This week on Dezeen, an airport designed by Foster + Partners for Mexico City was scrapped midway through construction and a pair of skyscrapers envisioned by SOM were put on hold.
The $13 billion airport ? designed by Foster + Partners with Mexican studio Fernando Romero Enterprise ? was canned, following a referendum in which just one in every 90 registered voters participated. Local architects have protested the decision, calling the vote "fake", "unlawful" and an example of Mexican politics' endemic "corruption".
SOM's "sister skyscrapers" for doomed Chicago Spire site halted
Meanwhile in Chicago, plans for a pair of skyscrapers designed by SOM to complement Santiago Calatrava's doomed Spire were halted, after the mayor expressed concerns about the current designs. Peter Zumthor completes Devon countryside villa "in the tradition of Andrea Palladio"
In the UK, Peter Zumthor finally completed his Secular Retreat, a holiday home on a Devon hilltop. Built from hand-rammed concrete, more than 10 years after it was commissioned, the house will be available to rent through Alain de Botton's Living Architecture endeavour.
Zumthor told Dezeen that he sees his mission to create buildings that could last for centuries as one of the few things architects can do to counteract climate change. "I can only do so much," he said. "What I do, I do simple buildings."
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