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The legend goes that when Carlo Petrini planted his feet at the Spanish Steps in Rome declaring that he would not stand for the introduction of McDonald's into the historic area, the Slow Food Movement was born. Fast food would not squelch the rich traditions of Italian culture. And indeed it did not. Petrini not only succeeded in elevating resistance against McDonalds, but against fast food the world over, by providing appetizing alternatives through the Slow Food Movement.

Now the Slow Home Movement, a web-based design community and resource library dedicated to taking residential architecture back from the grip of cookie cutter houses and instant neighborhoods, is empowering individuals and communities. What next? Dave Lankshear argues that if we could create Slow Cities then we might have a chance of surviving peak oil.

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Learn more about Slow Homes
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What is Slow Home? Watch the video!
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Dubai is hot and it's not just the temperature. Dubai is experiencing tremendous growth and the five-star condo hotel, The Cube is testament to this.

The 27 storey tower will feature 561 ultra-modern condo hotel units with studios and one and two bedroom units.

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Infrastructure struggling to keep up with Dubai growth
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The Burj al-Taqa ("Energy Tower"), is "a giant 68-story building projected to rise to a lofty height of 322 meters (1,056 feet) in Dubai, making it number 22 on the list of the world's tallest buildings." Currently German architect, Eckhard Gerber, holds CAD drawings making it the tallest zero-emissions, zero-energy skyscraper in the world.

Together with engineering company, DS-Plan, Eckhard designed a cylindrical building in order to expose the least possible area of the façade to sunlight, and plans to use state-of-the-art energy efficient materials to make it feasible to keep the mostly-glass structure comfortable inside while still using no outside energy.

The tower's façade is to be built from a new generation of vacuum glazing that will only come on the market in 2008. The new top-quality windows are meant to largely shield the interior of the tower from outside heat -- indispensable in a region where outside temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in the summer.

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The ewww factor. A new study explains why we think some things are icky - and marketers are starting to take heed.

Andrea Morales and Gavan Fitzsimons can both remember when and where their current research interest began. It came during a talk at the University of Pennsylvania a few years ago: Paul Rozin, a professor of psychology, took a cockroach that had been sterilized, dipped it into a glass of orange juice, then asked if anyone was willing to take a sip.

Nobody was. But if an involuntary ewww just went through your mind, as it almost certainly did, the experiment is still working. Rozin specializes in the psychological study of disgust, and he was demonstrating the universal concept of touch transference. It's a fancy term for cooties. If something repulsive touches something benign, the latter, even if it's physically unchanged, becomes "infected."

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The last time a logo received this much attention was four years ago with UPS. The Olympic logo of London 2012 has been receiving so much attention from designers and non designers alike that it is being hailed as one of the most most innovative and daring identity work of this millennium.

When all is said and done, some are predicting this will be a formidable case study of brand building. Like Halley’s comet or the launch of new iPhone ads, the launch of the London Olympic logo is a momentous occasion. The whole design community is a buzz with dozens of blogs discussing and debating its aesthetic and brand merits.

Engage in the debate!
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"ferm" is Danish for "clever." Indeed, Danish designer, Trine Anderson, founder of ferm LIVING creates products that are clever in both form and function. His wallpaper designs have become a sensation and are now available in North America.

Be it a stairway, a study, a mirror or a headboard - ferm LIVING creates atmosphere and provokes thought.

Visit Ferm Living
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The Norelco Bodygroom by Philips has been hailed as one of the best examples of a viral ad campaign where an American frat boy enters into a white background in a white bathrobe discussing the virtues of a perfectly shaven body.

It is chock full of humour and wit and when intimate parts are bleaped out they are replaced with clever images.

View it here:
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Samanta Snidaro and Andrea Fino have a flair for the futuristic. Is it because they've melded their diverse backgrounds in law, communications and architecture ? Quite possibly. Here they've created a sofa in mirror-like aluminum.

Sand & Birch was founded in 2003 when Andrea Fino and Samanta Snidaro decided to join their different cultural backgrounds and experiences together for a unique project: to re-interpret the concept of furnishing and to bring other meanings, other senses and other lives to Objects. With the diamond sofa they are bringing forward a project in which the objects lose their proper primitive functions and acquire other meanings. In this way, the Diamond sofa becomes an expression of predominantly aesthetical value: from just a sofa it becomes a jewel. The Diamond Sofa is produced on reservation in numbered limited edition (100 sofas).

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Other designs by Snidaro and Fino.
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Visit the Sand & Birch website
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DINERS are flocking to what could perhaps be termed the most exclusive restaurant in Italy - one located inside a top security prison, where the chefs and waiters are Mafiosi, robbers and murderers.

Serenaded by Bruno, a pianist doing life for murder, the clientele eat inside a deconsecrated chapel set behind the 60ft high walls, watch towers, searchlights and security cameras of the daunting 500-year-old Fortezza Medicea, at Volterra near Pisa.

The Mafia may be in charge, but there is no horse's head on this menu. Instead, a smart, mainly middle-aged crowd tucks into a vegetarian signature menu, cooked up by head chef Egidio - serving life for murder - and keenly priced at €25.

The restaurant opened two months ago and has proved so popular that Italy's prison department is thinking of trying it in other jails.

Securing a table is as tricky as getting past the sternest maitre d'. Diners are thoroughly vetted by the Ministry of Justice in Rome and anyone with a dubious background is turned down.

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