The Portuguese city of Guimarães crowns its year as European Capital of Culture with a bold, brass gallery by Pitágoras Architects.

The dystopian landscape imagined and drawn by the Norwegian artist Hariton Pushwagner in 1969 still resonates today, says Isabel Stevens – especially in Milton Keynes

This year's British pavilion will display the results of a global effort to find architectural solutions to modern problems, explains Vicky Richardson, Director of Architecture, Fashion and Design at the British Council

With the Venice Architecture Biennale fast approaching, director David Chipperfield talks to Icon about his plans for the festival, which has the theme Common Ground.

An American road trip can be thwarted at the first turn-off by the confusing array of shields and arrows used to guide drivers through the highway network. Manual Creative decides to take things in a new direction.

A Dutch maritime museum is given a new lease of life, from the shimmering light of the entrance to the basement’s murky depths

Italian designer Michael Breschi’s vases recreate the vast storage towers made famous by Bernd and Hilla Becher’s photographs.

This month the Columbia Museum of Art brings together 44 chairs from 200 years of American history, there's an original Futuro House on show in Finland, the designers selected for Jerwood Makers Open show off their talent and a group of sci-fi authors, scientists and urbanists make a fantastical model metropolis in Eindhoven.

100% Design will be hosting a lively seminar programme, which will feature international designers and industry leaders including Yvés Behar, Stephen Haggerty (of Hunt Haggarty), Vicky Richardson (British Council), Michael Young, Mat Hunter (Design Council), Chris Sanderson (LS: Global), Dan Hopwood (BIID), Christine Murray (Architects Journal), Simon Woodroffe (Yo! Home), Marcus Fairs (Dezeen) and many more. 

Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design will host the 8th International Conference on Design & Emotion from 11-14 September 2012. This year's theme is "Out of Control", although the conference will cover all aspects of design and the human experience.

In our September issue, Restless Cities, we look at cities in flux and on the edge. Icon talks to David Harvey, the author of Rebel Cities; Geoff Manaugh writes about what US military planners have in mind for so-called "feral cities", Justin McGuirk takes a road trip round São Paulo, and Debika Ray wonders if a plan to found "Charter Cities" – privately funded new cities in the developing world – could ever work.

For David Gill's gallery in west London, Zaha Hadid has created an ice-like table that appears to be melting into its own legs.