Dezeen’s review of the year: January 2013

Dutch architects 3D print house

To finish the year we’re rounding up the biggest news stories and most popular projects from each month, starting with January. We kicked off 2013 with a focus on 3D printing, as the race began to 3D-print a house (pictured).

Foster + Partners to 3D print buildings on the moon
Foster + Partners to 3D print buildings on the moon

3D printing

Nokia became the first mass manufacturer to release open-source 3D-print files and Foster + Partners announced proposals to take 3D printing to the moon.

Cheap 3D printers fuel home-printed sex toy
Cheap 3D printers fuel home-printed sex toy “phenomenon”

A desktop recycling plant was designed so users could turn plastic objects into 3D-printing filament to fuel their printing appetites and the technology sparked a boom for home-printed sex toys.

Zaha Hadid building pirated in China
Zaha Hadid building pirated in China

Copying

Copying was also in the news, as Zaha Hadid’s Wanjing Soho complex in Beijing was imitated elsewhere in China and American furniture brand Emeco settled a legal dispute over a ripped-off version of its classic Navy Chair.

Glass Farm by MVRDV
Glass Farm by MVRDV

Most popular

Of all our stories in January, a glass office building disguised as a barn by MVRDV was the most popular.

Forget Me Knot by Sruli Recht
Forget Me Knot by Sruli Recht

This was followed by Sruli Recht’s decision to have a slice of skin removed from his belly, which he used to make a ring.

Garden and House by Ryue Nishizawa
Garden and House by Ryue Nishizawa

A five-storey Tokyo townhouse fronted by a stack of gardens came in third.

Optical Glass House by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP
Optical Glass House by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP

Next was another house in Japan, this time with a shimmering glass-brick facade that provides glimpses of a tree-filled courtyard behind.

X House by Cadaval & Solà-Morales
X House by Cadaval & Solà-Morales

Rounding off the top five was the aptly named X House, with a cross-shaped plan that projects over the edge of a hillside near Barcelona.

Dezeen launches World Design Guide
Dezeen launches World Design Guide

Dezeen’s month

At the beginning of the year Dezeen launched World Design Guide, an online guide to the key architecture and design events around the world. Dezeen was also featured in a list of the 50 top websites you can’t live without by UK newspaper The Times.

Ready Made Curtain by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec
Ready Made Curtain by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec

We began our year’s travelling in Germany, and our reports from the imm Cologne furniture and product fair included a DIY kit for making curtains by the Bouroullec brothers. Our next stop was Maison & Objet outside Paris, where Benjamin Hubert launched a range of terracotta pots with rubber lids and a ceramic lamp.

Pots by Benjamin Hubert for Menu
Pots by Benjamin Hubert for Menu

See all our stories from January 2013 »

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