Sports brand Nike has created a full-sized basketball court with motion-tracking and reactive LED visualisation technology built into the floor to help American star Kobe Bryant teach his moves to young players in Shanghai (+ slideshow). More about Nike creates first full-size LED basketball court in Shanghai for training with Kobe Bryant
Rammed earth walls built using soil from the desert site are wrapped in a protective weathered steel shell at this courtyard house near Phoenix by local firm Wendell Burnette Architects (+ slideshow). More about Desert Courtyard House by Wendell Burnette features rammed earth walls
News: Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava has completed a building with a cage-like exterior for the newly established Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland. More about Santiago Calatrava completes Florida Polytechnic University
Los Angeles studio Clive Wilkinson Architects has designed the West Hollywood offices for comedy video production company Funny or Die, which double as a film studio (+ slideshow). More about Clive Wilkinson Architects brings "quirky rawness" to Funny or Die offices
Set designers Robert Storey Studio used the bright colours of Nike's womenswear range to inform the brash interior of this New York presentation space for the sports brand (+ slideshow). More about Robert Storey Studio uses lurid colours to illuminate Nike presentation space
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: architect Carlo Ratti claims the heating system he developed with MIT, which uses motion sensors to focus beams of infrared radiation on people as they move through a building, can be "one order of magnitude more efficient" than traditional methods. More about Personalised "bubbles of heat" could replace inefficient central heating
News: this year's Pritzker Prize winner Shigeru Ban has completed work on a new art gallery in American ski resort Aspen (+ slideshow). More about Shigeru Ban's Aspen Art Museum opens
News: these new images by Foster + Partners reveal a pair of skyscrapers proposed by the firm for San Francisco's rapidly developing Transbay area. More about Foster + Partners unveils skyscraper duo for San Francisco's Transbay area
Architecture firm Dash Marshall has converted a former pencil factory into a shared workspace for Brooklyn's creative entrepreneurs (+ slideshow). More about Dash Marshall converts pencil factory into Makeshift Society Brooklyn workspace
News: American film director George Lucas has appointed Beijing firm MAD and Chicago-based Studio Gang Architects to design his proposed art museum on Chicago's lakefront. More about George Lucas hires MAD and Studio Gang for Chicago art museum
Feature: the visual language of glossy glass, brushed metal and soft fabric that informed the first wave of interface design for smartphones and apps might be dead, but not all designers are convinced about its replacement, reports Alex Wiltshire. More about Google's design guidelines spell the end of days for skeumorphism
Steven Holl responds to the critics that blasted his controversial extension to Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art, saying that adhering to their comments would have "ruined the design", in this series of movies about the building. More about Reacting to the critics would have "ruined" Glasgow School of Art building says Steven Holl
Los Angeles studio Bestor Architecture has completed a colourful new headquarters for Beats by Dre, following Apple's $3 billion acquisition of the headphones company (+ slideshow). More about Bestor Architecture uses primary colours in Beats by Dre headquarters
News: American furniture manufacturer Herman Miller has announced plans to buy contemporary furniture retailer Design Within Reach as part of its ongoing efforts to become "a premier lifestyle brand". More about Herman Miller to buy contemporary furniture retailer Design Within Reach
Google Maps has now added London to an impressive roster of 3D-mapped cities that also includes Paris, Rome, New York and Los Angeles (+ slideshow). More about Google adds London to its growing list of 3D-mapped cities
News: modern architecture professor Martino Stierli has been announced as MoMA's chief curator of architecture and design, the latest in a spate of appointments at New York institutions. More about New York's Museum of Modern Art names new head of architecture and design
News: Steven Holl has been named as the architecture laureate for the 2014 Praemium Imperiale arts prize from the Japan Art Association. More about Steven Holl awarded Praemium Imperiale arts prize
American design studio SOFTlab attached 20,000 translucent flowers to a flexible plastic mesh to create this installation for the Brazilian jelly-shoe brand Melissa's New York flagship store (+ movie). More about SOFTlab installs colourful funneled canopy in Melissa shoe shop
News: Frank Gehry has unveiled his masterplan to overhaul and expand the Philadelphia Museum of Art by adding underground galleries that won't disturb the architecture of the existing Beaux Arts building (+ slideshow). More about Frank Gehry reveals "under the radar" refurb for Philadelphia Museum of Art
Movie: Bjarke Ingels explains how the $335 million allocated to BIG's scheme to upgrade Manhattan's storm defences will be used to create a flood barrier disguised as a park in our second exclusive video interview with the Danish architect. More about Big U storm defences "will secretly protect Manhattan from flooding" says Bjarke Ingels