Architecture studio Juri Troy has designed this eco-friendly timber house as a family home in rural Austria (+ slideshow). More about Passive timber house in Austria by Juri Troy Architects
Opinion: in this week's Opinion column, Lucas Verweij argues that as the design field expands to encompass all creative activities and designers try to solve all the world's problems, the discipline cannot possibly live up to expectations. More about "It's only a matter of time before the design bubble bursts"
Wire baskets cradle balls of light to create these lamps by Barcelona designer Martín Azú. More about Glowing orbs cupped in wire baskets to form pendant lamps
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all our readers! Here's a photograph our editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs took of snowy La Plagne in France. Love from the Dezeen team x
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Here's a selection of our favourite Christmas cards and movies we've received this year, including a collapsible model snow globe from architecture firm Aedas (pictured). More about Designer Christmas cards 2013
The 365 wooden sledges used to construct this Christmas tree in Budapest by Hungarian designers Hello Wood will be given to a local children's charity following the festive period (+ movie). More about Christmas tree made from sledges
Dutch supermarket Spar's flagship store in Budapest features a series of undulating wooden forms through its interior by local firm LAB5 architects (+ slideshow). More about Spar supermarket displays groceries between curved wooden ribs
We've reached the final edition of our festive A-Zdvent calendar of architects, which wouldn't be complete without Zaha Hadid. The architect's recent built projects include the Heydar Aliyev Centre in Azerbaijan (pictured) and a new exhibition space for the Serpentine Gallery in London, but she is also working on a stadium for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and a Miami skyscraper.
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More about Dezeen's A-Zdvent calendar: Zaha Hadid
News: the Russian designer of the AK-47 assault rifle Mikhail Kalashnikov has died aged 94. More about Mikhail Kalashnikov 1919-2013
Ma Yansong of Beijing studio MAD is the penultimate architect to appear in this year's A-Zdvent calendar. Featured here is his blob-shaped Ordos Museum in the Gobi desert, which is clad in polished metal tiles to resist sandstorms. The firm also recently presented a masterplan for China where buildings are designed to look like mountains and public spaces overlap with the natural landscape.
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We've reached the final day of our festive countdown, so in the first of three final posts today here's Chinese architect Li Xiaodong, whose projects include a school that bridges a creek between two castles and a library clad with firewood (pictured).
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More about Dezeen's A-Zdvent calendar: Li Xiaodong
Japanese firm Atelier HAKO Architects used concrete dotted with formwork impressions for both the internal and external surfaces of these stacked residences in a suburb of Tokyo (+ slideshow). More about Concrete homes patterned with formwork holes by Atelier HAKO Architects
One thousand editions of literary journal The Paris Review cover the ceiling of skincare brand Aesop's new store in Chelsea, New York (+ slideshow). More about Aesop's Chelsea boutique is shrouded in copies of The Paris Review
This movie shows shoppers walking under and sitting beneath the Christmas lights installed above public crossings and squares in central Berlin by German studio Brut Deluxe. More about Berlin Christmas lights by Brut Deluxe
Panoramic views of the dramatic Icelandic landscape are offered from this holiday home near Reykjavik by local studio PK Arkitektar (+ slideshow). More about Árborg House by PK Arkitektar overlooks an Icelandic glacial valley
UK-based Guy Hollaway Architects has become the latest firm to install a slide inside an office building with this renovation for online events guide View London (+ slideshow). More about The Workshop offices by Guy Hollaway Architects feature a tubular steel slide
News: researchers in Australia have developed a pen to deposit regenerative stem cells onto damaged bone and cartilage in a process similar to 3D printing. More about 3D-printing BioPen "draws" with living cells to repair damaged bones
Behind today's A-Zdvent calendar window is Brazilian architect Isay Weinfeld, who we recently interviewed about his new monograph and exhibition in New York. We've also featured a string of impressive São Paulo residences by the architect, including a house with a floating spiral staircase made from Brazilian ironwood and a home made up of seven boxy volumes, all made using different materials (pictured).
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More about Dezeen's A-Zdvent calendar: Isay Weinfeld
Japanese practice k/o design studio has designed a bulbous silver building that adjoins a red-tiled rectilinear tower at the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music in Kawasaki (+ slideshow). More about Silver dome constructed at a Japanese music college
People could immerse themselves in a huge fabric cocoon at this interactive installation by architect and artist Sophia Chang (+ slideshow). More about Sophia Chang installs stretchy fabric tunnels through a gallery