Palais Lumiere Outside Venice Cancelled

Residents of Venice can rejoice, since Pierre Cardin has announced he is abandoning Palais Lumiere, the 250-meter-high (820-feet) tower planned for Marghera, the former industrial area about 10 kilometers (6 miles) northwest of the center of Venice. Visitors approaching the island city from mainland Italy would have driven past the fashion designer's oddly shaped building just before hitting the bridge over the lagoon.

Opponents of the plan asserted that the tower would be visible from Venice, echoing the buffer zone required by UNESCO (but never complied with) when it named the city a World Heritage Site in 1987. On the other hand, proponents championed the money coming from the sale of the land for the tower and the increased investment that would follow. Cardin had not obtained the necessary permissions in over two years of working on the tower, which he cited as the main reason for abandoning the project.