Dezeen Magazine

This week, the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy unfolded

The devastating fire at Grenfell Tower dominated the news on Dezeen this week. Blame fell on the £8.7 million facelift it received last year, which in turn has triggered a review of 4,000 other UK high-rises.

The fire broke out at 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London in the early hours of Wednesday morning, and more than 30 fatalities have been confirmed so far. Construction experts are investigating how the blaze spread through the building.

Prime minister Theresa May has launched an inquiry to ensure the cause of the blaze is discovered, and her government has also announced plans to investigate the safety of similar buildings across the UK.

Emma Dent Coad, Labour MP for Kensington, blamed the £8.7 million facelift the tower received last year. Her remarks come just a week after she claimed a surprise election victory in the borough, which is the UK's richest constituency.

Unfinished homes in post-war apartment blocks touted as potential solution to the global housing crisis

The devastating news comes at a time when alternative renovations of post-war housing blocks are gaining momentum in Europe, with DIY flats touted as a solution to the global housing crisis.

In other news, Bjarke Ingels has hit back at sexism claims following a backlash to an Instagram post depicting 11 male BIG partners and one female.

Climate change forces emergency repairs to "failsafe" Arctic seed vault

Plans were unveiled for "London's greenest public building" – a school powered through the tidal movements of the River Thames. And climate change forced emergency repairs to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a building containing almost a million samples of food-crop seeds from around the world.

Apple Park by Foster + Partners nearing completion
"Apple's new campus sucks" according to Wired magazine

In the US, technology magazine Wired slated Foster + Partners' Apple Park in a review claiming the new campus "sucks" and provides a poor model for company campuses.

Santiago Calatrava's transportation hub at World Trade Center sprung another leak and David Beckham scored land for a Populous-designed football stadium in Miami.

We finished our coverage of Frank Lloyd Wright's best buildings to celebrate the US architect's 150th birthday, by profiling his Imperial Hotel in Toyko and Johnson Wax offices conceived as a forest open to the sky.

Akili Tower by Richard Keep Architects
Richard Keep and Henry Goss unveil plans for Nairobi tower in rainy renderings

In interior design news, Pinterest released a trend report for 2017 naming watercolour prints and 1970s furniture as the fastest-growing trends in the UK.

Popular projects this week included drone footage of Robin Hood Gardens ahead of its demolition, a renovation of a Frank Gehry-designed LA house and rainy renderings of a Nairobi tower.