Work has been completed on the redevelopment of Montreal's Biodome – a science museum which occupies the site of the former velodrome built for the 1976 Olympic Games. The Biodome allows visitors to walk through replicas of five ecosystems found in the Americas – a tropical rainforest, a maple forest, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, a sub-Antarctic island environment, and the Labrador Coast. Biodome is one of four attractions located

Svart, the world’s first energy-positive hotel, has appointed award-winning Danish designers Space Copenhagen to lead the property’s interior design. Designed by the Norwegian architect firm Snøhetta, Svart will be located in Arctic Norway at the base of the Svartisen glacier and will house an indoor-outdoor spa – designed by spa and wellness consultant Felicity Leahy, as well as four restaurants, an education centre and a design laboratory. The glass-fronted, circular

The historic Terminal Warehouse, in the West Chelsea area of New York, is being transformed by COOKFOX Architects into a mixed-use destination with retail units, hospitality outlets, open spaces and offices. Originally designed by architect George Mallory and built in 1891, the 1.2 million sq ft (111,000sq m) warehouse occupies an entire city block in Manhattan. With good access to the water, rail and road transportation networks, it became a

The historic Bradbury Building in Downtown Los Angeles has launched as a NeueHouse co-working destination with a focus on hospitality, socialising and wellness following a DesignAgency transformation. The 25,000sq ft (2,300sq m) building was originally designed by architect Sumner Hunt and was constructed in 1893. In adapting the space, DesignAgency retained many of its original features, like the wrought iron latticework staircases, birdcage elevators, oak-framed windows, wooden panelling, exposed ceiling

MJM Architect and Hansenbuilt Design have converted a derelict loft space in Victoria, Canada, into a co-working space and social club with a focus on health and connecting with others. Kwench was founded by Tessa McLoughlin to evolve and expand what a co-working space could be, with the aim of making its users healthier and happier. It is based on promoting a balance of knowledge, wellness, experiences, novelty, curiosity, and

A new amenities space, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro with interiors by Rockwell Group, has opened 900ft (274m) up in the air at Fifteen Hudson Yards in New York. Skytop is part of the building's 40,000sq ft (3,700sq m) of wellness, entertaining and leisure amenities and is located in the cloverleaf-shaped curves of the building’s crown. The 6,000sq ft (560sq m) of amenities it offers include an open-air terrace

Counterspace have been chosen to design the Serpentine Pavilion for 2020 with a design based on gathering spaces and community places around London that will be accompanied by a public programme across the city. Now in its 20th year, the annual pavilion commission is described by the Serpentine as "a global platform for experimental projects by some of the world's greatest architects." This year's architects from the Johannesburg-based practice –

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

Niall McLaughlin Architects have been chosen to design a new, multi-purpose auditorium and public space for London's Somerset House arts centre. Designed and built by Sir William Chambers during the mid-to-late 1770s, the current neoclassical building has a rich history and courtyards that are described as being among the most beautiful in Europe. With the building already home to a creative community and a variety of different exhibition and events

Lyons with Aspect Studios, have transformed a car park in Melbourne, Australia, into a 10,000sq m (107,600sq ft) urban park with nine distinct areas and two levels of car parking retained underneath. Prahran Square was conceived to provide much needed new open public space in the Prahran suburb of the city, which has the second-lowest amount in the state of Victoria. it combines a park, a square and a network

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has chosen a team led by Axiom Space with design by Philippe Starck to create a commercial space station that will host professional astronauts and private explorers. The decision follows a solicitation process that will see the Axiom-led team granted access to a node of the International Space Station (ISS) to which it will be able to attach for construction a new habitable

PriestmanGoode have developed a new co-living brand in India aimed at tackling social isolation among millennials by providing opportunities for shared experiences. The new Olive brand was created for real estate developer Embassy Group and will address the country's lack of purpose-built co-living supply for millennials, who form its largest demographic. Aditya Virwani, COO of Embassy Group and co-founder of Olive explained: "The shared economy concept has percolated all aspects

