Environmental artist Christo has completed his latest mammoth temporary structure: a 20m stack of barrels floating in Hyde Park’s Serpentine Lake. The London Mastaba, Christo’s first outdoor public work in the UK, is formed of 7,506 horizontally stacked barrels on a floating platform. Together they rise up to create a flat-roofed shape with sloping sides that first originated thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia. Construction began in April by JK

The Chinese mainland has its first Hard Rock Hotel, complete with a huge vinyl mosaic, hundreds of red guitars hanging from the walls and a golden dragon made from drumsticks and 1,680 cymbals. Hong Kong practice CL3 Architects, led by William Lim, were commissioned by developer Mission Hill Properties to design the Hard Rock Hotel Shenzhen, combining the brand’s trademark references to rock and roll with local design flourishes. Vibrant

Chinese architecture practice Studio Zhu-Pei have completed work on a ‘hovering’ garden installation in a Chinese sculpture park, which allows visitors to wander the grounds over, under and around huge stacks of plants and flowers. New images of the project, called Yi Garden II, reveal how an abandoned two-storey concrete frame has been used as the foundation for a seemingly gravity-defying arrangement of greenery in the grounds of Quanzhou National

To celebrate its 40th anniversary, the foundation of iconic British sculptor Henry Moore has opened a new visitor centre and archive dedicated to his work. The Henry Moore Foundation was founded in 1977 to encourage public appreciation of the artist’s work and to support emerging talent. In the last four decades it has awarded over 2,000 grant awards totaling £31m (US$39.7m, €36.4m). To mark its birthday, the organisation has upgraded

South Korean automobile manufacturer Hyundai has opened “car culture experience park” in Goyang in the north of the country. The company brandland is spread out over three floors, accessed through a large lobby with a large-scale digital display projecting images of Hyundai’s latest road and rally cars. The building, called Hyundai Motorstudio Goyang, was designed by Viennese architects Delugan Meissl, while Stuttgart’s Atelier Brückner were behind the exhibition. It is

Construction has commenced on a new £3.8m (US$4.7m, €4.4m) visitor centre for the famous Yorkshire Sculpture Park; one of northern England’s most popular tourist attractions. The project, located in the city of Wakefield, has been billed by architects Feilden Fowles as “the practice’s most prestigious cultural commission to date.” The park, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, welcomes around 500,000 visitors every year. It hosts permanent and temporary sculptures, including

Norwegian architecture firm Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter have won an international competition to design a public trail, amphitheatre and viewing platform along an abandoned railway line in Alsace, France. Described as “a lace undulating in the landscape,” the Chemin des Carrières (or ‘Quarries’ Track’ in English) is designed to remember the history of the landscape and the people who once mined and quarried there. The Rosheim-St Nabor railway, which served the

British designer Thomas Heatherwick has unveiled a climbable public landmark that will be the towering centrepiece of New York City’s Hudson Yards development. Vessel is a honeycomb-like structure of 154 interconnecting flights of stairs, 2,400 steps and 80 landings. A mile's worth of pathway will rise above a public plaza below. Conceived as a vast interactive sculpture and a new public landmark, it will stand 150ft (45.7m) tall with a

A monumental aerial sculpture created by Echelman Studio has been suspended over Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway, bringing art to the city's skies. Commissioned by The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, As If It Were Already Here is the signature contemporary art installation in the Greenway Conservancy’s Public Art Program, running from May until October. Made out of 100 miles of twine, the sculpture soars 600ft (183m) in the air, spanning the

Starwood has broken ground on Solaz, a Luxury Collection Resort, in Los Cabos, Mexico, designed by Mexico City-based Sordo Madaleno Architects. The 131-key resort, owned by Quinta del Golfo de Cortez, will span 33 acres and is slated to open in June 2017. Situated at the southern tip of Baja California Sur, the property features five distinct six-floor buildings. In designing the building, Sordo Madaleno collaborated with landscape architects Gabayet

Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP), Wakefield, UK, has taken home a £100,000 prize from The Art Fund after being announced the UK Museum of the Year by Art Fund – the national fundraising charity for art. YSP beat several other top museums to the prize, with the shortlist including; Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft in East Sussex, Hayward Gallery in London, The Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth, Sainsbury Centre for

Beijing-based MAD Architects have unveiled the completed China Wood Sculpture Museum located in Harbin, China. The 200m (656ft) long building is sheathed in metal and surrounded by a densely populated Chinese-style neighbourhood and residential complexes. It was constructed with the aim of adding cultural and surreal essence to the surrounding urban context. The museum takes the form of a twisted strip of steel, punctuated with curved windows. MAD describes the

Abu Dhabi will play host to a US$340m (263m euro, £212m) sculpture constructed entirely from oil barrels. The Mastaba, set to be the world's biggest permanent sculpture, will be 150m (492ft) high and 225m (738ft) wide with 60-degree slanted walls. The attraction, created by Bulgarian-born artist Christo, is to be erected in Al Gharbia, 160km (100miles) south of the city of Abu Dhabi. The Mastaba will be made from 410,000