This week on Dezeen, Donald Trump cancelled a planned visit to open London's new US embassy, describing the projects as a "bad deal", while in New York, his Trump Tower caught fire and injured three people.

The US president said on Twitter that he was cancelling his London trip because he was annoyed that the Obama administration sold off the old embassy – a Mayfair building designed by Eero Saarinen – for "peanuts". He described the site of Kieran Timberlake's new £750 million US embassy as an "off-location".

Meanwhile in New York, his Trump Tower building suffered an electrical fire that caused smoke to rise from the roof.

Trump also made the news this week after it was revealed that the cost of his USA-Mexico border wall had soared to $33 billion.

Elsewhere in the US,  Barack and Michelle Obama released renderings and a movie showing details of their Obama Presidential Center, which is set to be built in Chicago's historic Jackson Park.

British designer Thomas Heatherwick made the news twice this week – and both times for New York projects.

He unveiled plans for a pair of residential towers straddling the High Line, while images emerged showing that his honeycomb-like Vessel installation in nearing completion.

In tech news, the Consumer Electronics Show opened in Las Vegas. Biometric security and robotic companions were among the big trends forecasted for the annual event, with launches including a sleep tracker, a flying taxi and a wearable UV sensor.

However the event's organisers were forced to respond to criticisms of its all-male speaker line-up, admitting that the technology sector "can and must do better" to increase diversity levels.

In the UK, redundancies in the Architectural Association's publications and exhibitions departments went ahead as scheduled, despite protests from prominent figures including as David Adjaye and Richard Rogers.

Acclaimed architect Neave Brown, the 2018 RIBA Royal Gold Medal laureate known for his work on London's public housing, died this week following a battle with cancer. RIBA president Ben Derbyshire paid tribute to Brown, describing him as a "pioneer".

Popular projects on Dezeen this week included a prefabricated Spanish house that takes five hours to assemble, Muji's "anti-cheap" hotel in Shenzhen and Joseph Joseph's 3-in-1 tool designed to prevent avocado hand injuries.