This week on Dezeen, US president Donald Trump issued the Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture executive order.
One of a flurry of executive orders issued by Trump on his first day in office, the presidential action aimed to promote the use of “traditional and classical” architecture for civic buildings. The executive order restarted a policy that was first introduced in his first term as president.
The executive order was denounced by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), which said that it would “stifle innovation”.
“AIA is extremely concerned about any revisions that remove control from local communities; mandate official federal design preferences, or otherwise hinder design freedom; and add bureaucratic hurdles for federal buildings,” said the AIA.
Also in the US, several more significant houses were confirmed lost as the toll of the LA fires became clearer.
A pair of houses by modernist architect Richard Neutra along with a house by local architect Eric Owen Moss were confirmed lost in the deadly wildfires.
This week we looked forward to the upcoming buildings that are set to complete in the USA this year. Projects by Foster + Partners, BIG, Studio Gang and OMA are set to open in 2025, including a New York supertall skyscraper and a mass-timber campus at Harvard.
In Austin, Gensler completed the Sixth and Guadalupe skyscraper, which at 264-metres-high is now the tallest building in the city.
In other news, we reported on China’s plans to launch a one-kilometre-wide solar farm into space.
Described as a “Three Gorges Dam project above the Earth”, in reference to the country’s giant hydroelectric facility, the solar farm would continuously harvest renewable energy for Earth.
This week, we also continued our 21st-Century Architecture: 25 Years 25 Buildings series, by looking at the most significant buildings from 2012 to 2018.
These included the Cardboard Cathedral by Shigeru Ban (pictured), Apple Park by Foster + Partners and Amager Bakke by BIG.
Popular projects on Dezeen this week include a minimalist artist’s residency in northern Italy, a “modernist extension” to a house in Edinburgh and a mass-timber headquarters building for Walmart.
Our latest lookbooks focused on kitchens that incorporate bold splashes of blue and self-designed studios that create calm working environments.
This week on Dezeen
This week on Dezeen is our regular roundup of the week’s top news stories. Subscribe to our newsletters to be sure you don’t miss anything.
