Milan 2012: the design world flocks to Milan next month and designer Craig Alun Smith plans to splatter the city with bird poo in every colour of the rainbow by planting dyed bird feeders around the Piazza del Duomo. More about LuvOwl by Craig Alun Smith
Concrete walls twist up through the interior of this tea house and library that Shanghai architects Archi-Union have constructed in the backyard of their studio. More about Tea House by Archi-Union
This movie by architectural film studio Factory Fifteen depicts an imagined post-nuclear landscape where researchers are attempting to use fungal technology to soak up radiation that has infected cities around the world. More about Gamma by Factory Fifteen and Unknown Fields
An exhibition of photographs depicting abandoned vehicles and derelict buildings surrounded by colourful clouds of paintball smoke by Hackney-based photographer Katja Mayer and art director Peter Chadwick is opening this evening at The Print House Gallery, London. More about Days Lost by Katja Mayer and Peter Chadwick
Designed in Hackney: today's instalment in our Designed in Hackney series is Bateman's Row, a Stirling Prize-nominated home and studio that architects Theis and Khan designed for themselves in Shoreditch. More about Designed in Hackney: Batemans Row by Theis and Khan Architects
Slidehow: architects Foster + Partners have been granted permission to build two 320-metre-high towers beside the Seine, just outside Paris. More about Hermitage Plaza by Foster + Partners
Competition: we've teamed up with stationery brand Moleskine to give away four architectural monographs from their new series of books called Inspiration and Process in Architecture. More about Competition: four Moleskine architecture monographs to be won
This coffee table by Chilean studio Elemento Diseño is made of a single sheet of plywood, with the legs cut out from its corners. More about Table Vic by Elemento Diseño
Slideshow: our second project this week by Stuttgart architects Werner Sobek Design is a huge cantilevered altar that was temporarily constructed in Freiberg, Germany, for the pope’s visit last year (photographs by Zooey Braun). More about Papstbühne Freiburg by Werner Sobek
The squashy back of this sofa by Milan designer Denis Guidone can be pulled into a cosy nest or laid out to cover the upholstered platform like a duvet. More about Disfatto by Denis Guidone for D3co
Slideshow: Rotterdam studio 2by4-architects designed this gabled summer house so the walls of one corner fold open. More about Recreational Island House by 2by4-architects
This movie by Jonathan Gales of architectural animation studio Factory Fifteen imagines the whole of London as a construction site, caught in a state of change that could mean dramatic decay or intensive development. More about Megalomania by Jonathan Gales
Designed in Hackney: it's day two of our Designed in Hackney showcase and the award-winning Plumen 001 designer light bulb by Samuel Wilkinson for Hulger is our featured project from the borough today. More about Designed in Hackney: Plumen 001 by Samuel Wilkinson and Hulger
Slideshow: the glazed walls of this pavilion-like house in southern Germany are sandwiched between a roof and plinth that mirror one another (photographs by Zooey Braun). More about Haus D10 by Werner Sobek
Slideshow: none of the elongated rooms inside this curvy apartment block in Osaka are more than two metres wide. More about D-Apartment by Spacespace
Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad's street furniture made from upturned bakers' crates forms part of an exhibition opening this evening at the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens. More about Church Street Bench by Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad
Shiny corrugated metal clads the two cascading stacks of apartments that make up this block in Paris by architect Stephane Maupin. More about M Building by Stephane Maupin
Berlin designer Jannis Hülsen upholstered this stool by using bacteria to grow a cellulose skin over its surface. More about Xylinum by Jannis Hülsen
Designed in Hackney: we're kicking off our new Designed in Hackney initiative today, showcasing world-class architecture and design created in the borough that's home to Dezeen's offices and one of the five host boroughs for the London 2012 Olympic Games. First up is the London 2012 Olympic Torch by BarberOsgerby. More about Designed in Hackney: London 2012 Olympic Torch by BarberOsgerby
Following the popularity of our story about a Starbucks designed by Kengo Kuma, here are some images of a concept store that the coffee-shop giant has completed inside a historic bank vault in Amsterdam. More about The Bank by Liz Muller for Starbucks