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A cross between a ladder and a staircase leads this week’s issue of Dezeen Mail, which also contains the latest news, jobs and readers’ comments. Read Dezeen Mail issue 117 | Subscribe to Dezeen Mail View the full article

Norwegian designer Kristine Five Melvær has made a series of sheer silk room dividers in pale, graduated colours. (more…) View the full article

Dezeen promotion: designjunction 2012 will take place at the Sorting Office, 21-31 New Oxford Street, London WC1 from 19 to 23 September during the London Design Festival and registration for free visitor passes is now open. (more…) View the full article

Dezeen Music Project is looking for original music tracks and performers to take part in Dezeen Live, our series of talks at 100% Design from 19 to 22 September during the London Design Festival. (more…) View the full article

Dezeen News: the new owners of Battersea Power Station say their £8bn revamp of the site will begin in 2013, ending more than 25 years of speculation over the future of the London landmark. (more…) View the full article

Following yesterday’s story about a skyscraper that resembles a pair of trousers (above), here are some more looky-likey towers including one that readers have compared to a stack of toilet rolls and another that looks like a sex toy. (more…) View the full article

French architect Patrice Taravella and engineer Terry de Waal have completed a snaking tunnel to create the ideal conditions for growing lilies on a farm in the Western Cape of South Africa. (more…) View the full article

Dezeen Wire: Rem Koolhaas of OMA is tipped to be director of the next Venice Architecture Biennale in 2014. Among those speculating on Twitter was assistant director for the 2012 biennale Kieran Long, who tweeted “it’s certain to be Rem Koolhaas next time. Done deal say my sources.” Koolhaas was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2010 biennale. The rumours coincide with the news that Koolhaas will receive the Jencks Award at the RIBA in November. Portrait is by Dominik Gigler. See all our stories about OMA » See all our stories about the Venice Architecture Biennale 2012 » View the full article

Bespoke racing wheelchairs designed and manufactured by UK firm Draft will be used by a number of medal hopefuls during the London 2012 Paralympics, including Beijing gold medalist David Weir and London Marathon winner Shelly Woods (below). (more…) View the full article

Dezeen Wire: architect Wolf D. Prix of Coop Himmelb(l)au has launched a scathing attack on the Venice Architecture Biennale, claiming it’s “no longer about lively discussion and criticism of topics in contemporary architecture” but places too much importance on celebrity. (more…) View the full article

The lastest issue of Dezeen Mail leads with the Russian Pavilion lined with QR codes (above) from the Venice Architecture Biennale, plus new jobs, competitions and music. Read Dezeen Mail issue 116 | Subscribe to Dezeen Mail View the full article

Architects Herzog & de Meuron have carved some of the spaces of their unfinished Elbphilharmonie concert hall from layered blocks of foam and suspended them from the ceiling of the Arsenale for the Venice Architecture Biennale. (more…) View the full article

Fashion brand Louis Vuitton has collaborated with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama to create a collection of dotty garments featuring Kusama’s obsessional polka dot patterns for a concept store at Selfridges department store in London. (more…) View the full article

Competition: architecture critic Rowan Moore‘s new book Why We Build is released today, and we are publishing an extract as well as giving readers the chance to win one of five copies. (more…) View the full article

Norwegian designer Kristine Five Melvær has designed a series of lamps that look like buds about to burst into bloom. (more…) View the full article

Dezeen Wire: “we’re advocating other UK architects to design on water,” architect Alex de Rijke told Dezeen at the Venice Architecture Biennale this week, where his firm dRMM are exhibiting proposals for floating housing at the British Pavilion. (more…) View the full article

Indian architect Anupama Kundoo brought a team of Indian craftsman to Italy to construct a replica of a house inside the Arsenale at the Venice Architecture Biennale. (more…) View the full article

The London 2012 Paralympics begin tonight and over the coming days we’ll be featuring a selection of cutting-edge sportswear designed for the competing athletes, starting with the Nike Spike Pad as worn by “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius. (more…) View the full article

Industrial designer Marc Newson has famously tried his hand at designing pretty much everything. In the second of five movies Dezeen filmed to coincide with the publication of a major book on his work by Taschen, Newson talks us though a range of his projects that takes in mobile phones, knives, beds, clothes, packaging and a surf board so slick it was sold as a sculpture. (more…) View the full article

Curtains glide along tracks on the ceiling to constantly reconfigure the space inside the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. (more…) View the full article

Dezeen Wire: architecture critic Justin McGuirk (pictured above, holding the award) and the Urban-Think Tank team of Venezuela (also pictured above) have won the Golden Lion for best project at the Venice Architecture Beinnale for their Torre David installation and cafe. (more…) View the full article

Dezeen Wire: the Japanese Pavilion curated by Toyo Ito (pictured above) has been awarded best pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. (more…) View the full article

Every surface inside the top floor of the Russian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale is covered in QR codes, which visitors decode using tablet computers to explore ideas for a new Russian city dedicated to science. (more…) View the full article

Slideshow feature: Dezeen architecture reporter Amy Frearson selects her top five pavilions from the Giardini at the Venice Architecture Biennale in this slideshow, including the shape-shifting Dutch pavilion and an earthquake in an empty room. (more…) View the full article

In the first of five movies Dezeen filmed with industrial designer Marc Newson to coincide with the publication of a major book on his work by Taschen, he talks about the early days of his career when he made everything himself – including one of his most famous pieces of work, the Lockheed Lounge chaise longue. (more…) View the full article