This week on Dezeen Thomas Heatherwick designed an interior for an abbey with curving walnut and ash choir stalls and Dutch architects MVRDV unveiled proposals for a hotel covered in flowers inside a giant greenhouse. More about This week on Dezeen
Japanese artist Takaya adorns the heads of models with raw vegetables and blossoming flowers. More about Hanayui by Takaya
Dezeen Wire: the Design and Technology Association is urging people to complete an online petition to retain design and technology as a compulsory part of the UK's National Curriculum.
Design and technology is one of the subjects that could become optional in schools following the government's announcement in January that it intends to slim down the curriculum. The petition is supported by key members of the creative and manufacturing industries, who believe the subject to be vital to the UK's economic development.
Anyone wishing to support the campaign should visit the the Design and Technology Campaign website to sign the online petition or contact their local MP.
More about Campaigners petition to save design and technology in UK schools
Competition: we’ve teamed up with bi-monthly publication Architectural Design to give away five copies of their latest issue, Experimental Green Strategies. More about Competition: five copies of Experimental Green Strategies to be won
A faceted glass shroud cloaks these former shipbuilding warehouses in Elsinore, Denmark, which architects AART have converted into a cultural centre. More about The Culture Yard by AART Architects
Discarded bottles sourced from hotels, restaurants, homes and foreign embassies are being filled with sand and used as bricks to create curved-walled houses in a Nigerian village. More about Plastic bottles filled with sand used to build houses in Nigeria
Dezeen Wire: a meals-on-wheels service that brings home cooked food to elderly residents is one of three projects that will share £100,000 awarded by the UK government's Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) to the winners of a competition that called for innovative ideas to help elderly citizens live more independent lives. More about £100,000 awarded to companies helping the elderly to live more independently
Small windows offer glimpses of the straw used to construct this university building in Nottingham, England, by architects Make. More about University of Nottingham Gateway Building by Make
Dezeen Wire: David Chipperfield is to curate the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale, becoming the first British architect to take on the role - The Guardian
The official announcement has been delayed because of Chipperfield's reservations over working with Giulio Malgara, who was expected to become the director of the biennale and is a friend of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Following Berlusconi's decision to stand down it is expected that current director Paolo Baratta will retain the role as biennale director.
See more stories about David Chipperfield on Dezeen.
More about "David Chipperfield to curate 2012 Venice Biennale"- The Guardian
This movie shows how Dutch designers Rietveld Landscape placed rows of flaming torches inside an abandoned building so that it would appear to be on fire, before inviting visitors inside. More about Firemen walk with us by Rietveld Landscape
London designers Doshi Levien have completed a Rome store for shoe brand Camper with faceted lighting clusters and a cash desk shaped like an old-fashioned television. More about Camper store in Rome by Doshi Levien
Construction has begun on an aluminium-clad museum in Norway by Danish architecture studios COBE and Transform. More about Maritime Museum and Science Centre by COBE and Transform
Portuguese architects Cerejeira Fontes inserted this slatted timber chapel inside a school for friars in Braga, Portugal (photos: Nelson Garrido). More about Tree of Life Chapel by Cerejeira Fontes
Architects MVRDV have unveiled proposals for a giant greenhouse on the outskirts of Amsterdam with a flower-covered hotel inside. More about Flowerbed Hotel by MVRDV
Dezeen Wire: sports architecture firm Populous claims that original plans to air condition a stadium they are designing for the 2022 Football World Cup are too expensive and "notoriously unsustainable" when used in desert environments - The Independent
Populous director John Barrow says they are now considering other options for creating a comfortable climate inside the Sports City stadium and is encouraging the Qatari government to alter its building schedule to give new technologies time to develop.
You can see our previous story on the 2012 London Olympic stadium, also by Populous, and all our stadium stories here.
More about Populous scraps plans for air conditioned stadium at 2022 Qatar World Cup
Dutch designers Tjep. have reduced part of a mass produced IKEA chair to a skeletal form to evoke the receding state of the global economy. More about Recession Chair by Tjep
Dezeen Wire: in his latest article for the Evening Standard architecture and design critic Kieran Long describes a network of noiseless transport pods launched in September to carry passengers from Heathrow airport's business car park to Terminal 5 as "the future we were supposed to have."
Long says the £30 million Rapid Personal Transit system, created by transport specialists Ultra PRT and engineers Arup, offers a "brief but safe moment of isolation" and "is an expression of the minor psychological irritations of business travellers" but adds that the concept has potential to be applied in larger urban scenarios.
See all of our transport stories including a self-driving electric passenger vehicle and more articles by Kieran Long.
More about Kieran Long says Heathrow's plastic transport pods are "not just a whizzy novelty"
Architect Ole Scheeren has designed a skyscraper for Kuala Lumpur that will have a four-storey-high tropical garden slicing through its middle. More about Angkasa Raya by Buro Ole Scheeren
Dezeen Wire: industrial designer James Dyson has called on engineers and designers to develop the new ideas needed to revitalise the UK economy - The Guardian
Dyson says that only tangible engineering can address issues such as global warming and population growth, stating: "The allure of digital should not distract us from the bigger challenges." He adds that the government must "focus on investment in ideas," urging them to support design education and creative businesses.
We published the winner of the 2011 James Dyson Award for innovative student engineering projects on Monday and you can see more stories about James Dyson here.
More about "Design and invention can power us out of recession"- James Dyson
Inside awards: in the first of a series of Dezeen Talks filmed at the Inside awards in Barcelona last week, Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs talks to Dutch designer Jeroen Luttikhuis of interior design studio OPERA Amsterdam about the Ceramics Study Galleries at the Victoria & Albert museum in London, which won the display category. More about Inside Awards: V&A Ceramics Study Galleries by OPERA Amsterdam