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design and architecture writer
Ian Volner is a design and architecture writer.
PROFILE
Ian Volner
Guest
FROM Ian Volner
Design and Architecture
The uncertain fate of Trump's border wall President Trump's campaign speeches made it clear that as president, he would build a “great” and “beautiful” wall along the US-Mexico border. An example of Riverdale Mills' wire mesh fence with razor wire. The company is a finalist in the competition to design theTrump administration's proposed US-Mexico border wall. Photo courtesy Riverdale Mills Customs and Border Protection officials held an open call for bids for the multibillion-dollar construction contract. Some 200 applications were accepted. This summer journalists were expecting to be going down to San Diego to look at prototypes of the finalists for this supposed border wall. And yet nothing has materialized. Architectural journalist Ian Volner looked for answers why, and found an unusual level of secrecy surrounding a fast-shrinking wall.
To the Point
Donald Trump's wall is looking more like a fence The promise of a 2000 mile wall along the border with Mexico has been at the center of Trumpism since the presidential campaign. But this week, Donald Trump seemed satisfied with a much lesser version of the project. US-Mexico border, secondary fence Photo by BBC World Service It became hugely symbolic to his base. But actually building a 2000 mile long, 30 foot tall border wall along the country's southern border is looking less and less likely. This week, the president downsized the project's grandiosity -- saying it could be shorter, and "transparent." And even some potential contractors who bid on the project now doubt the wall will ever get built. Journalist and design critic Ian David Volner has been talking to some of those bidders, and wrote about it Foreign Policy magazine.
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