News: researchers in America have developed a friction-based miniature generator that could enable mobile devices to be charged by typing or stroking the screen. More about Future smartphones could be charged by stroking them
News: miracle material graphene has been used to develop infrared sensors, which could be inserted into contact lenses and allow the wearer to see in the dark. More about Graphene sensors could create night-vision contact lenses
News: construction is now underway on a 222-metre skyscraper by New York studios HWKN and Handel Architects that is set to become the tallest building in the state of New Jersey. More about Work starts on New Jersey's tallest building by HWKN and Handel Architects
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: architect and designer Daniel Widrig explains how he uses technology borrowed from the special effects business to design everything from jewellery to skyscrapers. More about Software advances are "blurring boundaries between design disciplines"
Dezeen promotion: international brands will be launching new products at this year's May Design Series event, taking place in London from 18 to 20 May. More about Preview of products to launch at May Design Series
News: architects including Tadao Ando, Rem Koolhaas, Kengo Kuma, Thom Mayne and Elizabeth Diller have launched an urgent appeal to Russian president Vladimir Putin to halt demolition of Moscow's iconic Shukhov Radio Tower. More about Tadao Ando, Rem Koolhaas and Kengo Kuma join fight to save Moscow's Shukhov Tower
Venice Architecture Biennale 2014: director of Zaha Hadid Architects Patrik Schumacher has taken to Facebook to launch an attack on political correctness in architecture and a perceived trend for prioritising art over form-making. More about "Architecture is not art" says Patrik Schumacher in Venice Architecture Biennale rant
News: architecture firm OMA is working on designs for a 167-metre skyscraper on Folsom Street in San Francisco. More about OMA plans San Francisco skyscraper
A seven-storey block of flats by Guérin & Pedroza Architects is the latest addition to a project transforming the site of a nineteenth century fort outside Paris into a new residential district (+ slideshow). More about Franco-Prussian war site hosts block of flats by Guérin & Pedroza Architects
A wooden pod resembling the woven structure of a bird's nest can be used for meetings at this sales office for a property development in Mumbai by local firm Planet 3 Studios (+ slideshow). More about Giant timber nest provides meeting room at Baya Park offices by Planet 3 Studios
The base of this table by Japanese designer Kazunaga Sakashita was inspired by trestles found in factories and on construction sites. More about Uma by Kazunaga Sakashita updates archetypal trestle table
This social housing block in Slovakia by Bratislava studio Nice Architects features a series of protruding balconies that angle towards sunlight whilst blocking out the noise of car traffic below (+ slideshow). More about Angular balconies stretch towards sunlight at North Star Apartments by Nice Architects
German studio Tammo Prinz Architects has developed a concept for a residential skyscraper built from a stack of modular cubes and dodecahedrons (+ slideshow). More about Tammo Prinz's conceptual skyscraper would be built from tessellating modules
Interview: Clive Wilkinson, the architect behind the office design at Google's Silicon Valley headquarters, tells us how he convinced the internet giant to move away from "humiliating, disenfranchising and isolating" workers' cubicles (+ transcript). More about "Google was cubicle land when we started designing offices for them"
Flowering vines will sprawl across the facades of these four tower blocks underway in Casablanca by French studio Maison Edouard François, creating a series of brightly coloured vertical gardens. More about Walls of foliage will surround towers at Gardens of Anfa by Maison Edouard François
Milan 2014: Japanese design studio Nendo has created a range of chairs with wood grain patterns printed onto natural timber for a forthcoming solo show in Milan. More about Nendo's solo exhibition in Milan to showcase chairs that mix printed and natural grains
Twenty huge aluminium petals fold around this 42,000-seat stadium that sports architecture firm Populous has completed in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, ahead of the FIFA World Cup kicking off this summer (+ slideshow). More about Populous completes Arena das Dunas for FIFA World Cup 2014
Transportation start-up Kolelinia has created a vehicle that uses pedal power to transport riders around town while standing up, like a low-tech version of a Segway (+ movie). More about Halfbike by Kolelinia lets riders stand up while pedalling
A spiral of wooden strips surrounds a staircase in the restaurant of this Strasbourg hotel, designed inside a former equestrian academy by Paris studio Agence Jouin Manku (+ slideshow). More about Wooden strips coil around staircase at Strasbourg hotel by Jouin Manku
A sequence of vaulted ceilings and arched openings sets up layered vistas through the interior of this beach house in Southern California by Los Angeles firm Johnston Marklee (+ slideshow). More about Johnston Marklee's Vault House frames beach views through multiple arches