Another skyscraper in Tokyo's central business district, but this one comes with a surprise - it's a school. Three schools, in fact.

Speed was the key experience that Viennese architect Delugan Meissl wanted visitors to experience at its Porsche Museum, which has just opened in Stuttgart. The interior does a fair impression of a vorticist painting, all sharp angles and dog-leg bends.

Once again, the showcase for young designers in Cologne's 12-block Kölnmesse was one of the highlights of the city's design week. Just as well, as spirits weren't good in the other 11. The first trade fair of 2009, it had to work pretty hard to keep talk of doom and gloom at bay.

On Saturday French designer Pierre Charpin reveals a new collection of limited edition pieces at Galerie Kreo in Paris. Here's a preview.

This house slides. A 50-tonne “shell” moves over three fixed buildings like a train on tracks, so the living environment can be transformed from open-air or glass enclosure to sheltered, shaded space.

Another humungous slice of global building, and Edwin Heathcote discovers that the more different everything gets, the more samey it becomes.

We recently met the managing director of Alessi for a chat about lazy designers, whatever happened to Italian design and the importance of failure. Here’s what he had to say.

Once again icon is producing its independent, pocket-sized guide to the Milan furniture fair in April. Make sure to register now to get your event listed in the guide.

LA-based photographer Monica Nouwens shot this photo essay on Central High School 9 in Los Angeles designed by Viennese architect Coop Himmelb(l)au.

This fluffy, playful form is a new architectural fabric tile that the Bouroullec brothers have developed for Danish textile company Kvadrat. Not surprisingly it's called Cloud.