WeWork has unveiled images of its first foray into the co-living trend – a residential block with shared living spaces in New York's financial district, run by new sister company WeLive (+ slideshow). More about Co-working company WeWork unveils its first co-living apartments in New York
San Francisco start-up The Flex Company has designed a tampon that allows women to experience "mess-free" sex during their periods. More about Flex tampon is designed to be worn during sex
Graduate design students at Iowa State University have created conceptual schemes for shelters that would house US soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and help give them a sense of safety (+ slideshow). More about Iowa graduate students design military shelters for combat zones to help soldiers feel safer
Opinion: a proposal to surround New York's Central Park with a giant "sidescraper" epitomises architects' disregard for designed landscapes, says president of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, Charles A Birnbaum. More about "Disparity in the values assigned to architecture and landscape architecture continues"
A sinuous enclosure that doubles as seating and a shelter inspired by the yin-yang symbol are among the cat houses by Los Angeles architects that were created to benefit an animal welfare organisation (+ slideshow). More about LA architects create imaginative cat houses for charity auction
Visitors can take a plunge into a cold lake after warming up in this floating wooden sauna by Seattle firm goCstudio – the latest example of the trend for buoyant architecture (+ slideshow). More about WA Sauna by goCstudio floats on Seattle's Lake Union
New images of architect Jeanne Gang's Vista Tower in Chicago have been released to entice buyers to purchase luxury condominiums within the supertall skyscraper (+ slideshow). More about Studio Gang's supertall Chicago tower will include .1 million penthouse
Bay Area illustrator Peter Berkowitz has constructed a tiny wooden bedroom for himself in a friend's living room to avoid paying San Francisco's "absurdly high" rents. More about Peter Berkowitz builds sleeping pod in friend's apartment to escape San Francisco rents
US design studio Brook&Lyn has used pastel-coloured panels and a huge circular mirror to create the first physical showroom for Everlane, at the online clothing retailer's San Francisco headquarters (+ slideshow). More about Brook&Lyn creates minimal fashion showroom at Everlane offices
US designers Yitan Sun and Jianshi Wu have proposed transforming Manhattan's Central Park into a sunken landscape encircled by a below-grade megastructure with office, housing, retail and cultural space. More about Sunken "sidescraper" bordering New York's Central Park wins skyscraper competition
American consumers who learned about design through Ikea are starting to appreciate other brands and are "very ready and ripe" for online retailers like Ahalife, according to Shauna Mei, founder of the e-commerce site that has just hired former Net-A-Porter director Christopher Colfer to drive the brand's global expansion (+ exclusive interview). More about "Americans are not savvy when it comes to design brands" says Ahalife founder Shauna Mei
Business news: Ahalife, the design marketplace that acquired e-commerce site Bezar earlier this year, has appointed online fashion retail expert Christopher Colfer to its board to help it become the first global design store on the web. More about Ahalife appoints former Net-A-Porter head to help it become "Neiman's for design"
American design studios SAW and MOA have teamed up to conceive a "nomadic fitting room" for an online retailer that sells intimate apparel for women (+ slideshow). More about Mobile lingerie shop by SAW and MOA designed to travel across the US
US firm Barker Freeman Design Office has renovated a slender brick row house in Brooklyn and added a two-storey extension with a glass wall overlooking a garden (+ slideshow). More about Barker Freeman overhauls narrow Brooklyn row house for a family of four
Contemporary Japanese architects have created "a legacy with more consistency" than the famous names that dominate architecture elsewhere, says the curator of a major new MoMA exhibition (+ slideshow). More about Japanese architects have rejected the starchitect system says MoMA curator
The booming market for luxury apartments in New York "is an issue" that could damage the city, according to hotelier and real-estate developer Ian Schrager – and micro apartments could be the solution. More about Micro apartments could help cities retain their diversity says Ian Schrager
If mazes weren't confusing enough already, American artist John Miller has built one from mirrors to further bewilder lost visitors, at Miami's Institute of Contemporary Art (+ slideshow). More about John Miller's Lost maze disorientates visitors with mirrored panels
American firm Silo AR+D has included multicoloured LEDs that are controlled by a smartphone on the exterior of this Arkansas home (+ slideshow). More about Mood Ring House by Silo AR+D glows with a rainbow of colours
Seattle firm Olson Kundig Architects has won first place in a competition to create an architectural fairytale, with its story about a dead architect who is resurrected and dropped into a futuristic urban landscape. More about Eerie sci-fi story by Olson Kundig wins architecture fairytale competition
American architect Nicholas Hunt has built a micro studio in the backyard of his Brooklyn home, intended to provide "solitude within the immense landscape of New York City". More about Architect Nicholas Hunt creates a tiny retreat in his Brooklyn garden