London Design Festival is always a highlight of the city's cultural landscape, and this year is no exception, with a number of new events added as well as many returning exhibitions.

Here are Archinect's top picks for London Design Festival 2016: 

London Design Biennale at Somerset House:  

7-27 September. Open daily from 11AM. Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 1LA                         Tickets on sale via Ticketmaster

The heavily anticipated London Design Biennale is launching this year for its inaugural exhibition. During its three-week takeover, the Biennale will showcase installations, artworks, prototypes, and designs from over 37 different countries and territories, all exploring the Biennale's 2016 theme: "Utopia by Design". 

Highlights from the Biennale include:

Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby's 14-metre, kinetic sculpture that highlights wind energy usage in the UK.

Lebanon's Annabel Karim Kassar's Beirut street scene. The work explores social interactions and use of space, through a series of meeting places including falafel and coffee stalls, a small lounge-cinema and even an authentic Barber-shop.

Turkey's Wish Machine, created by Istanbul-based, multidisciplinary studio Autoban. Wishes can be fed into the machines pneumatic tubing to be sent out into the unknown.
 

Alison Brooks' Smile Installation: 

17-25 September. Open daily 10AM-9PM. Rootstein Hopkins Parade Ground, Chelsea College of Art and Design, 16 John Islip Street, SW1P 4JU. Free event.

Alison Brooks' Smile installation highlights the capabilities of cross-laminated hardwood through a large, cantilevered structure. The form, aptly shaped like a smile, meets the floor only in the middle, to allow inhabitants to enter. Meanwhile, the two tips of the upturned arch are left open, creating spectacular views and a unique and dynamic space to explore.

Alison Brooks' The Smile strikes an unusual form in comparison to its immediate, London surroundings.

The curved walls, floor and ceiling of the space create a highly unusual, spatial experience.
 

MINI LIVING "Forests" Installation by Asif Khan: 

17-25 September. Open daily (timings may vary). Locations: Vince Court, N1 6EA. Charles Square Gardens, N1 6HS. Corner of Pitfield Street & Charles Square. EC1V 9EY.

This unusual, three-part installation acts as a prototype for utilising undefined, public space in the city and giving it a new purpose. Three tree-filled, forest spaces are introduced into the existing city fabric of Shoreditch. The installation creates places to unwind and connect before re-entering the bustling streets.

The "Forests" installation makes use of otherwise undefined civic spaces. 

The spaces create places to connect, share and relax.