The Mediterranean city state of Monaco has shelved a multi-billion-dollar scheme to expand into the sea because of the global economic crisis, its ruler Prince Albert II said Tuesday.

Albert said Monaco had been forced to drop plans to build a huge artificial peninsula, which had been compared to Dubai’s island developments.

“In the current climate it would be irresponsible to launch a project of this scale,” the prince told AFP in an interview, explaining that the project had fallen short of its funding and environmental protection goals.

Construction projects are grinding to a halt as financing runs dry elsewhere in the world, but in China’s biggest city, they’re still going strong.

Today, Shanghai is scheduled to officially begin work on what will become its tallest skyscraper — a 2,073-foot building in the city’s Lujiazui financial center that will tower over the current highest building, the recently completed 1,614-foot Shanghai World Financial Center.

Though China’s economy is slowing and exporters are feeling the pinch, the sinuous glass building, to be called the Shanghai Tower, is one of a slew of government-funded projects that authorities are using to stimulate growth and create jobs.

The versatile Chilean group Supersudaka designed this unusual house located in Talca, Chile.

The process was so unsteady, that all possible architectural design resources available where exercised to cope with the challenge of this house in the Chilean Central Valley.

Everything was in constant change: the program, the surface, building permits, the contractors, even the view !

Made with a metallic structure covered entirely with wood and glass, the house has been in constant change resulting a mix, a bastardized design with a patio and roof terrace.

Back in September we featured 56 Leonard by Herzog & de Meuron that will have a great impact in the skyline of New York.

Now, we have this amazing video, created as a marketing tool for the building, by Tronic Studios.

The video reveals some portions of the structure of this building, such as beams that distribute the vertical charges of this particular typology.

Real estate mogul Victor MacFarlane has placed his huge St. Regis penthouse on the sales block for $70 million, a figure that would obliterate the previous record price tag for a San Francisco residence.

Commandingly sited atop the highest floors of the Five-Star St. Regis Hotel & Residences in San Francisco, this one-of-a-kind, palatial penthouse features over 20,000 expansive square feet, including 2,900 square feet of terraces – one of the largest personal residences in all of San Francisco.

The property also features 2,900 square feet of terraces with 360-degree views of many San Francisco landmarks. Glass walls also offer plenty of light and the foyer has a winding staircase and two-story waterfall.

There are six bedrooms, seven baths, four powder rooms, four fireplaces, two offices, a wine storage room, a gym with a sauna and steam room and a 13-seat cinema. It is definitely one of the most striking apartments in the country.

The asking price for the completed condo works out to $3,500 for each of the roughly 20,000 square feet. MacFarlane bought the property, originally three unfinished units on the top two floors, for about $30 million in late 2005.

The question remains, however, whether anyone will be willing to pay that much for one now.

(The Ohio-born MacFarlane is the chief executive officer of MacFarlane Partners, a San Francisco real estate investment firm with $11 billion under management. He has been managing money for the California Public Employees Retirement System since the early 1990s.)

Italo Rota has designed this home for the Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli.

This home is located in the hills of Florence, Italy and the color of the home can be changed to match the personality of the home owner.

Find out more about this home on homedesignfind.com