We prove by giving an example that when n ≥ 3 the asymptotic behavior of functionals $\int_\Omega \varepsilon|\nabla^2 u|^2+(1-|\nablau|^2)^2/\varepsilon$
is quite different with respect to the planar case. In particular weshow that the one-dimensional ansatz due to Aviles and Giga in theplanar case (see [2]) is no longer true in higher dimensions.