This architect has already designed a Mexican border wall for Donald Trump
Now Donald Trump is all systems go on his border wall, here's one step he can skip: the design stage is already in the bag, thanks to Mexican architecture practice Estudio 3.14.
In conjunction with the University of Connecticut, the firm has helpfully created a design for a giant wall between the US and Mexico, which shows it slicing through various landscapes, including mountainous terrain, a desert, a border crossing over a river, and urban Tijuana. And, as seen below, a heaving mass of human suffering.
Read more: Trump's wall prompts investor stampede for infrastructure
Just millions of people hanging out by a wall (Source: Estudio 3.14)
The studio said that, because the wall "has to be beautiful", it has been rendered in shocking pink, "inspired by Luis Barragan's pink walls that are emblematic of Mexico".
The design helpfully includes not only a branch of Macy's, but also a prison, "where 11m undocumented people will be processed, classified, indoctrinated and/or deported". Cheery.
"Our interest is threefold," the studio said.
"First, in the immediate term, we believe that this project will allow the general public to literally imagine the gorgeous monstrosity proposed my Trump.
"Second, it takes the opportunity of having an architectural object at the core of a national debate, allowing us to test the potential—or limit—of architectural images in mass and social media.
"Third, it addresses the operation through which language, as the instrument of thought, delineates referents in space and time.
The design includes a giant prison capable of holding 11m people (Source: Estudio 3.14)
Trump's wall has been the source of escalating tensions between the US and Mexico in recent days. Yesterday Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto cancelled a meeting at the White House after Trump insisted it will be paid for with a 20 per cent tax on Mexican imports.
Earlier in the day, Trump had warned that "if Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly-needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting".
Today Trump and Theresa May will hold a joint press conference, after meetings which will take place today.
Read more: Is Theresa May right to be cosying up to Donald Trump?
Wall or tourist attraction? (Source: Estudio 3.14)