News: architecture critic Rowan Moore has labelled Renzo Piano's Shard skyscraper as a "serious failure of planning" and described claims that the Olympics will regenerate east London as "bullsh*t". More about Olympic regeneration claims are "bullsh*t" - Rowan Moore
A whirring helicopter of LEDs creates the illusion of a glowing hat in this design by Moritz Waldemeyer for Irish milliner Philip Treacy (+ slideshow). More about LED hats by Moritz Waldemeyer for Philip Treacy
Dezeen promotion: the inaugural Icon Awards for British architecture and design were launched during this year's London Design Festival and voting is now open for the Icon of the year award. More about Icon Awards 2012
French designers Ciguë modelled this north London store for skin and haircare brand Aesop on a 1930s medical laboratory. More about Aesop Islington by Ciguë
London design firm Studiomama is contributing an orange chair that has been remodelled from a discarded frame to the Stepney Green Design Collection curated by Dezeen. More about Re-Imagined Chair by Studiomama for the Stepney Green Design Collection
This holiday cabin in Sweden by architect Mikael Bergquist is clad with untreated timber that will fade to grey as time passes (+ slideshow). More about Summer House by Mikael Bergquist
London Design Festival: Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, Jasper Morrison and AL_A are among the designers who have created benches with British design brand Established & Sons for the central courtyard of the V&A museum (+slideshow). More about Bench Years by Established & Sons at the V&A museum
Dezeen promotion: manufacturers MCZ have launched a cylindrical pellet stove called Tube. More about Tube stove by MCZ
A sharply pointed gable rises above the walls of this stone funeral chapel in a small German town by Bayer & Strobel Architekten (+ slideshow). More about Funeral Chapel in Ingelheim Frei-Weinheim by Bayer & Strobel Architekten
London Design Festival: every scrap of material and minute of production time was carefully recorded during the manufacturing of these twelve wooden chairs, helping the Royal College of Art students that designed them to measure each one's sustainability. More about Out of the Woods at the V&A museum
London Design Festival: drops of coloured ink fall from the top of a stone staircase into a glass tank six storeys below in this installation at the V&A museum by German artist and designer Rolf Sachs (+ slideshow). More about The Journey of a Drop by Rolf Sachs
This golden library in Copenhagen by architects COBE and Transform is meant to resemble a pile of books (+ slideshow). More about The Library by COBE and Transform
Rooms are shared between two matching concrete blocks at this house in Israel by architects Shilo Benaroya. More about Ben Ami House by Shilo Benaroya
Here's a movie showing the concept animations, construction and testing of the London 2012 Olympic cauldron by British designer Thomas Heatherwick. More about Making of Thomas Heatherwick's London 2012 Olympic cauldron
Dutch designer Ka-Lai Chan has wrapped a whole wall, furniture and ornaments behind an all-encompassing layer of sticky tape at an abandoned apartment in Utrecht. More about PLAY Project by Ka-Lai Chan
News: online homeware retailer Made.com has opened a physical showroom on the ninth floor of a west London office tower, featuring QR codes and miniature 3D-printed models of furniture. More about Online retailer Made.com opens physical showroom
Dezeen promotion: the exhibitor line-up has been announced for the 23rd Biennial of design (BIO23), taking place from 27 September to 11 November 2012 at the Museum of Architecture and Design in Ljubljana, Slovenia. More about BIO23 exhibitors announced
News: the Dutch city of Almere has won a bid to host the World Horticultural Expo in 2022 with proposals by MVRDV for a square-shaped peninsula covered in gardens. More about MVRDV to create Almere peninsula for World Horticultural Expo
News: online design retailer Fab.com is closing its UK site and relocating up to 35 staff from London to Berlin as part of a move to create a single European e-commerce site based in Germany. More about Fab.com launches "shopfront for the whole of Europe"
An undulating golden plane blankets the new Islamic art galleries at the Musée du Louvre in Paris, which opened to the public this weekend (+ slideshow). More about Department of Islamic Arts at Musée du Louvre by Mario Bellini and Rudy Ricciotti