World Architecture Festival 2015: architecture firm Spark has unveiled its concept for "the next generation of retirement housing" – a community of homes and health facilities combined with a vertical urban farm (+ slideshow). More about Spark designs model for Asian retirement communities that double as city farms
With Apple trying to convert creatives to its digital pencil, Italian designer Giulio Iacchetti is hoping to prove there's life yet in graphite with these mechanical writing tools. More about Giulio Iacchetti's minimal Neri pens and pencils are operated by brass dials
Malaysian architect Eleena Jamil has built a bamboo pavilion in Kuala Lumpur's botanical gardens, featuring tree-like columns and a floor made up of 31 elevated platforms (+ slideshow). More about Bamboo playhouse by Eleena Jamil built on a lake island in Kuala Lumpur's botanical gardens
Two giant lifts are concealed in the base of this garage in Switzerland, providing access to a secret underground space where a member of a royal family stores vintage cars and motorcycles (+ slideshow). More about B29 creates "James Bond super garage" in Switzerland for a royal client
San Francisco start up Minna Life has launched a portable device that men can sit on to exercise their pelvic muscles and "amplify their sexual fitness" (+ slideshow). More about KGoal Boost is a pelvic training tracker to help men improve their orgasms
Described by architecture studio De Rosee Sa as a "magical lakeside cabin", this small black hut in Belgium shares many characteristics with the witch's houses found in fairytales (+ movie). More about De Rosee Sa builds "strangely familiar" black cabin beside a lake in rural Belgium
London startup the Hummingbird Bike Company has designed a folding carbon-fibre bike that weighs just 6.5 kilograms. More about "World's lightest" folding bicycle weighs less than the average watermelon
Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects has completed a new building for the International Criminal Court in the Hague, featuring chequerboard facades that create shifting patterns of light and shadow (+ slideshow). More about Schmidt Hammer Lassen completes headquarters for the International Criminal Court
Movie: Cyril Zammit of Art Dubai explains how the inaugural Dubai Design Week aims to establish the city as a global design centre, in the first movie from a series produced by Dezeen for Dubai Design Week. More about Inaugural Dubai Design Week will "open doors" for the design industry in the region
Modernist designer Enzo Mari has given Berlin-based CUCULA the rights to redesign and sell his Autoprogettazione furniture to raise funds for its refugee support programme (+ slideshow). More about Enzo Mari grants Berlin refugee organisation rights to reproduce his furniture
Aamodt Plumb Architects divided this prefabricated house in Texas into two wings to avoid felling a group of trees, covering one half in black-charred timber and the other in bright white stucco. More about Lakefront Austin home by Aamodt Plumb Architects is split into two wings
Sadie Snelson Architects has transformed an east London warehouse into a live-work space for a photographer, featuring a folded steel staircase, a mezzanine and wall-mounted storage for bicycles (+ slideshow). More about Sadie Snelson Architects converts London warehouse into photographer's home and studio
Hood-like roofs funnel natural light into these brick terraced houses in London by Bell Phillips Architects, which provide cost-effective homes for elderly and disabled residents (+ slideshow). More about Bell Phillips rolls out a model for public housing on six Greenwich sites
Students at the Bartlett School of Architecture have developed a composite material using felt and resin that can be stitched together to create tubular furniture. More about Bartlett students create felt material that can be moulded into self-supporting chairs
This showroom for a real estate developer in Guangzhou, China, is a prototype for a modular building system designed by Open Architecture to be easily moved or adapted (+ slideshow). More about Open Architecture develops reconfigurable construction system of tessellating hexagons
This data storage centre in Basel has a ridged shell of both perforated and solid steel panels, designed by Ffbk Architects to offer fragmented reflections of the sky and surroundings (+ slideshow). More about FFBK Architects completes "most advanced data storage centre in Switzerland"
Opinion: Manhattan's rash of skinny towers for the super rich is helping turn New York into an extreme work of art. It's a Capitalist Jerusalem made real, says Aaron Betsky. More about "Manhattan is theirs, we just get to admire it"
Assorted glass blocks give varying levels of translucency to the facade of this showroom and storage facility for an antiques dealer in Osaka, Japan (+ slideshow). More about Glass blocks create multi-tonal facade for antiques showroom by Jun Murata
Berlin studio Baumhauer has renovated a traditional farmhouse in the Swiss hamlet of Florins, inserting a timber structure that contains new living areas in place of an existing barn (+ slideshow). More about Baumhauer adds timber-lined living spaces to vernacular Swiss farmhouse
Copenhagen architect Kevin Hviid has launched a collection of chairs, including one with a seat back that looks like an oversized bow tie. More about Kevin Hviid's chair collection includes one resembling a giant bow tie