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Plans have been unveiled to construct the world’s first U-shaped skyscraper in New York, testing the very limits of architecture.

The project, entitled ‘The Big Bend’ is being carried out by world-renowned design team Oiio Studio and stands as a literal bending of the city’s strict zoning rules. On their website the design firm state: “There are many different ways that can make a building stand out, but in order to do so the building has to literary stand out.

“We have become familiar with building height measurements. We usually learn about the latest tallest building and we are always impressed by its price per square foot. It seems that a property’s height operates as a license for it to be expensive.

“New York city’s zoning laws have created a peculiar set of tricks trough which developers try to maximize their property’s height in order to infuse it with the prestige of a high rise structure. But what if we substituted height with length? What if our buildings were long instead of tall?

“If we manage to bend our structure instead of bending the zoning rules of New York we would be able to create one of the most prestigious buildings in Manhattan. The longest building in the world.

“The Big Bend can become a modest architectural solution to the height limitations of Manhattan. We can now provide our structures with the measurements that will make them stand out without worrying about the limits of the sky.”

The big curve

The sky (isn’t) the limit!

Once complete, ‘The Big Bend’ will be the longest building in the world, surpassing even Dubai’s Burj Khalifa in total length. Not only will the unique shape of the structure require a Wonka-esque elevator system that can travel in loops and curves, it will also undoubtedly earn it a place as an architectural icon among giants.

The new President of the United States Donald Trump is expected to give the order to begin works on building his controversial wall between the US and Mexico today. Buildingspecifier investigates:

Mr Trump is visiting the Department of Homeland Security today, purportedly to order federal funds to be allocated towards the building of the giant wall in question. Yesterday he tweeted:

How big will it be?

Reports of how big the wall will actually be vary, but the length of the border itself is around 1,900 miles in total. Trump himself has said that the wall will cover roughly 1,000 miles, with natural obstacles protecting the remainder of the distance.

In comparison, the Berlin Wall was 96 miles long and the Great Wall of China is 13,000 miles long.

How much will it cost?

There is already some fencing in place between the borders, which cost approximately $2.4 billion to build. Reoports estimate that to building the rest of it would cost between $15-$25bn. THEN there’s maintenance, which is expected to run up to a whopping $700m per annum, according to deputy director of the US Immigration Policy Program at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, Marc Rosenblum.

After offending their neighboring country with racial slurs such as “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best… They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people”, Donald Trump added further salt to the wound by insisting that Mexico would foot the bill for the construction of his ludicrous wall.

Mexico have repeatedly insisted that they will do no such thing, forcing the President to find alternative methods of payment. Earlier this month, he announced that the wall would instead be paid for initially with a congressionally approved spending bill, which would eventually be reimbursed by Mexico. He has yet to explain how he intends to make that happen.