This week on Dezeen, we revealed the giant robot that took centre stage at a Dior show in Tokyo and huge blocks of glacial ice were deposited on London's streets.

Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama created a large scale version of his 1983 Sexy Robot characters to set the scene for Dior's Pre-Fall 2019 menswear show in Japan.

Carved from a block of styrofoam and coated with layers of aluminium paint that took 20 days to apply, the retro-futurist "fembot" featured a gold garter with Dior embossed on one leg.

Another artist had a less idealised version of the future to show. Olafur Eliasson transported 30 chunks of glacial ice from the waters around Greenland to London for his piece Ice Watch.

Eliasson said the blocks – positioned in front of the Tate Modern gallery and the Foster + Partners-design Bloomberg headquarters – are meant to bring the emotional impact of climate change home to onlookers, who can touch and even caress the art.

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei unveiled his own piece of protest art – a blue flag emblazoned with a white footprint to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Ai's design was inspired by spending time in refugee camps in Bangladesh with Rohingya muslims who were fleeing genocide in Myanmar, often barefoot.

The shortlisted 15 projects for the  Dezeen x MINI Living Future Urban Home competition were revealed this week. Readers were invited to submit their designs for homes 100 years from now, imagining ingenious solutions to city living such as floating architecture and 3D-printed homes.

In the nearer future, scientists are prepping to trial the world's solar geoengineering experiment in early 2019. By injecting calcium carbonate particles into the atmosphere they hope to dim the sun by reflecting some of its rays, mimicking the effect of volcanic eruptions to slow down climate change. 

Copenhagen is planning to build an eco-village made from recycled concrete, wood and glass, creating 400 homes in line with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

Leading architects including Denise Scott Brown, Rem Koolhaas and Bjarke Ingels all signed a letter of protest after the Premio alla Carriera Architettura prize was awarded to Massimiliano Fuksas of Studio Fuksas, failing to include his equal partner Doriana Fuksas.

New Yorkers also signed a petition in droves, after the haphazard placement of Christmas decorations over the Holland Tunnel triggered those who suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

As Brexit drama rumbled on in the UK, the Home Office and the Royal Institute of British Architects announced special visas for architects who can demonstrate extraordinary talent or promise.

Popular projects on Dezeen this week included a subterranean art museum built into the dunes on a beach in China, a house with a secret room accessed via the bath tub, and a cluster of cosy chalets added to an alpine resort.