This week on Dezeen: architects and designers were left reeling this week following the UK's dramatic decision to sever ties with the European Union in Thursday's referendum.

The referendum result was close but decisive, with 52 per cent in favour of leaving, and 48 per cent backing the remain campaign. High-profile architects and designers including Richard Rogers, Amanda Levete, Ilse Crawford, Philippe Malouin and Benjamin Hubert expressed their disappointment at the outcome.

An overwhelming majority of creatives had backed the Remain campaign in the buildup to the vote, warning that the UK's economy and London's design status was at risk. Dezeen columnist and architect Sam Jacob described a vote for leave as a vote for a theme park instead of a country.

Illustrators were quick to post their reactions to the referendum on Instagram and Twitter. One image included a bleeding Union Jack flag, while another depicted a pair of scissors cutting the threads that tied the UK to the rest of Europe.

In other news this week, the Iraqi postal service paid tribute to the late Zaha Hadid by featuring her on a new stamp and Dutch firm MVRDV revealed its designs for a library in China featuring an eye-shaped atrium.

Documents emerged revealing that architect and designer Eero Saarinen was involved in the development of weapons for the US government, while a Shakespearian theatre in France was vandalised in an act described by its architect as a "politically motivated desecration" by members of the far right.

New York's future skyline was depicted in a series of new visualisations and students at the Southern California Institute of Architecture completed a house designed to make residents feel safe in a crime-ridden part of Los Angeles.

Italian luxury brand Molteni opened a flagship showroom in Tehran to meet the increased demand for high-quality design in Iran, and we reported on Mexico's "booming growth market for architecture and design".

A giant slide by Belgian artist Carsten Höller that spirals through the frame of the Anish Kapoor-designed ArcelorMittal Orbit opened to the public in London, just days after Herzog & de Meuron's Tate Modern extension welcomed its first visitors.

The Royal Institute of British Architects revealed the 46 winners in its national awards showcasing the best new architecture projects in Britain and named the 20 houses vying for this year's prestigious House of the Year prize.

OMA completed its extension to the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Quebec, and plans to overhaul an early 20th-century pier in Montreal were released.

Popular stories this week on Dezeen included Christo's saffron-coloured floating pathways, an office block in Tehran featuring louvred wooden facades and a project that transformed people's useless sketches of bicycles into a series of absurd-looking digital renderings.

Main image posted by Instagram user Jess Thorpe.

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