to share news that his Beijing studio had been demolished by Chinese authorities, despite many of his works still being inside and no prior warning given to him, or his team.

In Seattle doors to the Space Needle observation tower reopened, following an overhaul by American firm Olson Kundig Architects. The tower now features "the world's first and only revolving glass floor".

Weaponised drone reportedly used in failed assassination attempt

In tech news, the first reported drone-enabled assassination attempt of a head of state may have taken place this week, as Venezuelan officials claim they thwarted an attack on President Nicolás Maduro that used explosives strapped to drones.

DJI, the world's largest drone manufacturer, spoke to Dezeen on the matter, saying they had limited ability to control how its technology is used, and that "they deplore any use of [its] products to bring harm to anyone".

Mysterious Aphex Twin logos appear in destinations across the world

Illustrations of electronic musician Aphex Twin's logo mysteriously emerged in various locations, including London's Elephant and Castle underground station and on a Tokyo music store's signage to promote the launch of his new EP Collapse.

Meanwhile, London's Design museum complied with the demands of artists involved in their Hope To Nope exhibition by returning a third of the works displayed – after they had protested against the institution's private event for Leonardo, an Italian leader in the aerospace and defence industry.

Tuft + Paw have launched "the ultimate playground for cats"

Popular projects on Dezeen this week included an eco-friendly prefabricated home design by Studio Arthur Casasa contemporary Russian restaurant influenced by a nearby Danish design school and a jungle gym created for cats.