The lower floor of this live-work building in Japan was designed by architects SNARK and OUVI as a barber shop, while the upper level contains an apartment featuring a spacious loft (+ slideshow). More about Combined home and barber shop features exposed ceiling beams
News: autonomous vehicles in urban areas could be up to thirty years away, according to Audi's Thomas Müller, the engineer leading the development of the brand's driverless sports car (+ interview). More about Driverless cars in cities still "20 to 30 years" away, says senior Audi engineer
News: Zaha Hadid Architects has unveiled its first project in Brazil – an 11-storey apartment building overlooking Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. More about Zaha Hadid's first Brazilian building designed for Copacabana Beach
Interview: Álvaro Siza, one of the world's most decorated architects, spoke to Dezeen recently in his home city of Porto, Portugal. In this interview he tells us his projects are never finished "because we never have enough time". More about Álvaro Siza: "Emotion is very important" in architecture
Architect Fernando Menis has developed a concept for a residential tower complex with rock-like walls, a cavernous swimming pool and plants growing out of every crevice. More about Chunky tower covered in plants proposed for Taiwan's capital
This week's job of the week on Dezeen Jobs is for the Royal College of Art's head of architecture programme. Visit the ad for full details or browse other architecture and design opportunities on Dezeen Jobs.
More about Job of the week: head of architecture at the Royal College of Art
Angular shapes have been sliced out of the planks of smooth maple that encase a staircase at the centre of this Montreal renovation by Naturehumaine (+ slideshow). More about Naturehumaine add maple and steel staircase to 1960s house
As we head closer to Christmas with our A-Zdvent list of iconic seats, S is represented by Danish designer Arne Jacobsen's Swan Chair. More about Dezeen's A-Zdvent calendar: Swan Chair by Arne Jacobsen
Architect Felipe Escudero designed and built this clover-shaped house near the Ecuadorian mountain immortalised in the Walter J Turner poem Romance (+ slideshow). More about Clover-shaped house by Felipe Escudero built near Chimborazo mountain
Feature: Zaha Hadid was in a garrulous mood at a panel discussion in Miami earlier this month, discussing the lack of women in architecture, describing her "untraditional" education and recalling the stressful early days of her practice, when "there were years when I didn't sleep for four nights in a row". More about "They thought I was a troublemaker" says Zaha Hadid
Opinion: unbridled materialism, technology and design combine to challenge the meaning of personhood in William Gibson's latest sci-fi novel. The foundations for this future are already being laid in real life, says Justin McGuirk. More about "Anything threatening to be a subculture is commodified before it can walk"
Movie: in the first in a series of exclusive video interviews, AIA Gold Medal-winner Moshe Safdie talks about his most famous project since Habitat 67 – the gigantic Marina Bay Sands development in Singapore. More about Marina Bay Sands offers "a new kind of public realm" says Moshe Safdie
Zaha Hadid's dune-inspired building, Africa's tallest skyscraper design (pictured), and furniture covered in doormats feature in Dezeen Mail issue 233. Click through for all the latest news, jobs and reader comments from Dezeen.
Read Dezeen Mail issue 232 | Subscribe to Dezeen Mail
More about Dezeen Mail #233
Lebanese studio Najla El Zein Workspace has created a set of "pleasure tools" by pairing marble with materials including fake eyelashes and gold fingernails for tickling, stroking, scratching and more (+ slideshow). More about Sensorial Brushes by Najla El Zein Workspace are designed to stimulate the skin
News: Zaha Hadid has designed a building shaped like a field of sand dunes to house the headquarters of Middle Eastern environmental company Bee'ah. More about Zaha Hadid designs dune-inspired headquarters for environmental firm
Swiss studio Bureau A has concealed a wooden cabin inside an artificial rock and transported it to a remote site in the Swiss Alps. More about Mountain hideaway hidden inside a concrete boulder in the Alps
Swaths of crumpled tracing paper cocooned the interior of this pop-up bar in a Japanese gallery to transform the space into a cozy cave (+ slideshow). More about Naoya Matsumoto Design uses crumpled paper to create grotto-like bar in Osaka
Ron Arad said he "hardly designed anything" when creating his readymade Rover Chair, which is next up in our festive A-Zdvent calendar. More about Dezeen's A-Zdvent calendar: Rover Chair by Ron Arad
This small black family house in Copenhagen was designed by Danish architect Sigurd Larsen to be built for a budget of just £95,000 (+ slideshow). More about Sigurd Larsen completes low-cost family house in Copenhagen
Brazilian designers Fernando and Humberto Campana have chosen a coconut fibre rug commonly used for doormats as the latest material to incorporate into a furniture collection. More about Campana brothers cover wooden furniture with doormats