James Pallister flicks through a pile of super-niche publications and wonders how long they’ll last.

A retrospective of the artist’s work highlights the tension between the agony of loss and the futility of marking it, says Charles Holland.

A tale of postwar visionaries has a lot to say to post-earthquake Japan, says Julian Worrall.

Ford rails against the annihilation of our public spaces and the erosion of civic resistance, leaving us with little hope, says Chris Hall.

Infinite ambition was the strength and the weakness of the Russian constructivists, says Agata Pyzik.

What were the cultural highlights of 2011? Icon asks nine international critics, curators and experts to select their half-dozen stand-out moments in architecture, design and art.

What were the cultural highlights of 2011? Icon asks nine international critics, curators and experts to select their half-dozen stand-out moments in architecture, design and art.

What were the cultural highlights of 2011? Icon asks nine international critics, curators and experts to select their half-dozen stand-out moments in architecture, design and art.

What were the cultural highlights of 2011? Icon asks nine international critics, curators and experts to select their half-dozen stand-out moments in architecture, design and art.

What were the cultural highlights of 2011? Icon asks nine international critics, curators and experts to select their half-dozen stand-out moments in architecture, design and art.

What were the cultural highlights of 2011? Icon asks nine international critics, curators and experts to select their half-dozen stand-out moments in architecture, design and art.

What were the cultural highlights of 2011? Icon asks nine international critics, curators and experts to select their half-dozen stand-out moments in architecture, design and art.

What were the cultural highlights of 2011? Icon asks nine international critics, curators and experts to select their half-dozen stand-out moments in architecture, design and art.

What were the cultural highlights of 2011? Icon asks nine international critics, curators and experts to select their half-dozen stand-out moments in architecture, design and art.

On the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, New York’s memorial to the 2,982 victims opens at Ground Zero.

Ball-Nogues Studio has created a hidden oasis in California’s Mojave Desert, which doubled as a mould for an artwork made of shiny steel balls.

Ryue Nishizawa has brought the outside indoors to create several new “worlds” in which to showcase the art work of a Japanese master.

FAT has created a little drama at this television production centre in Cardiff with an ornate facade that echoes the fantastical worlds within.

Wilkinson Eyre’s greenhouses at Singapore’s new botanical gardens echo the city state’s colonial past but hint at a more open future.

Berlin’s disused Tempelhof airport provided the stage for a range of intriguing designs, from the simplicity of Auerberg’s book rest to the studied chaos of Fabien Dumas’ Tam Tam lampshade.