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Dezeen promotion: the opening of our Christmas pop-up store The Temporium on Thursday 1 December coincides with the Seven Dials shopping event and you can receive a 20% discount on all Dezeen Watch Store products as well as at other nearby stores on the evening by registering on the Seven Dials website. (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

British architect Alison Brooks has won a competition to design a new quadrangle for a college at the University of Oxford. (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

This time last year Álvaro Siza completed an L-shaped auditorium clad in grey tiles and white marble and Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka created a boutique interior for Issey Miyake’s collapsible clothing range. The V&A announced the shortlist for their Exhibition Road development, which was eventually awarded to AL_A, and a house in Switzerland featuring a faceted concrete volume placed on top of a traditional stone building was a hit with our readers. Less popular were a complex mountainside house in Patagonia, which was described by one reader as “the worst kind of self-indulgent, egotistical architectural gymnastics,” and a conceptual algae-producing tower …

Dezeen in Israel: elaborate origami sculptures diffuse the light from these lamps by Tel Aviv studio Aqua Creations and origami artist Ilan Garibi. (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

Dezeen Screen: this video by Gavin Lucas in collaboration with Order involves a visit to Mr Smith’s Letterpress Workshop in Kennington, London where Smith explains how he likes to design, set and print using traditional wood and metal type to create contemporary typographic prints. Watch the movie » </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

Dezeen Wire: the developer behind plans for a tower designed by architecture practice AL_A in Shoreditch, East London has withdrawn its planning application – BDonline The design for a twisted tower on a former industrial estate attracted over a thousand letters from local residents. Developers Londonewcastle say they will adapt the proposal before submitting a new planning application early next year. See our previous story on the original design for the Huntingdon Estate here, another AL_A project in London that was scrapped recently here and more projects by AL_A here. </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> …

Landscape designers Earthscape have opened up their studio in Beppu, Japan, to present their experiments with growing native plants in water from local hot springs. (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

This week on Dezeen our most popular story was the redesign of McDonald’s interiors in France by Patrick Norguet, which encouraged readers to suggest that they redesign their food next, while a mountain lodge that you can ski over by Fantastic Norway also attracted plenty of attention. The week’s more bizarre offerings included a proposal for a tower built by flying robots and a walkway that looks like a rollercoaster, while a house in Hiroshima by Suppose Design Office provoked discussion on the introverted tendency of Japanese houses to block out the surrounding neighbourhood. We’ve announced more designers and brands taking part in our Christmas shop The Temporium …

Dezeen Wire: the Sofitel Vienna Stephansdom hotel by French architect Jean Nouvel has won the “New Build Hotel” category at The European Hotel Design Awards 2011. (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

Five new brands will launch their products at our Christmas pop-up store The Temporium, including a graduate accessory designer, a young duo making hi-tech jewellery and a brand-new fashion label. (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

Readers have been discussing “the abundance of introverted architecture that is coming out of Japan” recently, so here’s another Japanese house that blocks all views to and from the street but still draws light and air inside. (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

Competition: we’ve got together with design brand Republic of Fritz Hansen to give readers the chance to win a Kaiser Idell Luxus lamp worth £600. (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

Belgian practice MDW Architecture has completed a residential complex in Brussels using industrial materials that reference the site’s former use as a scrap metal dealership (photos by Julien Lanoo). (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

Take tea in serene silence with this silicone set by Hong Kong studio Kitmen Keung. (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

Dezeen Screen: as part of the series of Dezeen Talks filmed at the Inside awards in Barcelona, Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs talks to Alberto Miceli-Farrugia of Architecture Project about their renovation of a property overlooking the Grand Harbour in the Maltese capital of Valletta, which won the creative re-use category. Watch the movie » </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

Flying robots will assemble a six metre-high tower at the FRAC Centre in Orléans, France, next month. (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

Dezeen Wire: pioneering multidisciplinary design consultancy Airside has announced that it is to close in March 2012, stating: “we can’t see a way for Airside to move forward and accommodate all of our individual ambitions.” (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

Designers Anna Rosinke and Maciej Chmara of Kollectiv Stadtpark have been touring Austria, making friends with locals in the street at their mobile kitchen table. (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

Architecture collective Cityförster have completed a wooden house in the Netherlands with a black rubber skin. (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

These polished marble blocks by Milanese designer Emanuele Pizzolorusso can be arranged on your desk to make miniature monuments. (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

Dezeen Wire: a team of engineers based in California have created a material made from a lattice of hollow metallic tubes that they claim is the lightest in the world – BBC The substance is 100 times lighter than Styrofoam and consists of 99.99% air. Tubes with a wall thickness 1,000 times thinner than a human hair are used to create the lattice structure that gives the material it’s strength. Potential applications include shock and sound absorption and thermal insulation. </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

Norwegian architects Fantastic Norway have designed a mountain lodge with a sloping roof that you can ski over. (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

The Seoul office of Dutch designers Studio Dumbar has re-designed the national road signage system for South Korea. (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article

Dezeen Wire: in her latest article for The New York Times, design critic Alice Rawsthorn examines the symbols and slogans adopted by the Occupy protest movement in cities around the world. Rawsthorn explains that the name ‘Occupy’, which originated at the Occupy Wall Street protest against the banking and democratic system, “is a stellar example of both what is known in marketing as an umbrella brand name and what the anti-corporatists in the movement could call beating them at their own game.” She adds that the use of hashtags and slogans short enough to send on social networks such as Twitter have helped the movement spread globally and could represent a new protocol …

Amsterdam architects UNStudio have designed a new international airport for Kutaisi, Georgia. (more…) </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> View the full article