Third Space 's new £10m ($13m, €12m), 47,000sq ft (4,400sq m) full-service club in Islington, London, designed by Universal Design Studio, is said to be the largest health club to open in the UK's capital for more than 10 years. At the heart of the club is a 7,000sq ft (650sq m) "arena space" for flexible training, featuring a custom-built running track, dedicated strength training area, a bespoke functional training

TechnoAlpin created a snow-filled retail installation for clothing brand Woolrich as part of the 97th edition of clothing exhibition Pitti Uomo from 9-10 January last week. The Woolrich Forest installation was created in Florence’s La Dogana, with a space in the building transformed into a winter scene that echoed the wintry landscapes of Pennsylvania, where the brand was founded, and that allowed its outdoor products to be suitably showcased. TechnoAlpin

Studio SKLIM have created a compact café in Singapore using the concept of negative space to carve out seating booths, countertops, display shelves and overhanging canopies. The café covers an area of just 28sq m (301sq ft) but accommodates an experience and retail corner, a take-away counter, seating booths and a counter for conducting workshops. The central counter block is cast in concrete and is designed to merge into the

The new Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture in Washington State, designed by Olson Kundig, opened towards the end of last year, providing more space and flexibility, a more transparent layout and improved climate control. The building was actually completed in October, but information from the architects has just been made fully available. The 105,000sq ft (9,800sq m) building, which is 66 per cent larger than the old building,

LABS Collective is transforming the Grade-II listed Victoria House in Holborn, London, into a 200,000sq ft (18,600sq m) co-working space with a variety of amenities for downtime and a focus on wellbeing. The neoclassical building will be updated with a modern design and contemporary feel, while its heritage will be preserved through sensitive restoration of its architectural detail. The new facility will accommodate around 4,000 professionals, with 150,000sq ft (14,000sq

MAD Architects have inserted a number of organically-shaped bubbles into the fabric of Beijing's Qianmen district to provide new space, new use cases and incentives for younger generations to return to the area. The Hutong Bubble 218 project sees organically-shaped interstitial interventions inserted into the restrictive context of a former hospital on a hutong – a narrow street or alley. The hospital had already been converted into accommodation for around

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

Thai architects Onion have created a community reading space in Bangkok called Samyan Co-op that offers different types of seating and atmosphere to suit different types of users. The project was commissioned by Golden Land Property Development, who were planning to build a new commercial mall and wanted to give something back to society. Their brief for Onion was to create 500-capacity reading and working space that would be free

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.

Copenhagen-based studio Effekt has used the need for a climate adaptation plan by a town in Southern Jutland, Denmark, as an opportunity to enhance its identity, public spaces and connection to nature. Tønder had been in need of a plan to manage frequent stormwaters due to its coastal location. Effekt recognised that this could be achieved by remodelling and reorganising public spaces in a way that would improve connections between

Doone Silver Kerr (DSK) have used 25 shipping containers, each 30ft (9m) in length, to create a 20-room aparthotel with design elements that optimise the use of space. Designed for Stow Projects and Ciel Capital, the Stow-Away hotel comprises five levels each made up of five containers. A reception area and restaurant are housed on the ground floor, with the guest rooms making up the upper four floors. In order

Wolfgang Tschapeller has suspended four levels of library stacks containing around 100,000 volumes in an inverted ziggurat at the Unversity of Cornell 's Mui Ho Fine Arts Library. Tschapeller's goal was to create "a 21st-century interpretation of the grand reading rooms associated with great research collections." To achieve this, he removed the third floor of the Rand Hall building, in which the library is housed, to create a double-height space

The Manser Practice has created a concept design for a road bridge that is temporarily closed to traffic, reimagining it with green public space for use by pedestrians, cyclists and riverboat users. London's Hammersmith Bridge has been closed to vehicles since April this year due to concerns about its structural integrity. People have responded to the closure by making use of its full width as pedestrians and cyclists and enjoying

Beijing Fenghemuchen Space Design has created a 1,170sq m (12,600sq ft) library, coffee shop and cultural space in China's Hangzhou City that is contained and shaped by natural wooden bookshelves and elements. The aim was to create a reading-themed space that could also be used for shared experiences and community purposes. Designers Yi Chen and Muchen Zhang chose to use oak throughout for its warmth and naturality as a material