Plastic-munching fungi that could solve world hunger, Zaha Hadid's reaction to criticism of her Tokyo Olympic stadium design and Ikea's refugee shelters (pictured), feature in Dezeen Mail issue 232. Click through for all the latest news, jobs and reader comments from Dezeen.
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News: Ma Yansong's Beijing studio MAD has been granted permission to drastically remodel a 1970s block in Rome, to create a residential complex featuring tree-covered terraces and translucent metallic walls. More about MAD wins approval for first European project after four years of negotiations
Competition: Dezeen has partnered with Australian architecture firm Edwards Moore to give readers the chance to win one of five copies of a new book documenting the processes behind the studio's projects. More about Competition: five Edwards Moore books to be won
This wooden observation platform by architects Javier Mera, Jorge Andrade and Daniel Moreno sits high above a three-kilometre-wide lake inside an active volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes (+ slideshow). More about High-altitude viewpoint perches over a volcanic crater lake
Design Miami 2014: wire-mesh furniture was shown against a gridded backdrop by assistants dressed in matching garments during this year's Design Miami fair (+ slideshow). More about Patrick Parrish Gallery presents gridded furniture and matching clothing at Design Miami 2014
Canadian design firm MSDS Studio has fitted out a Toronto warehouse with modular boxes to form offices for e-commerce company Shopify (+ slideshow). More about Shopify offices by MSDS Studio feature meeting rooms designed to look like shipping containers
Flames lapping the edges of an Indian brick kiln, the concrete beams of Herzog & De Meuron's Beijing Olympic stadium, and a Gothic doorway in Milan's Doumo are among the images shortlisted for this year's Art of Building Photographer of the Year competition (+ slideshow). More about The Art of Building photography competition shortlist announced
News: Danish studio COBE has won a contest to design a new landmark building at Adidas' global headquarters, with plans for a rhombus-shaped structure filled with winter gardens (+ slideshow). More about COBE designs flagship building for Adidas headquarters
Marcel Wanders' 1996 Knotted Chair, which marked the Dutch designer's international breakthrough, is the next iconic seat design in our A-Zdvent calendar for this year. More about Dezeen's A-Zdvent calendar: Knotted Chair by Marcel Wanders
Japanese studios SNARK and OUVI have slotted a six-metre-wide house with a lopsided roof between two buildings on the edge of a cemetery (+ slideshow). More about Asymmetric House in Tourimachi slots between two buildings
Design Miami 2014: Seattle studio Olson Kundig Architects used stacks of timber beams to form the collector's lounge at this year's Design Miami fair (+ interview + slideshow). More about Olson Kundig Architects based Design Miami lounge on historic lumber yards
News: the Pantheon-like interior of Rem Koolhaas and OMA's arts and culture centre in Miami Beach has been revealed by developer Faena during this year's Art Basel and Design Miami events (+ slideshow). More about Rem Koolhaas' Faena Forum in Miami shown in new renderings and model
News: sports brand Nike is suing three of its former footwear designers for $10 million, alleging that they took trade secrets to arch-rival Adidas. More about Nike sues former designers over Adidas defection
Austria-based Livin Studio has created a process to cultivate edible fungi that digests plastic as it grows (+ movie). More about Fungi Mutarium turns waste plastic into edible treats
News: the American Institute of Architects has named Moshe Safdie as the 2015 recipient of the AIA Gold Medal. More about Moshe Safdie to receive the 2015 AIA Gold Medal
News: Danish firm 3XN has shown the first images of its design for the new headquarters of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland. More about 3XN reveals "dynamic, undulating" design for Swiss Olympic headquarters
News: IKEA's flat-pack refugee shelters, which have now been tested in Ethiopia and Iraq, have been described by design critic Alice Rawsthorn as being part of "one of the most important design developments of the past decade" (+ slideshow). More about IKEA's refugee housing is "unusually sensitive and intelligent" says Alice Rawsthorn
Dezeen promotion: a new short film, entitled As Far As Your Imagination Can Reach, shows how artists and designers are using metallic chain curtains by Spanish brand KriskaDECOR to create endless patterns and images (+ movie). More about KriskaDECOR creates colourful and imaginative chain curtains
This apartment block in Tokyo by Hiroyuki Ito Architects features concrete walls that step back and forth, and a series of terraces screened by the facade (+ slideshow). More about Hiroyuki Ito completes Tokyo housing block with staggered concrete silhouette
Opinion: the legacy of the Modernist movement is a "God complex" among contemporary architects that is turning architecture into its own worst enemy, says OMA partner Reinier de Graaf in his first column for Dezeen. More about "The vast majority of the built environment is of an unspeakable ugliness"