Our exclusive interview with Rem Koolhaas about his firm OMA's giant De Rotterdam complex features in Dezeen Mail issue 180, which also includes the latest news, jobs, competitions and reader comments from Dezeen.
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Opinion: Sam Jacob argues that as climate change pushes the reality of winter further from the idealised version that appears in Christmas decorations, they begin to represent "a hangover of a vanishing idea remade through other technologies." More about "Christmas decorations are winter as skeuomorphism"
Movie: Rem Koolhaas explains how his preoccupations have shifted from urbanism and the city to preservation and the countryside in this second movie filmed by Dezeen at the launch of OMA's new Rotterdam skyscraper. "It's a cliche that everybody is living in the city," the architect says. Update: this interview is featured in Dezeen Book of Interviews, which is on sale now for £12. More about OMA now preoccupied with "the countryside and preservation" says Rem Koolhaas
French studio Perraudin Architecture has completed a social housing complex with solid stone walls near Toulouse as part of a bid to prove that "anything that is built today could be built in stone" (+ slideshow). More about Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture
Movie: in our next exclusive interview from Inside Festival, Per Anders Borgen of Ratio Architects explains how the design team used raw materials to "remove the institutional look" from the interior of a student facility at St. Olav's Hospital in Trondheim, Norway. More about Norwegian medical training facility designed "not to look like a hospital"
Lithuanian studio Inblum Architects has inserted a bar into the attic of an old house in Minsk, Belarus (+ slideshow). More about Bar in the attic of an old house by Inblum Architects
A flat-pack wooden bicycle that can be assembled in less than an hour has gone into production (+ slideshow). More about Sandwichbike flat-pack wooden bicycle by PedalFactory goes into production
Dutch firm UNStudio has completed a shopping centre in Wuhan, China, with over 42,000 shiny silver balls attached to its facade (+ slideshow). More about UNStudio's Chinese shopping centre is covered in silver balls
News: architect Frank Gehry has submitted new plans for a hotel and apartment complex to be located across the road from his Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. More about Gehry presents new proposal for site opposite his Walt Disney Concert Hall
Design Miami 2013: designer Ross Lovegrove will present a series of 3D-printed 18 carat gold rings at Design Miami next week. More about Ross Lovegrove designs 3D-printed gold jewellery
Dezeen promotion: Dutch company Organisation in Design is calling for designers and brands to show at the Ventura Lambrate 2014 exhibition during the Salone del Mobile design event in Milan next April. More about Ventura Lambrate 2014 call for entries
News: the images in most kitchen, bathroom and bedroom catalogues are computer-generated but "no-one has realised", according to a leading CGI artist (+ slideshow). More about "No-one has realised" that most homeware catalogue images are renderings
At the launch of his giant De Rotterdam building last week, architect Rem Koolhaas discussed his home city and his latest contribution to it. "This building is not the same from any angle," he said. "We consider that not so much an innovation but a new ambition in architecture" (+ transcript). More about De Rotterdam represents "a new ambition in architecture" says Rem Koolhaas
Milan Expo 2015: robotic tractors will create patterns across a field of crops on the roof of this pavilion that Italian architect Carlo Ratti has designed for the World Expo 2015 in Milan. More about Robot tractors to farm crops on sloping roof of Milan expo pavilion
Undulating branches emerge from the centre of a dining table at this Swiss natural foods restaurant by Ippolito Fleitz Group (+ slideshow + photographs by Zooey Braun). More about Ippolito Fleitz Group installs metal trees in natural foods restaurant
Blood appears to drip from display units and garments hang from meat hooks in this installation at the London flagship store of French fashion house Hermès by designers Studio Toogood (+ slideshow). More about Studio Toogood creates a blood red installation for Hermès
Italian architects Scape have modernised an apartment in one of Rome's oldest neighbourhoods by adding faceted ceilings and a boxy wooden staircase. More about Rome apartment modernised with faceted ceilings and minimalist staircase
Oregon architects Works Partnership Architecture converted a warehouse in Portland into a home and studio by punching skylights through the preserved bowstring truss roof and inserting living quarters within timber-clad boxes (+ slideshow). More about Bowstring Truss House turns a warehouse with a spectacular roof into a home
Dutch designer Lieske Schreuder fed coloured paper to snails and then collected their vibrant-hued poo to make floor tiles (+ slideshow). More about Floor tiles made of coloured snail poo by Lieske Schreuder
These spiky masks folded from paper by 3Gatti Architecture Studio are designed for customising mannequins in retail displays (+ slideshow). More about Masko spiky origami masks for shop window mannequins by 3Gatti Architecture Studio