The 56th Salone del Mobile, Milan’s over-the-top furniture fair, is less than two weeks away. As always, throngs of international designers, architects, and industry insiders will descend on the Italian design capital during the weeklong event, which begins on April 4. This year’s edition also features the biennial Euroluce, showcasing the latest technology and most forward-thinking designs in lighting. —Josephine Minutillo

Lawrence Technological University’s new 36,700-square-foot A. Alfred Taubman Engineering, Architecture, and Life Sciences Complex, designed by Pritzker-winning architect Thom Mayne and his firm, Morphosis, provides state-of-the-art facilities for a diverse array of programs, including robotics, biomedical engineering, and design. The bar-shaped building features a central carbon-fiber "orb" which contains a staircase and marks the entrance to the new facility. It is one of the first buildings in an ongoing expansion and renovation plan by Southfield, Michigan-based university. - Alex Klimoski

Borrowing colorful bales of cardboard from a nearby recycling plant, Rural Studio created the installation Forum for the 21st Milan Triennale, which ran from April 2 to September 11. Andrew Freear, director of the Auburn University-based studio, explained that the project existed within the constraints of creating little to no waste; using materials available in close proximity to the exhibition space, thereby minimizing transportation; and addressing the question, “How do architects and designers instigate a responsible attitude towards the resources that we utilize every day?”

For the Venice Architecture Biennale, which kicked off on May 28, Rural Studio designed a theater-like space in which to screen videos of the studio’s work in Hale County, Alabama. The materials used in Theater of the UseFULL — including insulation panels and metal spring-coil beds still wrapped in clear shipping plastic — will be donated to two Venetian organizations after the exhibition concludes in late November. The installation, says Freear, epitomizes the directive under which the Studio has operated since its inception: “to build not what can be built, but what should be built.” –Miriam Sitz

Four ongoing projects address diverse educational needs.