Desktop-sized CT scanner created as a teaching aid

DeskCAT is a miniature visible-light CT scanner, designed for use in medical school classrooms

When you're learning how to use a complex device, there’s nothing like getting some hands on play time. When it comes to CT (Computed Tomography) scanners, however, it’s often difficult to find a time when they’re not being used on patients. That’s why two biophysics professors at Canada’s Western University invented the DeskCAT. It’s a miniature CT scanner that’s small enough to sit on a desk, so it can be used in medical school classrooms.

Delta Shelter provides almost indestructible living space

The Delta Shelter provides secure living with low impact and a small footprint

What do you do when you want to build a worry-free home on land that also happens to be a 100-year flood plain? If you're smart, you'll do what the owner of Delta Shelter did and have Olson Kundig Architects build you a metal fortress to withstand the elements in style. The compact 1,000 sq ft (93 sq m) steel-walled hideaway with a footprint of only 200 sq ft (18.6 sq m) looks ready to handle whatever the Washington wilderness can throw at it - even, perhaps, a 1,000-year flood.

Cambridge scientists use LEGO MINDSTORMS to build bone-making robots

Scientists at Cambridge University have built robots out of LEGO, to assist in their research into creating artificial bone

Despite what TV shows like CSI would have us believe, a lot of lab work tends to be highly monotonous. It’s the type of work that could be assigned to robots, were it not for the fact that many facilities can’t afford the things, or can’t rationalize bringing one in for a single project. When scientists at Cambridge University were recently faced with a very mindless, repetitive task that was part of their research into creating artificial bone, one of them got creative, and built a couple of robots out of LEGO.

ArchDaily's 2011 Building of the Year award winners an interesting mix of form and function

Hotels and Restaurants category winner: Tori-Tori Restaurant, Polanco, Mexico City (Photo: Paùl Rivera)

For some, architecture is considered "the will of an epoch translated into space" (Mies van der Rohe), for others, it's "frozen music" (Goethe), but for most of us, the topic remains quite subjective. Now, online architecture review site ArchDaily has finally sifted through over 65,000 votes to come up with the winners of their 2011 Building of the Year awards - a fascinating selection of innovation and creativity that will wow some and challenge others.