This year's Designs of the Year jury have chosen their crème de la crème of the world's most cutting-edge design. Since London's Design Museum announced the 76 nominees in February, the competition has narrowed down to seven category winners. In the final step of the competition, one of these category winners will be announced as the overall winner by June 30 at an event hosted by St. Martins Lane London. — bustler.net

Two years after the 2011 earthquake destroyed Christchurch's neo-Gothic cathedral, the building has been resurrected. It has also undergone something of a public transfiguration. [...]

In the past few years cardboard has also become increasingly popular in small-scale design. Hipster boutiques, museum gift shops and high profile public events such as the State of Design Festival now stock cardboard lighting, storage units, stools and kids' toys. — Sydney Morning Herald

[...] Zaha Hadid took to Milan Design Week’s Salone del Mobile to unveil a series of brand new series of furniture. Created for Italian interior design firm CITCO, the series consists of three distinct pieces: a shelving unit, table, and fireplace. — emag.co.uk

Is there no end to this woman’s talents? Well, in the case of Zaha Hadid, a grinding halt seems to have been reached with the eminent architect’s flirtations with fashion. Hadid has long pushed the boundaries of her considerable talents, with credible adventures into furniture design and oil painting, but her latest swimwear range for Viviona shows that sometimes even the deepest wells can run dry. — telegraph.co.uk

And hierarchies don’t disappear when you place everyone at a communal table or “superdesk”; they persist in more subtle modes of workplace interaction.

I suspect that people thrown into open plans might even miss their cubicles. And there are features of cubicles—such as the need to partition wide spaces—that I suspect will continue to be useful and never go away; these needs precede the invention of the cubicle itself. — theatlantic.com

The size of the [3-D printing] market ... is expected to grow to $3.8 billion this year and soar to $16.2 billion globally by 2018. [...]

"This is a market with enormous growth potential now that the main barriers to up-take are being addressed," Shepherd said. "As it matures, there is clear and substantial potential across numerous sectors, such as engineering and architecture, aerospace and defense, and medical ... for 3-D printing to have a dramatic impact within five years." — The Los Angeles Times

For over 15 years, Architecture for Humanity has improved the livelihood of individuals and communities around the world through a global network of professionals who provide quality design and management services where these resources may otherwise be overlooked or out of reach. [...]

We’re saluting Architecture for Humanity’s 15th anniversary with two collaboration frames, Aslin and Fowler, inspired by an appreciation for streamlined angles and built-to-last materials. — blog.warbyparker.com

The forest carries deep cultural significance. Within the urban landscape, this ecologically complex, spatially layered, dynamic system is also understood to perform a wide range of essential ecosystem services. As arborists, parks departments, landscape architects, planners and community groups engage in the reforesting of cities, how are they collectively shaping the urban landscape? What hybrid ecosystems are yet to be designed? How many trees are enough? — Scenario Journal

Saval goes to great lengths to show how oppressive structure exists not just as a matter of corporate policy but in the very architecture of the workplace—the physical boundaries within which the business of business is carried out. — Bookforum

Barton Strawn didn’t set out to be a fashion designer.

In 2009, he was an architecture student at N.C. State University, drafting by day in increasingly technical courses his senior year, which proved to be so taxing that Strawn needed an outlet. [...]

And, inspired by college formals and a touch of Mad Men, he found one: Handmade neckties and bowties. [...]

Over the years, Lumina has added pants and button-up shirts, all made in the United States. — upstart.bizjournals.com

Out of 170 submissions, Austin+Mergold's SuralArk recently won Folly 2014. Co-sponsored by The Architectural League of New York and Socrates Sculpture Park, the annual competition invites young architects and designers worldwide to propose contemporary interpretations of the traditional architectural folly.

The jury also selected 10 Notable Entries. SuralArk will be designed and built at the Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, NY starting May 11 til Aug. 3, 2014. — bustler.net

Since 3xLP by Christopher Romano and Nicholas Bruscia won the most recent TEX-FAB SKIN Digital Fabrication competition, the installation was exhibited at TEX-FAB 5 in Austin and will travel to Houston and Dallas along with the other competition finalists this fall.

The SKIN competition paired emerging design research practices with fabrication industry leaders to create innovative solutions for facade systems using digital fabrication and parametric design tools. — bustler.net