As the Belgian town of Mons starts its year as European Capital of Culture, architect Daniel Libeskind has completed a convention centre with a golden metal exterior and a sharply pointed prow (+ slideshow). More about Congress centre by Daniel Libeskind opens in Europe's 2015 Capital of Culture
Brooklyn studio SO-IL has stretched a thin layer of white film over the facade of the Storefront gallery in New York, giving the building a vacuum-packed appearance (+ slideshow). More about SO-IL wraps white plastic around New York's Storefront gallery
Fashion designer Rick Owens has updated his collection of shoes for Adidas, adding three new models including a knee-high boot (+ slideshow). More about Rick Owens extends footwear range for Adidas
Dezeen is launching in North America! We are opening an office in New York and have hired an editorial and sales team to help us grow our audience and business in the USA. The team will be temporarily based in the new Moooi Brand Store at 36 East 31st Street, New York, NY 10016.
We'll be going live with enhanced editorial content covering cutting-edge architecture and design the USA from May and we will be hosting a launch event in New York during NYCxDesign.
More about Dezeen is coming to New York!
Children would swing beneath a giant colourful hot-air balloon in this proposal for a sculpture park in Queens by Australian architect Jesse Lockhart-Krause. More about Balloon Swing proposed for New York park
A square wall with a bell in one corner fronts this chapel for a spiritual retreat in Virginia by Dynerman Architects, concealing the building's true gabled form behind (+ slideshow). More about University chapel by Dynerman Architects hides its true form behind a square wall
News: critic and curator Aaron Betsky has been appointed head of the design school founded by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. More about Aaron Betsky named dean of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture
News: Microsoft has revealed an early version of an augmented reality headset called HoloLens that creates interactive holographic imagery in the wearer's field of vision (+ slideshow). More about Microsoft's HoloLens headset combines high-definition holograms with the real world
San Francisco studio Lapka has imagined a range of health-related modules that would fit onto the Project Ara smartphone – for which Google unveiled the latest prototype last week (+ slideshow). More about Health-monitoring components designed for Google's Project Ara modular smartphone
Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto aimed to create "crystallised showers of sunlight" with the blue glass fins that front his shopping centre in the Miami Design District (+ interview + slideshow). More about Sou Fujimoto's Palm Court retail complex completes in Miami
Opinion: despite significant improvements last year, architecture's archaic equality problems haven't gone away. The American Institute of Architects' decision to award its 2015 Gold Medal to another mature white man isn't helping, says Alexandra Lange. More about "Was it too much to hope for first a woman and then a partnership?"
News: Google is holding discussions with some of the world's biggest automotive manufacturers in an attempt to bring self-driving cars to market by 2020. More about Google in talks with Ford, Toyota and Volkswagen to realise driverless cars
News: construction of Rafael Viñoly's 432 Park Avenue skyscraper in New York – the tallest residential building in the western hemisphere – was temporarily halted following a complaint about falling construction material. More about Work resumes on Viñoly's 432 Park Avenue tower after complaint of falling debris
News: Google is suspending sales of its controversial Glass augmented reality headsets in order to "graduate" the product, which is being given its own research division. More about Google pulls sales of Glass to focus on development
News: Steven Holl has been appointed to rework the campus of Houston's Museum of Fine Arts and will add new buildings to offer a "complementary contrast" to structures by Mies van der Rohe and Rafael Moneo. More about Houston's Museum of Fine Arts unveils campus redesign by Steven Holl
News: Google has unveiled a new prototype of its modular smartphone with swappable components, which the project's design head Gadi Amit says will allow users to "be the designer of their own phone" (+ slideshow). More about Google takes next step towards Project Ara modular phone launch
White vertical fins clad the glazed exterior of this Salt Lake City courthouse by Thomas Phifer and Partners, shading the interior from direct sunlight without restricting the views from inside (+ slideshow). More about Thomas Phifer's United States Courthouse is covered in vertical sun shades
News: a decade after the final beam was placed atop the Norman Foster-designed Hearst Tower in New York, the architect has returned to the building to mark its anniversary with a film captured using a drone (+ movie). More about Norman Foster narrates drone tour of New York's Hearst skyscraper
News: American car manufacturer Ford has unveiled its new GT concept at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, signalling the company's return to designing race-ready supercars (+ slideshow). More about Ford launches first new GT supercar design in a decade
The blocks of colour that make up both the Microsoft logo and the Windows 8 interface formed the basis of this temporary pavilion in Russia, created for the technology giant by architecture studio Nowadays (+ slideshow). More about Microsoft Technology Pavilion takes its cues from the Windows 8 interface