This week we published IKEA's tongue-in-cheek plans for a two-kilometre-long store

This week on Dezeen, we published IKEA's plans to build a two-kilometre-long store on April 1st.

For April Fools' day, we revealed a plans for a linear store that would depart from IKEA's usual labyrinthine layout.

"With the rise of digital maps, GPS and the very real fact that people barely look up from their phone screens anymore, we're finding that people don't seem to have navigation skills that they used to," IKEA head of retail Tolga Oncu told Dezeen.

"So, our solution is to build a store that it is impossible to get lost in."

We looked ahead to Milan design week, which takes place next week, by rounding up the 20 must-see installations and exhibitions at the year's most important design event.

Dezeen editor-at-large Amy Frearson also identified seven key trends shaping the future of interior design, from AI-designed objects to biomorphic furniture, to look out for at the event.

Following our feature that asked why we keep building glass skyscrapers, we took a look at 10 contemporary skyscrapers that buck the all-glass trend.

All built in the past 10 years, these skyscrapers do all have windows, but their facades use large amounts of other materials, including metal and stone.

In France, designer Philippe Starck revealed a surrealist hotel topped with a 19th-century mansion.

The Maison Heler hotel in Metz consists of a nondescript nine-storey tower topped with a mansion that was conceived as the home of imaginary owner Manfred Heler.

This week, we also spoke to Foster + Partners head of industrial design Mike Holland, who explained the decision to rebrand the design team as Foster + Partners Industrial Design.

Along with revealing a Pentagram-designed graphic identity and dedicated website, Holland also told Dezeen about the studio's plans to design wearable gadgets.

Popular projects on Dezeen this week included a penthouse topped with an aluminium "rooftop pavilion" by Carmody Groarke in London, a sunken museum in Taiwan by Kengo Kuma and a boat-shaped annexe in Norway.

Our latest lookbooks featured living areas featuring exposed rammed-earth walls and Indian homes with eclectic interior designs.

This week on Dezeen

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The post This week we published IKEA's tongue-in-cheek plans for a two-kilometre-long store appeared first on Dezeen.