Wooden

Learning to make music should be fun. It should also be easy. Traditional instruments like guitar and piano can be tough for youngsters, but composing and performing on the Musicon is as simple as pushing a button. Well, maybe more than one.

A team of Philadelphia University freshmen were recently tasked with creating a visual showpiece machine based on a painting which incorporated da Vincian thought processes. They built a cranked machine where sections of a topographical map are slowly raised when the handle is turned.

Patch22 offers a persuasive argument for the use of wood in tall building construction. Located in Amsterdam, the wooden high rise ticks all the right boxes: inviting, sustainable and above all flexible, its easily-changed interiors even allow residents to put their bathtubs on the balconies.

Russia's famous Trans-Siberian Railway links Moscow to the country's huge eastern areas and serves as a gateway to China, Mongolia, and North Korea. Those making the journey will soon have the option of taking a pitstop in some odd-looking ​new wooden cabins designed by UK firm Kamvari Architects.

What is claimed to be the largest "mass timber" building in the US and the country's first major wooden multi-story building in more than 100 years has opened in Minneapolis. T3, which stands for "Timber, Technology, Transit," provides 224,000 sq ft (22,000 sq m) of office and retail space.

Forest Green Rovers may only play in the 5th tier of the UK's soccer pyramid, but the team will soon have facilities up there with the very best. It has appointed Zaha Hadid Architects to construct a low-carbon stadium made almost entirely of sustainably-sourced wood.

Decades before the age of megatall skyscrapers, Chicago was home to the world's tallest skyscraper with the Willis Tower​. However, if Perkins+Will's new project comes to fruition, the city may look forward to getting back in the record books with the world's tallest timber skyscraper.

Brock Commons is not your average student residence. Rising to a height of 53 m (174 ft) above the campus of the University of British Columbia in Canada,​ it's the world's tallest wooden residential tower – and it recently topped out several months ahead of schedule.

​After using an oscilloscope to confirm that stepper motors driven backward produced an alternating current, University of Maryland senior Josh Sheldon decided to turn the resulting waveforms into audible sounds. The result is the magical Stepper Organ, and the output is just a little bit eerie.

Love them or loathe them, wooden skyscrapers are on the rise, especially in Europe and North America. This latest example is designed by Team V Architectuur and will rise to 21 floors in Amsterdam. Dubbed Haut, the project is due to begin construction in late 2017.

As its name suggests, OOPEAA's Periscope Tower serves as an oversized periscope thanks to a pair of carefully-placed mirrors integrated into its core. No mere gimmick, the prefabricated observation tower ensures visitors can take in a raised view from ground level.

​If your idea of a music box is a tiny tabletop tinkler that plays chirpy tunes, think again. Niklas Roy's monstrous Music Construction Machine makes use of real instruments to play constantly changing tunes when the huge hand crank is turned.