Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) has collaborated with agricultural collective Cityplot to design a lifelong learning centre in Germany that uses social, spatial and leisure elements to optimise the learning process. Life Hamburg will be a 12,000sq m (129,000sq ft) figure-of-eight-shaped building that is aimed at reinventing learning for 800 children and 800 adults. The centre's design is based on the purpose-inspired and personal learning educational principles of Learnlife and

Construction of the new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History in New York has begun, following delays caused by a lawsuit brought by a community group. The hotly anticipated new wing of the museum – a projected US$383m (€338m, £301m), 230,000sq ft (70,104sq m) project – has been designed by Studio Gang Architects, with the intention of improving visitor circulation to

Saudi Arabia's government has revealed plans to invest SAR50bn (US$13.3bn, €11.2bn, £9.9bn) into entertainment, health, sports and education initiatives, as the country attempts to modernise and improve its citizens' quality of life. Announced yesterday (3 May) by the Kingdom's General Entertainment Authority (GEA), it is understood that the investment will generate upward of 300,000 jobs by 2020. “Government spending on the initiatives will total around 60 per cent of the

The Victoria and Albert (V&A) museum is using the £100,000 (US$130,000, €118,000) prize it received in 2016 for winning the Art Fund’s Museum of the Year to launch a programme to support art and design education in secondary schools. Called DesignLab Nation, the scheme is an evolution of the brainchild of former V&A director Martin Roth, which sent touring exhibitions to museums and art schools across Britain until 1977, when

Taronga Zoo, near Sydney, Australia, has received planning approval for a new science and conservation education centre. The A$30.7m (US$23.5, €20.8, £17.8m) Taronga Institute of Science and Learning (TISL) has been designed by New South Wales architecture firm NBRS. The old learning facility will be replaced by the new three-storey design, which is inspired by patterns in nature and will offer an immersive and interactive experience. NSW Department of Planning

Construction on future World Cup venue the Qatar Foundation Stadium is expected to begin soon, with a contractor reportedly now attached to the project. According to Arabian Business, Cyprus-based engineering firm Joannou & Paraskevaides (J&P) has been awarded the contract to build the 40,000-capacity venue, which will host games at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The stadium has been designed by Fenwick Iribarren Architects, who have taken inspiration

Consett Leisure Centre, a new £44m (US$68 E61) complex which combines educational establishment, Consett Academy, with a new leisure centre – to be shared by students and the public – has opened in County Durham in the UK. Financed by local government body Durham County Council, the two venues occupy a new single building – designed by Seymour Harris Architecture – and located in the heart of Consett on the

Northern Irish football club Crusaders FC has drawn up proposals for a new 4,000-capacity sports and educational facility to be shared with Newington Youth FC. The proposed site, close to Crusaders’ current home Seaview Stadium, is owned by Belfast City Council, meaning the authority would have to agree to be part of any development. A number of preliminary discussions about the project are already underway, according to Crusaders, involving the