Dezeen Magazine

This week, a 3D-printed bridge and plans for an artificial moon were unveiled

This week on Dezeen MX3D unveiled the world's first 3D-printed steel bridge at Dutch Design Week and Chengdu announced plans to launch an artificial moon to light its streets.

Robotics company MX3D displayed the 12-metre-long pedestrian bridge, built by robotic arms programmed to control welding machines, in Eindhoven. The world's first 3D-printed steel bridge will be installed over a canal in Amsterdam some time next year.

Chengdu plans to launch "artificial moon" to replace street lights
Chengdu plans to launch artificial moon to replace its street lights

Chendu has announced plans to light its streets at night by launching an artificial moon into orbit above the city in China.

The Chengdu Aerospace Science and Technology Microelectronics System Research Institute said the new satellite would be eight times brighter than the real moon and would replace the need for traditional street lights.

Sagrada Família to pay £31 million to the city
Sagrada Familia agrees €36 million payment after building for 136 years with no permit

Planning permission is the bane of many architects' lives, and this week it transpired that Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia has managed to be under construction in Barcelona for 136 years without an official council-issued building permit.

The UNESCO-listed basilica, which is due to be finally finished in 2026, has agreed to pay €36 million (£31 million) to the city over a period of 10 years in return for the council formalising its permit.

Norman Foster steps back from Saudi tech city over journalist's murder

Norman Foster was one of several well-known figures caught up in the fallout from ongoing scandal of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Foster had been named as a member of the advisory board for Neom, the $500 billion (£382 billion) mega city powered by robots planned by the Saudi Arabian government.

Khashoggi disappeared from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and government officials have since admitted he was killed there. Foster wrote to the board to temporarily suspend himself until the situation is resolved.

Everlane virgin plastic
Everlane to eliminate virgin plastic from its supply chain

American fashion label Everlane joined the fight against what it called the "global plastics crisis", announcing it will remove all virgin plastics from its supply chain by 2021, starting with the bags it uses for shipping.  The announcement came a week after the UN warned the global community has just 12 years to avert an environmental catastrophe.

With rising sea levels presenting one of climate change's many threats, landscape architecture and urban design studio SCAPE has revealed a plan to protect Boston's harbour from flooding.

Berlin’s Museum of the 20th Century by Herzog & de Meuron
Herzog & de Meuron unveils revised design for Museum of the 20th Century in Berlin

Swiss architecture studio Herzog & de Meuron had a busy week. Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron's studio released updated plans for Berlin's Museum of the 20th Century, which will be built alongside the Mies van der Rohe-designed Neue Nationalgalerie.

Herzog & de Meuron also released new visuals for a 90-metre-high tower in Stockholm. The Gasklockan tower will be set on the site of an old gasworks surrounded by gardens designed by landscape architect Piet Oudolf.

Arada Office by Nelson Resende
Three geometric volumes form Nelson Resende's architecture studio

Projects that caught people's attention on Dezeen this week include an industrial-style extension to a house in London, an architect's geometric design for their own studio in Portugal, and Heatherwick Studio's Coal Drops Yard shopping centre.