An excavation of the lost ancient city of Pompeii in Naples, Italy, has unearthed a well-preserved private thermal spa dating back almost 2,000 years. Pompeii, part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, was once a thriving Roman city before it was engulfed by volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted on 24 August AD 79. The site is now an archaeological park and has been gradually excavated since the 16th century.

Sri Lankan retreat brand Santani Wellness Resorts has joined forces with the Oman Tourism Development Company (Omran Group) to develop and operate two new locations in Oman, marking its international debut outside of Sri Lanka. The resorts, located in the Jabal Shams in Ad Dakhiliyah and Dhofar Governorates, will encompass a total of 182 accommodations and adhere to high-level sustainability standards. Unveiled at the ITB 2024 travel trade show in

Plans have been tabled for a US$2bn theme park and entertainment destination development in north-east Oklahoma, US. The development would be built in phases, starting with a large-scale caravan/RV park with cabins scheduled to open phase one in spring 2025. The main development called American Heartland Theme Park and Resort, would then follow in 2026. Spreading across 1,000 acres, the resort would be located close to Route 66, the famous

Luxury jewellery and design house Tiffany & Co. has reopened its flagship store on 57th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City, following a redesign led by architect Peter Marino and OMA New York. The project marks the first renovation of the store since it first opened its doors in 1940 and has been named The Landmark. For the redevelopment, Marino reimagined the interior architecture while OMA New York,

A £186m cultural centre, set to transform the arts and music scene globally, will open its doors in June this year. Factory International, based in Manchester UK, but with a global outreach, is the largest investment in a national cultural project in the UK since the opening of London's Tate Modern in 2000. The centre will house 13,350sq m of flexible floor area, utilising supersized moveable walls that can be

Architecture firm OMA has revealed designs for an ambitious underwater sculpture park which will stretch across seven miles off the coast of Miami Beach, Florida, US. Called ReefLine, the park is being developed by BlueLab Preservation Society in partnership with the City of Miami Beach and Coral Morphologic. It will feature art installations located around 20ft under water, which can only be viewed while snorkeling or diving. Conceived by cultural

Western Australia's new $400m WA Museum Boola Bardip, in the heart of Perth's Cultural Centre, has officially opened after four years of construction. Charting the rich heritage of Western Australia (WA), the museum houses eight permanent exhibition galleries, a 1,000sq m special exhibition gallery, life-long learning studios and retail, café and public spaces. The Museum has been conceived as a ‘collection of stories’ about WA's diversity, history and contemporary culture.

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) has named the Springdale Library and Komagata Maru Park – designed by RDH Architects (RDHA) – among the winners of its bi-annual Governor General’s Medals. The biennial awards recognise and celebrate excellence in recently built and designed projects by Canadian architects. First opened in 2019, the 26,000sq ft Springdale Library, contemplative garden, neighbourhood park and splash pad was created for the City of

A newly opened department store in South Korea, designed by OMA, has the appearance of a rock with a gemstone seam running through it. Created for luxury retailer Galleria, the store has a gross floor area of 137,000sq m (1,475,000sq ft) and is located in the town of Gwanggyo, just south of Seoul. Textured mosaic of varying grey shades gives the impression of the volume having been shaped organically, while

OMA have unveiled plans for a new shopping centre in Australia that will integrate public spaces, community amenities and facilities for childcare and education to create a more communal experience. Commissioned for Sandhurst Retail, the Wollert Neighbourhood Centre will be located in the Wollert suburb of Whittlesea, just north of Melbourne. Due to break ground in 2023, the 9,000sq m (97,000sq ft) facility is intended to be a neighbourhood asset

Meliá Hotels has opened Meliá Koh Samui, a beachfront resort and spa in Thailand designed by PIA Interior that pays homage to Samui's island heritage with suites constructed from old merchant vessels. Meliá opened the resort in partnership with Thai holding company Asset World Corporation as part of a plan to build three properties in the country. Located on Choeng Mon Beach, it accommodates 159 rooms and 41 suites, with

OMA 's first hotel in Bali has been designed both for guests and to engage the local community, with an open space for cultural events and leisure activities. The open space, or platform, at Potato Head Studios runs from the hotel down to the beach at Seminyak and is based on the raised and ground-level courtyards of Indonesian and Balinese homes. It provides a flexible stage where guests and locals

Around 10,000sq ft (930sq m) of new galleries, designed by OMA, will be unveiled on 6th June as part of a phased reopening of the Denver Art Museum 's newly renovated, Gio Ponti -designed Martin Building. The work is part of a project led by Machado Silvetti and Fentress Architects to update elements of the museum and to reunify its campus. By horizontally bisecting the museum’s original Stanton Gallery, OMA

Hassell and OMA have completed construction of the New Museum for Western Australia, which houses museum exhibitions, event spaces and public areas in a newly unified group of old and new buildings. Located in Perth, the facility combines four heritage-listed buildings with a newly created volume, tripling the size of the museum. Inside, there are eight new galleries, a 1000sq m (10,800sq ft) special exhibitions gallery, multipurpose spaces for programs,

