News: a "zero-emission" electric black taxi design has been approved to operate on London's roads and could replace the city's famous diesel-fuelled cabs (+ slideshow). More about London's first electric black cab approved for fare-paying passengers
News: electronics company LG has unveiled an updated version of its G Watch R smartwatch that is designed to look like a luxury timepiece (+ slideshow). More about LG targets luxury market with metal smartwatch
Board-marked concrete forms the walls of this rural home designed by Belgian studio Marie-José Van Hee Architecten for a Dutch businessman (+ slideshow). More about Concrete and timber retirement house sits amongst a Dutch orchard
News: Herzog & de Meuron has revealed the latest images of its design for M+, the new museum of visual culture that recently broke ground in Hong Kong's West Kowloon Cultural District (+ slideshow). More about Herzog & de Meuron unveils updated design for Hong Kong M+ museum
Belgian studio Muller Van Severen will debut its latest pieces of furniture and lighting that "ooze a sort of fruitiness" at London gallery Viaduct next month (+ slideshow). More about Muller Van Severen to present new furniture at Viaduct exhibition
A veil of smoke clouds the window of this jewellery shop in Athens, behind which Kois Associated Architects has installed display cases modelled on trees (+ slideshow). More about Kois Associated Architects furnishes Athens jewellery shop with metal "forest" and smoke
Behind a shimmering aluminium facade, the rooms of this Montreal house are organised around a three-tiered courtyard that allows daylight to funnel through to every storey (+ slideshow). More about Holy Cross House by TBA hides a multi-level courtyard behind a "working-class facade"
Gianni Botsford Architects worked with translucent concrete to create this boxy garden pavilion in Zurich, dedicated to "the old fashioned art of smoking" (+ slideshow). More about Smoking Room by Gianni Botsford Architects is a translucent-concrete garden folly
News: construction is now underway on the 66-storey Telus Sky Tower designed by Bjarke Ingel's firm for Calgary, Canada (+ slideshow). More about BIG's curvaceous Calgary skyscraper breaks ground next to Foster's Bow tower
This blackened-timber boathouse and pavilion designed by Weiss Architecture occupies a cedar jetty that projects out from the rocky coastline of an Ontario island (+ slideshow). More about Blackened-timber boathouse completed by Weiss Architecture on a Canadian island
Exposed brickwork, unfinished plywood and a wall of pivoting metal doors all feature inside the new Beijing office of Chinese architecture firm Spark (+ slideshow). More about Beijing office for architecture firm Spark boasts a swivelling wall and a plywood room
Chinese firm Archi-Union Architects has completed a campus for an art school on the outskirts of Shanghai featuring a clubhouse building with a twisting roof (+ slideshow). More about Twisted roof connects the angular facades of Archi-Union's Songjiang Art Campus clubhouse
Pupils at this school near Paris take lessons on driving large trucks in a building topped with a perforated aluminium canopy, designed to evoke the look of a petrol station (+ slideshow). More about Yellow mesh box sits atop Ateliers O-S's truck-driving school building in France
Photo essay: disused military checkpoints and border stations across Europe are catalogued in this series by Polish-born photographer Josef Schulz (+ slideshow). More about Josef Schulz documents abandoned checkpoint architecture across Europe
Fashion designer Pauline van Dongen has developed a knitted cardigan with integrated stretch sensors that measures the movement of elderly wearers (+ movie). More about Pauline van Dongen's Vigour cardigan senses how well its wearer is moving
What appears to be a cupboard is actually a staircase leading up to a tiny loft bedroom in this 18th-century barn in Norfolk, England, that Lynch Architects has converted into a holiday home (+ slideshow). More about Converted barn by Lynch Architects includes an interpretation of a Norfolk winder stair
A corrugated steel roof supported by bamboo columns provides shelter for three buildings, a bicycle workshop and a playground at this community centre in Bangladesh (+ slideshow). More about Bamboo-framed canopy shades Bangladesh community centre by Schilder Scholte
Interview: Robert Melville, chief designer at supercar brand McLaren, explains how bird wings, artificial hearts and spy planes are among the inspirations for vehicles where "everything is there for a reason" (+ slideshow). More about Designing a McLaren is about creating "efficiency through the air"
A mixture of transparent and translucent glazing creates varying levels of privacy inside this dimly lit office created for a mortgage broker in Melbourne (+ slideshow). More about B.E. Architecture's "relaxed" office for a mortgage broker uses soft lighting and frosted glass
London-based German designer Jule Waibel has launched a collection of seats made from 100 per cent wool felt that has been three-dimensionally folded under steam to create flexible pleats (+ slideshow). More about Jule Waibel’s pine cone-shaped seats are made by steam-folding wool felt