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

Details have been revealed for what is being described as the world's most radical and environmentally-friendly furniture factory and visitor centre. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) for Vestre, the 6,500sq m factory – called The Plus – is in Magnor, Norway. It will be a "global showcase for sustainability" and highly-efficient manufacturing. As well as a fully functional factory, The Plus will include a visitor centre and a 300-acre

The English National Ballet (ENB) has moved into a new £27m ($33m, €30m) home in London designed by Glenn Howells Architects (GHA). The 93,000sq ft (8,600sq m) building combines a number of previously separate ENB campuses into what it calls "a multi-faceted 'dance factory'". The ground floor is conceived to be a gathering and circulation space, with a public café and an exhibition area. Seven full-sized rehearsal studios include a

​ Wheeler Kearns Architects have transformed a decommissioned cheese factory in the US city of Bentonville, Arkansas, into a multidisciplinary space for visual, performing and culinary artists. The Momentary was opened at the end of February as a satellite location of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which is also in Bentonville. The 63,000sq ft (5,900sq m) facility was conceived with the aim of providing a unique cultural hub

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

New York-based real estate investors Bridgeton have converted a former button and ribbon factory in Tribeca into a boutique hotel that harnesses the building's Gilded Age architecture to recall the city's past. Although responsible for the overall design of the Walker Hotel Tribeca, Bridgeton brought in a number of specialists to collaborate on elements like its restaurant and its cocktail bar. Constructed in 1899, the Renaissance Revival style building stretches

The Kai Art Center, designed by KAOS Architects, has opened in a former submarine production plant in Tallinn, Estonia. Originally built in 1916 to house workshops for shipbuilding, the building was used for the construction of 12 submarines between 1913 and 1917. Split across two floors, it is made of reinforced concrete and has a curved roof that gives the centre one of its most notable features – a 6m

Curio Collection by international hospitality group Hilton has opened a boutique hotel on the site of a former steel mill in Asheville, North Carolina. Designed by local design studio Lagom Interiors, the 87-room Foundry Hotel – which will be operated by Charlestowne Hotels – features an herb garden, fitness room, and a 3,400 sq ft courtyard. Other facilities include a mixology bar and lounge as well as the Benne Eagle

Architects Woods Bagot are transforming an abandoned sugar factory in Zhuhai, China, into a cultural, tourism and leisure park that celebrates the city’s industrial heritage and welcomes visitors with a sweet tooth. The Hongqi Zhen Sugar Factory was opened in the 1960s and became a key pillar of Southern China’s sugar plantation and processing industry. However, the industry eventually fell into a decline and the complex closed its doors in

Canadian hospitality group Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is continuing its global expansion strategy with the opening of a hotel in Istanbul, Turkey. The 209-room Fairmont Quasar is located in Mecidiyeköy, one of Istanbul’s business quarters on the western side of city. It is housed in the wider Quasar Istanbul complex, which occupies a site once home to a liquor factory designed by the French architect Robert Mallet Stevens – parts

Danish architects EFFEKT will convert an abandoned windmill factory in the city of Viborg into a vibrant culture house for street sports, street culture and street art. The studio have won a design competition for the project, which will be the second of their buildings to carry the ‘Streetmekka’ name. Last year they completed GAME Streetmekka in Esbjerg – an urban sports hub in a converted rail depot. In Viborg

Factory, the flagship arts building for the north of England designed by Rem Koolhaas’ Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), has been granted planning approval by Manchester City Council. Construction will begin in Q1 2017 on the large-scale venue, which has been designed to reflect the “extraordinary creative vision and breadth of Manchester’s cultural life”. Ellen van Loon and OMA founder Rem Koolhaas are leading the project. The £110m (US$137.2m, €129.6m)

Rem Koolhaas’ Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) has won an international competition to design a cutting-edge arts venue in the UK city of Manchester. Nine internationally acclaimed architects – including Zaha Hadid Architecture, Mecanoo, Rafael Vinoly Architects and Diller Scofidio + Renfro – were shortlisted to design the flagship cultural centre, named The Factory. The £110m (US$166m, €157m) large-scale venue – which takes its name from Factory Records, the Manchester

Dutch firm Neutelings Riedijk Architects have been commissioned to design a new high-rise residential and leisure complex on the site of an old Russian car factory. The 39,000sq m (419,000sq ft), 75m (246ft) high ZIL Tower will be located beside the Moskva River, 5km (3 miles) from the centre of Moscow. The site was once the home of an automobile plant owned by the Russian company ZIL, which manufactured trucks,

BRC Imagination Arts is the creative force behind the recent US$4.7m (€4.2m, £3m) revamp of the Ford factory tour, offering visitors a close-up look at the creation of the automaker’s F-150 pickup truck. The Ford Rouge Factory Tour, based at The Henry Ford complex in Dearborn, Michigan, now includes a Manufacturing Innovation Theatre to showcase the build process at the facility. The reimagined theatre is designed to immerse visitors into