OMA and Being Development have won a competition to redevelop Eindhoven's Van der Meulen-Ansemsterrein (VDMA) former industrial site into an urban hub with public, green and cultural spaces, as well as residential and commercial elements. The redevelopment is aimed at addressing the needs for local housing, space for leading technology companies and more exciting public realm in the city. It will create a hub between the city centre, the station

Plenty has been written about the newly opened Diller Scofidio + Renfro expansion of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, but there's been work going on behind the scenes too. With 38,000sq ft (3,500sq m) of new gallery space and 21,000sq ft (2,000sq m) of new public space, there's much more for visitors to explore. But front-of-house spaces need new back-of-house spaces to support them and that

BuckleyGrayYeoman are to convert a former ice factory, coachworks and power station to house 30,000sq ft (2,800sq m) of restaurant units, retail space and offices adjacent to another of their mixed-use developments. The firm completed its Eccleston Yards mixed-use creative hub project on a derelict and underutilised car park in London, UK, for Grosvenor last year. It comprises a public courtyard where people can sit and a pedestrian mews surrounded

A mixed-use public space comprising a golden cube-shaped kiosk and a giant floating balloon, designed by David Gianotten and Rem Koolhaas of OMA, has been unveiled outside Hong Kong's recently opened K11 Musea. Kube is at once a place to buy coffee, a place to sit and a place to hold events. The anodised aluminium kiosk, which changes colours as the light changes, opens up as a small retail unit.

After a five-year, $450m (€409m, £356m) renovation project split over two phases, New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) reopens next week with 102,000sq ft (9,500sq m) of new gallery and public space. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, working with Gensler, the renovation has seen the building's footprint increased to 708,000sq ft (66,000sq m), with gallery space increased by around a third to 166,000sq ft (15,000sq m). There's a

OMA will design the new KaDeWe department store in Vienna, having won a competition with a design that combines shops, restaurants, a hotel and a rooftop park. Described by the developer Signa as "a modern version of a traditional department store with a mix of shops, restaurants and hotel," the project will involve the conversion of an existing building, La Rinascente, which is split into two volumes, with retail at

Architects including Kohn Pedersen Fox, OMA and James Corner Field Operations have completed work on the K11 Musea in Hong Kong, the final milestone in the regeneration of the Victoria Dockside into a purpose built art and cultural district. The 28-hectare (3,000,000sq ft) district has undergone a 10-year transformation, led by Kohn Pedersen Fox and based on the ‘100 Creative Powers’ vision of Adrian Cheng, executive vice-chairman and general manager

OMA have released images of their latest design for the New Museum of Contemporary Art expansion in Manhattan, New York which has been in the planning stages since May 2016. Set to rise at 235 Bowery, next to the recently completed SANAA-designed flagship, the future structure will more than double the museum's capacity, adding 937 sq m of exhibition space. The US$63m (€55.3m, £49.5m) extension will also add an 80-cover

A new world-class museum project documenting the Roman history of the city of York, UK, will be part of a proposed £150m (US$190.5m, €167.5m) city centre redevelopment called the Roman Quarter. The York Archeological Trust is partnering with York-based property developers North Star, DC Architecture and hotel operator Native to deliver the project in Rougier Street. Three buildings will be demolished to make way for the development, enabling the 33,000sq

The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) has selected OMA and KOO to plan its US$95m (€85.1m, £75m) Center for the Arts. The 88,000 sq ft (8,175.4 sq m) complex will have a translucent roof with embedded photovoltaics that will reflect light from the performance halls. The facility – to be located on the school's north-west campus – will comprise a 500-seat concert hall and a 270-seat auditorium, as well

Berlin-based art and design team Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann, co-founders of Studio Other Spaces (SOS), have been commissioned to transform a 1960s-era courtyard into a canopied community hall at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. The new atrium – dubbed Common sky – is expected to further augment the institution's US$160m (€142.6m, £122.8m) expansion, which is being led by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and which

Sofitel Villa Borghese Rome is on track to launch this summer, following an extensive renovation by French architect and designer Jean Philippe Nuel. Situated near the city centre, amidst the Trevi Fountain, Villa Medici, and the Spanish Steps, the refurbished 19th-century building features 78 rooms and suites with Hermès amenities, a rooftop restaurant, and a fitness centre. Renderings of the project show that some guest quarters will feature quadratura ceilings

The Andaz Hotel Munich Tor Schwabinger – Germany's first Andaz-branded hospitality venue – has opened its doors. Designed by Dutch architecture studio Concrete Architectural Associates to reflect what the group have called the "kaleidoscopic" cultural and artistic diversity of Bavaria, the hotel boasts 234 rooms and 43 suites, as well as a spa, two bars, a pool deck, a gym, and a restaurant. The Andaz Spa – said to be