Simple elements that make planning and construction much easier – architects have been looking into the possibilities afforded by modular construction for quite some time now. What do these modules require in order to fulfill the basic functions of a living and working space and simultaneously remain adaptable in their implementation? The exhibition, “Architekturteilchen”, at Cologne Museum of Applied Art takes a closer look at this question.

London: The Historical BoxNRW-Forum: Polaroid RevivalHFF Munich: Women in FilmDessau: Marcel BreuerBielefeld: Sou Fujimoto

He conquered America’s inner cities with the old technique of the Catalan vault: Spanish engineer Rafael Guastavino. Today his works are experiencing a revival. Nora Sobich met Guastavino expert John Ochsendorf for a chat.

About 70 percent of the world’s population will in future live in megacities. For the Audi Urban Future Award 2012 six architectural offices are casting an eye over the metropolitan regions of Boston/Washington, São Paulo, Istanbul, Mumbai, the Pearl River Delta and Tokyo – and coming up with new ideas for developing mobility in urban space.

There’s a very close relationship between making architectural models and photography. A surprising discovery for Oliver Elser, curator of the exhibition “The Architectural Model – Tool, Fetish, Small Utopia”, at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Frankfurt. An interview by Nina Reetzke.

Zürich: Urban jewelryAedes: Future City LabLondon: Biennial of Moving ImagesDAM: The architectural modelNew York: Graphic design

What is the difference between light and lighting? With “Verto”, Naoto Fukasawa has designed a luminaire for Belux that is based upon the principle of reflection. Nina Reetzke met the Japanese designer for a chat.

As an historical institution Bauhaus may be known across the globe yet its profile remains unusually vague all the same. No wonder. After all there were three different colleges, in three different locations with three different directors. A new travel book now attempts to draw a detailed map of the school’s checkered history.

In “Colour One for Mini” Scholten & Baijings have created an installation, that conceptually challenges common conventions in surrounding the car. The Dutch designer duo dissected a “Mini One”, revamping the individual parts with new colors and textures. The outcome created a space where our associations with the past and future of the automobile were free to run wild.

Bright neon colors and subtle pastel shades, uninterrupted and plain – several color contrasts are clearly emerging in home furnishings. Photographic evidence from this year’s Salone del Mobile.

Atelier Brückner: Staged spacesDarmstadt: A House Full of MusicGuggenheim Bilbao: David HockneyHannover: Made in GermanyWeil am Rhein: Rietveld Retrospective

Historical settings and paintings formed an atmospheric backdrop for exhibitions on Gio Ponti, Venini and Foscarini during the Salone del Mobile in Milan.

Since April 2007 the “News & Stories” team has been reporting on everything that high-quality design stands for. In this way in the course of the five years they have created an extensive archive of texts and images from the areas of design, architecture, art and culture.

The “Hallingdal 65” exhibition by Kvadrat that was held in Jil Sander’s showroom during this year’s Salone del Mobile presented conceptual designs by young designers created using a textile classic by Nanna Ditzel. And Hansjerg Maier-Aichen was in charge of selecting participants from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Text by Sandra Hofmeister and interview by Markus Frenzl.

Milan’s Salone del Mobile is like a window on the future. A first glance reveals: Plants are moving back indoors, while furniture is stepping out for some fresh air.

For one week a year, during the Salone del Mobile, Milan becomes a fairground, springboard and experimental lab all rolled into one. But with a little luck, there is indeed a small piece of paradise to be found somewhere in this rowdy setting. Taking a systematic approach to the fair won't help you here, but a passion for discovery just might.

While we continue to digitally network ourselves ever further, home sweet home is largely still an analog island. Yet there are many arguments in favor of connecting the various technologies in our homes. Light+Building featured systems and ways to technically organize the interaction of lighting, heating, communications and household appliances.

Bauhaus: Art as LifeMoMA: Ecstatic AlphabetsMunich: SonderfARTMAKK: Architecture particlesBasel: Jeff Koons

How to avoid buildings aging owing to the facility technology and stop the lifecycle of the infrastructure defining construction cycles? Questions such as these were debated by Saskia Sassen, Bjarke Ingels and other experts at the Zumtobel Expertenpanel during this year's Light+Building.

This year, those who wanted to see innovative kitchen design, were not restricted to the Milan trade fair grounds but had to traipse around the showrooms scattered across the city.

The exhibition "Building the Revolution" at Berlin's Martin Gropius Bau presents a range of Soviet art and architecture from the period 1915-35. The geometric idiom typical of these works lends the art an architectural feel as expressed in names such as "Painterly architecture".

Domus, the renowned architecture journal, and ECAL, the Swiss University of Art and Design, joined forces in Milan to present exhibitions reflecting on design in an open collective and its promotion via international networks.

Competition: Outdoor Industry AwardEl Greco: Father figure of ModernismEssen: The TwentiesChristian Louboutin: Shoe designFrankfurt: Nippon Connection

In conversation with Norbert Wangen about his new "k20", what you learn from snagging your fingers, and the slowness required when designing.

Clear the stage for stars of lighting trade fair "Light+Building" in Frankfurt: Shadows, sphere lights and glass tubes all stole the show at this display of new products.

You certainly get your money's worth in Milan even when venturing beyond the trade fair halls. Well, more or less, as is always the case. In Ventura Lambrate, hard-nosed rationality seems to be on vacation, while in Milan's Museum of Science and Technology it is back to work.

The 51st Salone del Mobile and all its side shows remains one huge cultural event. By contrast, the exhibitors at the trade-fair halls in Rho prefer restraint and no longer try to parade their novelties at any price.

During the Salone del Mobile, Milan turns itself into a unique location for discussions on design. With a great deal of pride, designers expound their new ideas right across the city and thus create an ideal environment for interaction among the professionals. Here we present a small selection of encounters with designers both at the trade fair and in the city's showrooms.

LEDs wherever you look! The technology, still very young, has already firmly established itself. But what does that mean for the designs? A commentary on the Light+Building.

At the Frankfurt lighting trade fair, Light+Building, everything revolved around LED technology and its advancement. But it was those lighting manufacturers who had more to offer by the way of technical features that stole the limelight.

NRW Forum: Gender StudiesHamburg: Lost ModernismHarvard: Arts First FestivalBoston: Alex Katz

Volker Albus, who teaches Product Design at HfG Karlsruhe, makes the case for offering a range of subjects with an extremely broad focus. In his opinion, this is the only way to cope with the diversity of social, technical, ecological and economic circumstances, which nowadays present a challenge to design. In his opinion, merely calling for greater artistic freedom does notachieve anything.